Suicide Squad Producers Talk Evolving Costumes From Comic Book Cores
While the characters of Suicide Squad will attempt to retain their comic essences, some of their [...]
While the characters of Suicide Squad will attempt to retain their comic essences, some of their looks have undergone some changes.
In a recent visit to the Suicide Squad set, ComicBook.com was on hand when producers Andy Horwitz and Richard Suckle spoke about the transition from comic page to big screen. They started with Will Smith's Deadshot.
"It was kind of a combination of an old school Deadshot and the new 52 version of Deadshot, and it was sort of pieced together between all the elements that David liked and that we all liked. We worked with Kate Hawley who you'll spend some time with later today, our costume designer. We also ended up working with Legacy Effects, who has done a lot of work in this space before and it was a real great collaboration that ultimately made that version of what he's wearing."
Suckle addressed one of the more popular members of the Squad next, Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, and the difficulty in finding a look that would honor her comic legacy while still fitting into Ayer's vision for the film.
"She has so many iconic looks, we really had a challenge. You have so many different ways in which you could dress her and it was almost sad to actually have to say as much as we want her to be wearing, let's say, the one piece suit, that it's not really right for what we're doing in this movie, but we've designed it. She put it on. Just going through her hair, makeup and wardrobe test was a real treat. We tried so many different things and so many different things that would be iconic that hopefully will live in other films if we're lucky enough to make other films"
Hopefully, that will be included in the special features for the home video release, as I'm sure fans would love to see what other costumes they came up with. Horwitz moved on to Cara Delevingne, who plays Enchantress in the film, and addressed their vision for the characters more gothic look.
"It is and I think she is a witch. I think sorcerer is one way to describe her, but at the end of the day, she's a witch. I think, what would a contemporary, modern day witch look like? Plus, I think trying to take her old look, which is closer to right here, and contemporize it and make it a little bit darker and a little more witch-like. A little bit more grounded, a little bit more real."
While the rest of the cast can just change out of their costumes, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who plays Killer Croc in the film, has to undergo a three-hour process each time he puts on or removes his prosthetics.
"It's three hours in the chair every single day for him and it's quite a commitment, but he's really brought something amazing to the character," said Horwitz. "He's not just a guy with a ton of prosthetics on. He's figured out ways to move his face underneath that prosthetic that does interesting things, and he's really worked with it with the teeth and how to blink. He's really not just wearing that, he's really doing quite a performance."
You can see the comic influences in Killer Croc as well as Karen Fukuhara's Katana. Katana appears to be the closest in relation to her look in the comics, which Suckle addressed.
"She's been really just fantastic, in her character and a person to have around, and the whole costume design, for all of them ... Again, looking at Croc's jacket and how do we actually create a character and what is she going to wear? Because you're taking something that has lived in this comic book world, how do you make it work in the real world, and then get a real world where there's magic? It's a balancing act. It takes a process and a long time to get there. Sometimes you try things that don't work. You may think they're going to work conceptually and they don't and it's a real balance, especially because you have so many of them and they have to coexist."
Horwitz rounded out the costume talk with Adam Beach, who plays Slipknot in the film. His original comic look is probably one of the worst amongst the group, so the team's goal was to really find a look that worked in conjunction with his abilities.
"Adam Beach. One of the nicest human beings on planet Earth. It's one of those characters not a lot of people know about, but he is cool. He's got some serious abilities and I think his outfit, which I think took a little bit of back and forth as far as what it was going to look like because I think his outfit in the comics is pretty goofy. It really is. We knew we had to stay away from that and figure out a contemporary, cool version of that. I think this was it. I think everything that he wears and he uses is very utilitarian. It's all useful and you get to see him use it and how he uses it and he's a very cool character. Mysterious character. You don't know a lot about him."
While some of the costumes are more based in reality, they are still a far cry from X-Men style black jumpsuits, something fans certainly appreciate. Overall the studio seems to have struck a fairly tight balance between honoring the source material and going for cinematic flair.
Suicide Squad is in theaters now.
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