Franchise fans King soon they will be able to enjoy MAN OF THE KING: EL ORIGEN. On January 13, the long-awaited new installment of the saga that already includes KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE, was released in 2014, and KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, released in 2017.
Directed once again by Matthew Vaughn, the new film takes place in the early 20th century and discovers the origins of the first independent intelligence agency, set when a group of the worst tyrants and criminal geniuses come together to plan a war that will make millions disappear. KING’S MAN: ORIGIN stars Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou y Charles Dance.
Famous costume designer Michele Clapton, widely known for his work in the series Game of Thrones and was responsible for the incredible creation for the film, he tells a little behind the scenes of his creation process.
SUIT MAKES MAN
One of Clapton’s main tasks in starting this project was to create appearances for Orlando Oxford (Fiennes) and Conrad Oxford (Dickinson), the father and son duo who starred in the film. “Ralph’s Orlando is very traditional and therefore very old-fashioned. Harris’s Conrad has a more advanced and younger vibe”said Clapton.
Eight bespoke suits were made for Conrad’s character. The designer said of Conrad: “I don’t want him to look arrogant and presumptuous. The suit is made by a modern tailor. Conrad was wearing a morning coat, so the jacket was a nice length, three buttons, and the pants were slim and high-waisted. And Harris had a tremendous influence. When I saw her come in, I thought “Oh, thank God!” Sometimes there are brilliant actors who don’t have the right body type for the moment, but he does.”
About Oxford from Ralph Fiennes, the costumes are a bit more traditional and reveal a lot of your character. As Clapton explains: “I don’t want to dress him up as a ‘master of the mansion.’ I want him to feel very comfortable on the pitch. The color palette is important, it’s a rather cool color. Even though there are browns, they are cold browns. I also don’t want to always portray him as a country guy, so he also has a suit, showing that business is also done in this country, and that he is not some kind of land aristocrat. Then when he goes to the city, he is well dressed too. There is a certain precision in their dress. His tie is fitted in a very precise manner.
TURN ON THE EVIL ICON
The film also features the legendary Rasputin, played by a Welsh actor. Rhys Ifans. For Clapton, turning Ifans into the iconic Russian mystic was as much fun as it was a challenge, because on the one hand he wanted to stay true to what he used in real life, and on the other hand add some original details that would enrich his character. See. “Obviously, we investigated Rasputin and it was very similar to the way he was dressed, in a long coat and Russian boots. But we added a few things that made it a little bigger the first time we saw it. We put him in a big fur coat with a fur collar and a big hat, which made him even more impressive.”, explains Clapton.
Ifans, for his part, said: “Michele put a lot of fur on him in one scene, and he looks like a bear, a beast, a jungle creature, wild. And then he chose tighter, more priestly clothing. But it adds something special. It’s a bell-shaped dress, which looks beautiful on camera, especially in fight scenes because it moves like the skirts of dervishes are spinning.”
ONE ACTOR, THREE MEN
Because it is a fictional story related to real historical events, Rasputin is not the only historical character featured in the film. The plot features three legendary kings – King George V of England, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany – all played by actor Tom Hollander. For Clapton, this presented a unique challenge, as characters had to be prominently distinguished through their costumes. The designer and his team relied on photographs and footage from the beginning of the century to create costumes for the kings. Hollander was impressed by what they achieved: “To perform all three roles, the most important of which was the physical transformation, and all credit goes to the costume department and the make-up department. It took a long time to develop these three distinct and distinctive looks. They made some spectacular and historically faithful costumes for the three characters. My contribution is to change body language and voice,” said the actor.
MILITARY POWER
The strong presence of the First World War in the story required the film’s creative team to call on military specialist Alex Fordham to support Clapton in the process of making army uniforms, especially the uniforms of the German stormtroopers.
Fordham Ratio: “They are infantrymen who have special attack methods, but most of the legends that result from that are spiced up. It’s clear that we’ll be using some of those legends in addition to their authenticity to create something with strange dramatic power. And that includes slightly tweaking the colors, weaponry, and decorations, which give the image more of a feel. We found some amazing paintings by Otto Dix, made during the First World War, a strange image of a skull with a tattered cloak and helmet, a very strong idea. And we ate it instead of just looking at a photo of a soldier with his bag of grenades.”
Apart from taking on this creative license, the team also decided to make a lot of costumes for the audience sequence, with the aim of making them look new and grand. “All the hats, helmets, jewellery, shoes were made especially for the film because Matthew likes everything to look amazing, down to the smallest detail. When you rent a suit, especially a uniform, it has generally been used many times over the years and tends to be a bit worn out “, Fordham observes.
The team then created all of the Austrian and Russian uniforms, and most of the British uniforms, including the gold details, all decorations, medals, awards and belts. Results? Unique visual impact that enriches the scene in an extraordinary way.
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