By Robert Goldrich, The Road To Emmy Series, Part 16

Costume designer Mitchell Travers has gone from one lauded Jessica Chastain performance to another–and for that matter, from one Tammy to the next.

The first came with Chastain’s Oscar-winning portrayal of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. And then Chastain turned in an Emmy nominated and SAG Award-winning performance as lead actress in a limited series for George & Tammy (Showtime) in which she starred as country music icon Tammy Wynette.

Travers recalled that while working on The Eyes of Tammy Faye, he had conversations with Chastain in which “one Tammy sort of bled into another Tammy” as the actress shared details of her next role. Travers was immediately drawn to taking on costume design for George & Tammy, supporting the performances of Chastain as Wynette and Michael Shannon as George Jones. Wynette and Jones became a country music power couple who had a tumultuous romance and 30-plus chart-topping country songs between them.

George & Tammy also reunited Travers with showrunner/writer Abe Sylvia, who had written The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

A prime challenge for costume designer Mitchell Travers on George & Tammy was the scope of the story, namely what he described as “designing characters we could interact with over the course of 30 to 40 years.” He observed that a snapshot wouldn’t do. Instead the narrative–which takes us from the late 1960s to the mid-’90s–necessitated that viewers “age” and “change” with the protagonists “as their careers swelled and got a bit darker at times, through all these ages, milestones and achievements.”

Travers was more than up to the task as reflected in his first career Emmy nomination–specifically for the “We’re Gonna Hold On” episode. The TV Academy nod came in the Outstanding Period Costumes for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie category and was one of four garnered by George & Tammy–the others being for lead actress (Jessica Chastain) and actor (Michael Shannon), as well as cinematography (Igor Martinovic). 

In a recent SHOOT interview for its Cinematographers & Cameras Series, Martinovic shared that he was immediately drawn to the story of “two talented people fighting their own demons, hoping to find a way to live in peace with themselves and with each other. It’s a universal story of human struggle. At the same time, it’s a celebration of creative energy. Both were gifted. The combination of talent and human struggle was interesting to me. There was a dichotomy of glamorous show business life and human drama.”

The story had similar allure for Travers–as did the experience of working for the first time with director/executive producer John Hillcoat and DP Martinovic. Travers appreciated the freedom Hillcoat afforded him, including when it came to the color palette for George & Tammy. Hillcoat embraced Travers’ sensibilities which called for what the costume designer characterized as “period appropriate color combinations often forgotten about or eschewed by the modern eye.” Travers felt the at times “brash color combinations” did justice to Jones and Wynette as original artists who were “fearless with color.” 

Travers said that Hillcoat is “wonderful with creatives,” establishing “a baseline of trust” with his collaborators. Travers affirmed that he felt this sense of trust which inspired him creatively throughout George & Tammy. The costume designer further noted that Hillcoat is giving with his time and is the kind of artist who “loves to touch, see and experience things.” Wheeling in racks of clothes for Hillcoat to see, having him dive into the wardrobe space and to be alongside him surrounded by vintage pieces of clothing was a creatively invigorating experience.

Similarly, continued Travers, Martinovic is “brilliantly creative” and was receptive to seeing garments he could touch, feel and see the true color of, shaping his cinematography to be visually honest and to accurately reflect that color palette and bring what it represented to the forefront.

Travers deployed a mix of custom clothes/outfits he and his team created–particularly for Jones’ character–as well as vintage apparel, which accounted for the lion’s share of Wynette’s wardrobe, culled from a network of collectors, antique shops, estate sales and rental houses. Some 20 original pieces of Wynette’s wardrobe made their way into George & Tammy. As for new creations, Travers expressed a particular affinity for Jones’ decorative, rhinestone-covered suits designed by American tailor Nudie Cohn. Travers had Nudie suit-inspired garb made for George & Tammy, helping to convey the swagger of Jones during his on-stage performances.

Travers learned much from his George & Tammy experience, including the art of “how to age a character and find little nuances in the way they get dressed.” Some of those nuances and touches would reappear later in life for the protagonists, reflecting how clothes can contribute to the richness of a character study. Changing and evolving how clothes fall on the human body–by deploying softer backs, adding a little bit of a tummy–but retaining an underlying sense of style from younger days gives you the sense that it’s the same person as before but now draped on an older silhouette.

But the costume design extends beyond the protagonists. George & Tammy entailed, for example, dressing concert audiences from the shoes all the way up to hats. Travers said his team did yeoman work, including those with whom he shares the Emmy nomination–assistant costume designers Mitchel Wolf, Laurel Rose and Aileen Abercrombie, and costume supervisors Susan Russell and Charles Carter. 

Travers’ Emmy nomination now joins a pair of Costume Designers Guild Award nods he earned for his feature work–Hustlers in 2020 and In the Heights in 2022.

“Still” photography
Among the seven Emmy nominations garnered by Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+ ) is one shared by three cinematographers–C. Kim Miles, Clair Popkin and Julia Liu. This marks the first Emmy nod for Miles and Liu, and the second for Popkin who won the Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program Emmy (shared with Jimmy Chin and Mikey Schaefer) back in 2019 for Free Solo.

SHOOT recently caught up with Miles and Popkin who reflected on Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, also nominated for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special as well as its directing (Davis Guggenheim), picture editing, original dramatic score, sound editing and sound mixing.

Still delves into actor Michael J. Fox who recounts his life, career and battle with Parkinson’s disease. The film adroitly uses clips of Fox’s feature and TV series to reflect his life, coupled with home movies, intimate on-camera interviews and narration read by the actor.

While his dream-like rise from obscurity to stardom on Family Ties turns nightmarish with the diagnosis at 29 that he had a degenerative disease, Fox has persevered, showing his resilience, retaining a self-deprecating sense of humor and managing to keep on keeping on–with the love and support of his wife, Tracy Pollan, and their kids. Fox says that he’s become more present in the moment and “still.” To attain a stillness while enduring an illness that causes physical tremors reflects in a sense the triumph of the human spirit.

Liu and Popkin handled verité lensing for Still, including original footage of Fox and his family as well as visually and conversationally intimate on-camera interviews. Liu captured a memorable scene which helps set the tone for the film. She shot Fox stumbling and then falling after a pedestrian greets him. For a moment we’re concerned with Fox’s well-being but we immediately see his sense of humor is intact as he tells the fan, “You knocked me off my feet.” An embarrassing, potentially negative moment becomes joyful, putting everyone present at ease, including the filmmaking crew. It exemplifies Fox’s knack for lifting up those around him.

Miles was charged with shooting re-enactments in which a young Fox is portrayed by actor Danny Irizarry. Guggenheim did not want Irizarry’s face seen on camera because, said Miles, that “would pop the bubble blending all types of footage into the narrative.” This posed a challenge of sorts for Miles who would resort to lensing the back of Irizzary’s head or shoulder, careful to not reveal his face in profile, silhouette or from any angle. Miles also had to re-create lighting from the 1980s to capture the re-enactments.

Still marked the first time Liu and Miles had worked with Guggenheim. Popkin had collaborated with Guggenheim before on a Netflix series as well as some commercial work.

Miles–a three-time ASC Award nominee, winning in 2020 for an episode of Project Blue Book–was at first hesitant to work on Still, noting that a documentary “was not up my alley.” But when he met with Guggenheim and saw the scope of the film, Miles became eager to take on the project. Particularly appealing to Miles was the approach fashioned by Guggenheim and editor Michael Harte which brought together archival footage, interviews, verité fare and re-enactments to tell Fox’s story. (Still earned editor Harte his second career Emmy nomination, the first also coming in the Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program category–for Three Identical Strangers in 2019.)

Miles noted he had the advantage of having most of Still cut when he started shooting the re-enactments in Vancouver, B.C.. The DP said that he and Guggenheim at that juncture pretty much knew what was needed to do right by the narrative and make the transitions in the film “super smooth.” Miles cited Guggenheim’s meticulous planning as being invaluable yet added that the director still leaves latitude for the “happy accidents” that can occur in production.

On that latter score, Popkin noted that despite extensive preparation, Guggenheim is always open to new ideas. And he’s a catalyst for exploring and mining alternatives even when those ideas don’t initially pan out. Popkin related that Guggenheim had an idea that ultimately wasn’t feasible but remained curious as to why it wouldn’t work. “He wants to understand why,” said Popkin and that sparks a conversation where artists wind up riffing off of that and creating a better approach collaboratively.

Popkin’s biggest takeaway from Still was simply “the strength of Michael J. Fox,” underscoring the importance of not defining people “by the affliction they have.” Popkin praised Fox’s positive attitude, and his talent for being “fun and funny.”

Similarly, Miles was moved by how inspiring both Fox and Pollan are and the positive impact they’ve had on the world. Miles noted that Fox views his getting Parkinson’s as a blessing in that it compelled him to learn about the disease and to raise money to combat it and help those and their loved ones affected by it. 

Still also elicited movement from Miles on another front. He acknowledged that at times he falls into the trap of being jaded about the world. But working with Guggenheim and watching how Fox has triumphed in life have “made it really clear how little ego matters and how there’s so much that is more important than your own well-being and opinion. This pushed me to take a big step toward being much more collaborative.”

Miles has had a fruitful awards season. In addition to the Emmy nomination for Still, earlier this year he landed an earlier alluded to ASC Award nomination for Netflix’s Lost Ollie.

This is the 16th and final installment of SHOOT’s weekly The Road To Emmy Series. The Creative Arts Emmy Award ceremonies are slated for the weekend of January 6 and 7, 2024, and the primetime Emmy ceremony is scheduled for January 15. 

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