Los Angeles Times - 26.11.2019

S32

THE ENVELOPE LOS ANGELES TIMES TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019

D

esignerJulian Day’s

creativity shines in the

flamboyant costumes he

designed for Paramount’s

“Rocketman,” a musical

fantasy biopic of rock

icon Elton John, himself

a rather flamboyant wearer of creative cos-

tumes.

Day had roughly half the budget of his

previous film (the Freddie Mercury biopic

“Bohemian Rhapsody”) and designed well

over 80 costumes for the John character

(Taron Egerton) alone, among a big cast.

Far from a diva control freak, John took a

more relaxed approach, he says: “What’s

great about him, he’s a perfectionist about

his music and what he does,” Day says, “but I

think he realized early on you just have to let

people get on and do their jobs. David [Fur-

nish, John’s husband and a film co-pro-

ducer] viewed footage, and I’m sure if

[Elton] wasn’t happy, he would have said so.

I think we were very lucky in that respect,

his letting us get on with it and trusting us. I

had a lot of license to create with.”

On my second “Rocketman” viewing, I

noticed how the film’s color palette sig-

nificantly alters between John’s British

vs. American life. The British colors of

teal, gold, cranberry are softer, more

subdued versus the brighter red, or-

ange, yellow primary colors in the U.S.

Why?

I’m glad you noticed that. It’s a three-

prong attack in terms of color choice. First, I

look at the year or period and take colors

from those eras. With Elton, as his wealth

increases, the colors became more obvious

and primary. Also, as you say, it’s Britain ver-

sus America, and there’s simply more light

and color in America. If you contrast Britain

in the ’50s and ’60s with Los Angeles in the

late ’70s and ’80s, this is what you’d see.

You had to please the audience, the stu-

dio and the director on this film,

but also John himself. For you, was

he the most important person in that

equation?

Yes, ultimately, the most important per-

With Elton,

the louder

the better

From devil horns

and feathers to

250,000 Swarovski

crystals on a

baseball uniform,

Julian Day

delighted in

designing clothes

for ‘Rocketman.’

BY JANET

KINOSIAN

THE

“YELLOW

BRICK

ROAD”

outfit borrows

from the major

“Wizard of Oz”

characters.

Illustrator

Darrell Warner

Costume designer

Julian Day

Paramount Pictures

THE COSTUMES

[See‘Rocketman,’S34]