Viola Davis joins Hunger Games in the style of the universe.
In the upcoming origin story Song of Songbirds and SnakesThe Oscar-winning actor stars as Dr. the eccentric, strange and ruthless Gamemaker, who conducts experiments to turn the annual Hunger Games into a violent spectacle for Panem. Volumnia plays Gaul.
Director Francis Lawrence tells PEOPLE he gave Davis, 58, a point of reference because his character is the candy maker in Gene Wilder’s 1971 film. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
“There was a wild, strange creativity to the character and a joy in creativity, but there was this kind of sinister underpinning,” he says of Wonka. “I have to admit, I was a little nervous telling him that reference. But luckily he understood right away.”
Describing Davis as “one of the greatest players of all time,” Lawrence said Dr. He explains that Gaul “may seem like the bad guy in this regard, but he actually really believes in this stuff and thinks it’s the right thing to do.” ”
“It was really fun to see this come together,” he adds. “Obviously the character in the book describes this… then you get into the hair, the makeup, the clothes, all of that. And Viola brings it all together and comes up with this version of Dr. Gaul.”
Costume designer Trish Summerville says the inspiration for Davis’ look was “a Willy Wonka mad scientist, Dr. Frankenstein kind of vibe”; basically a “weird feeling” that “has a dark side”.
“It has to have something lighthearted about it that draws you in,” says Summerville, “but it’s also really terrifying.”
Courtesy of Trish Summerville
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Songbirds and Snakes It takes place some 60 years before Katniss Everdeen first entered the arena. The film tells about a different post-war period, down to the clothes. In the designer’s words, this is a “much more conservative, disciplined society” compared to the “exaggerated, exaggerated body modifications and intense colors” of the period in the previous films.
Summerville and her team created “thousands” of costumes for the film, which also stars Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman and Hunter Schafer, as well as countless extras.
The job not only required individual designs for the main characters, but also hundreds of matching looks for Academy uniforms and Peacekeeper uniforms.
“This was a huge undertaking,” he says.
For example: “We made buttons for school uniforms with the Capitol emblem, so you make and sew 8,000 to 10,000 buttons.”
What else? Summerville explains: “If you’re going to have 200 or 500 students, you have to make two or three times as many costumes because you don’t know people’s sizes; if you have 500 backgrounds [actors]”You need about 2,000 pairs of shoes to make this work for people.”
Courtesy of Murray Close/Lionsgate
However, the designer wanted Davis’ costumes to be “very different” from those worn by other characters, using “lots of colour” to ensure she “always stood out”.
Hair designer Nikki Gooley looked to the 1940s for inspiration and ended up with a “beautiful silver-grey afro” that “blends with the quirkiness and colorfulness of the character.”
“Her character is so big and strong, so it made sense to have big, wispy hair. And I think it suits Viola really well,” says Gooley.
Murray Close/Lionsgate
Davis also Dr. He wore a special makeover to convey Gaul’s weathered past, scars and other disfigurements from dangerous laboratory experiments.
Makeup designer Sherri Berman Laurence says Davis wanted one of her eyes to be a different color (“blurred” dark brown and the other a “piercing blue”), which was probably an experiment gone wrong. The makeup and prosthetics teams also took steps to age him and add scars to his face.
“Between the hair, the costume and the eyes, everything took it to a really scary place,” says Laurence. “Then you throw in his acting – I mean, come on. You could hear a pin drop as he walked by. [on set]”
Murray Close/Lionsgate
About those standout “shiny latex gloves,” costume designer Dr. He says Gaul kept his hands covered because he thought “his hands were damaged from all the experiments he was working on.”
“I always wanted her hands to be covered in every scene,” Summerville says. “And because we had this red-and-white lab coat, we washed it so it looks like the vascularization going to the veins and blood in the body and the blood flowing into the lab coat.”
Also worked in Summerville, 2013 To catch fire plus movies Gone Girl And The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo“He jumped right in and transformed,” says Davis.
Courtesy of Lionsgate
“As soon as you put on your costume, your hair, your wig and your makeup, he automatically started letting out a little laugh and doing things with his hands,” she recalls. “It’s a great satisfaction to be able to help an actor transform into another character.”
“He was so lovely and kind,” says Summerville, “and you give him these tools and he turns it into something larger than life. He’s such a cool, amazing, wonderful, warm, loving person.”
The Hunger Games: A Song of Songbirds and Snakes In theaters on November 17.