We talked to costume designer Deborah Lynn Scott about designing the new Spider-suit, creating Electro, and tie-dye…
Most people know roughly what he looks like hes been around for more than 50 years, after all.
We called her up for a chat about designing Spider-Man…
Hi Deborah!
Lets start at the beginning.
Where do you start?
Well, lets see.
And then you get a lot of information from the director, and how he views the movie.
Then the process of how to actually physically make one of those types of costumes begins.
Theres lots of exciting new technology being used to create costumes like this.
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What kinds of new technologies did you use?
And then using that computer information, you screen-print on fabric.
So there are lots of different avenues to get very much more of a high tech kind of process.
Obviously, a costume like Spider-Mans is very iconic and recognisable.
And how big are the eyes?
What kind of eyes are they?
What colour are the eyes?
We reviewed every piece of the puzzle.
And then you have to make a costume that fits on a particular body.
Right, its not one size fits all!
You mentioned the eyes in the mask, and that seems to be quite a contentious thing.
Well, again, Marc wanted to get a really iconic eye.
We wanted to get that big, wide, white eye.
I like it, its a bit different.
So what kind of expression did you go for, in the end?
I think its very dynamic.
He doesnt look one thing or another.
Its a hard acting job, really.
But he doesnt have eyebrows, he doesnt have a mouth, he doesnt have anything to work with.
So its pretty spectacular, the acting that has to go on behind that mask.
Andrew Garfields a very physical actor, too.
Also, it had to be stretchy, but not so stretchy that it wouldnt stretch back.
Yeah, you cant really have a patchy, tie-dye Spider-Man.
That was quite a learning curve.
What was the most difficult thing you had to do?
And all the costumes were quite different.
Spider-Man was probably in some ways the most simple.
Electro was mostly made of a lot of rubber, which is very hot.
And then the Green Goblin is mechanised.
We had some brilliant costume-makers.
Theyre very cool to work with.
Which costume is your favourite?
I really enjoyed doing the Spider-Man one.
Whats different, what makes it cooler than the other Spider-man versions?
Maybe its my competitive nature.
I want mine to be the best one.
Did you go through lots of different iterations?
What do you think defines your version of the costume, compared with the others?
I hope people like it.
How involved were the actors?
Its a long process, and it takes a lot of fittings and a lot of patience.
Jamie Foxx Andrew too, all of them theyre the most patient people in the world.
Jamie also had a large makeup component; he would have to sit in the makeup chair for hours.
Take Emma for example.
Youre interpreting a comic book, so maybe theres some enhanced reality there.
Youre paying homage to a lot of things, and Gwen Stacy is such an iconic character.
So what she chooses to wear says something how stylish she chooses to be, you know?
Deborah Lynn Scott, thank you very much!
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is out in UK cinemas now.
