Theaterkunst Talk
Bartholomew Cariss
British costume designer Bartholomew Cariss started his career at Angels The Costumiers, learning the craft of being a costumier and gaining his knowledge of period costume. For the following years he worked in the film industry as Assistant Costume Designer learning on the job. His Assisting Credits include “The Two Faces Of January”, “The Theory of Everything” and the award winning TV Series “The Night Manager”.
His most recent productions include “Becoming Elizabeth”, “Shardlake” and “Nuremberg”, an independent feature film directed by James Vanderbilt, staring Russell Crow, Rami Malik and Micheal Shannon.
“Nuremberg” is starting in German cinemas May 7 after its premiere at TIFF – Toronto International Film Festival. This historical political thriller, based on the non-fiction book “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist”, explores the Nuremberg Trials following the Second World War.
Copyright: Prime Video (u0022The Nightmanageru0022) // LionsGate International (u0022Becoming Elizabethu0022) // Weltkino Filmverleih (u0022Nürnbergu0022)
Theaterkunst
Bartholomew Cariss
What particularly appealed to you about the ‘Nuremberg’ project, and what specific challenges did you face whilst working on this film?
I connected with the script imediatly, and I had a vision of exactly how I wanted to bring it off the page. Jamie’s script was a dramatisation of a chapter in history we know about, but also told the story we didn’t know of Douglas Kelly, and how he was effected by the time he spent with Hermann Göring and the defendents. It also had contempory relevance, in the way it was written, a sense of homour at times that suprises and was big screen feature film of the like that used be in our cinemas but of which fewer are being made these days. Yes there was challenges, there always are, but team work and collaboration gets the job done.
How did you go about the historical research for the costumes?
The trials are so well documented and there is a wealth of images, and movie footage of the to draw from. It was actually one of our vists to Theatherkunst that gave us one of the best sources of information. I was shown the book ‘DER NÜRNBERGER PROZESS’ by the costumiers, with in this book were pictures of the courtroom and the main protagonists, there was even a seating plan of the courtroom and this became a great source used by costume department and all the other departments of the production.
How did you come to work as a costume designer, and what fascinates you about this job?
I began my journey toward being a costume designer by studying fashion and theater design and had personal interest and part time job in vintage clothing while I was trying to find my way into a profession that encapsulated my studies and interests, a friend of mine told me Angels the costumiers was hiring. I was employed as a costumier and found it was the perfect environment for me. It was at Angels I furthered my knowledge of history of costume and learnt the craft of costuming, alongside a variety of costume designers that came through the doors. I went one to freelance assist and work within the industry honing my craft before designing my own projects. What’s fascinating is no two projects are the same, different storys, time periods and you work with a variety of creatives above and below the line, that being director, production designer, makeup and actors to realise a script. You learn and grow with every project.
For „Nüremberg“, you worked with Theaterkunst for the first time. What was your first impression?
You opened your door to us and were so welcoming and supportive. I was blown away by the quality of the stock and even after we had done our main pull of stock the support continued when we started filming in Budapest. Costumeing for a project requires the willingness of your costume suppliers to get behind you and help get the the job done.
We look forward to welcoming you back at Theaterkunst anytime soon!
I look forward to the next project that allows me to work alongside you. I’ve made great friends and colleagues in the Theaterkunst costume house family.
