Although set in contemporary Chicago, "The Ladies Man" was shot in Toronto and may make viewers nostalgic for the l970s, a period remembered for its garish excesses in fashion and design. That's because Leon has anachronistic tastes in his clothing and surroundings, which production designer Franco de Cotiis and costume designer Eydi Caines-Floyd took great delight in re-creating. "This is a film about characters and how funny they are. The settings were designed so that each actor would pop from the background. With Leon, we were reinventing the '70s in every detail," explains de Cotiis. "Leon has never let go of all the things he loves from the past. He feels powerful and sexy in this type of setting."
This includes Leon's home, a houseboat he's turned into a love boat filled with gadgets and love candles, and his favorite bar, which also has the flavor of another era. Meadows cautions, however, that Leon is not "stuck in the '70s. It's just that he found his niche and stayed with it. His biggest moments came in the '70s. He has held on to the lifestyle and fashion and the other stuff from that era because it defined who he was."
Working with several designs created by "Saturday Night Live's" costumer David Broecker, cos tume designer Caines-Floyd found the project exhilarat ing in its demand for attention to minute detail.
"We built half of Tim's wardrobe from sketches I did, but we did shop for authentic 1974 pieces from various costume and second-hand shops."
Leon's '70s-drenched sensibility was not the only challenge. The patrons of Lester's bar "were also in a bit of a time warp," explains Caines-Floyd. "To make sure that Leon was comfortable in the bar, I went mid to late '80s with them."
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