“I had a couple of surreal moments,“ admits screenwriter Anya Kochoff. “To walk into Kevin’s house and see the actual elements of his home like the sofa or the funky dining room table, or to see Charlie’s courtyard apartment, or Viola’s house as clearly as I saw them in my brain and attempted to depict in the script, was so cool. If I had to spend time figuring out how the production and set designers were going to make the sets and locations look as good as they did, I’d go crazy.”
Costume designer Kym Barrett is frequently tapped for movies set against a futuristic backdrop. Like Russell Carpenter, Monster-in-Law was a departure from the superhero serial epics she is used to tackling. “I think I am asked to do those types of movies primarily because I make clothes,” she says. “But the producers of this film seemed to understand the value of making clothes for a character, for a particular role in the movie. People tend to think it’s easier to go shopping, especially for a comedy. But making clothes allows you to be very character specific or script specific, which we were, and frequently it is much more economical. Also, this story had such a surrealist edge to it that it seemed the perfect opportunity to take the costumes, accessories and jewelry a little sideways.”
“I like the process of growing a character,” Barrett continues. “Starting off with one idea and then slowly it turns into something else, which is why this type of design is different from fashion where you’re creating the look of a generation or the look of a season. I am creating a character’s evolutionary clothes; they evolve through the movie, so hopefully, their style changes and evolves as well.”
The costumes are supporting characters in and of themselves, as the clothing is used as weaponry between Charlie and Viola. Charlie as a struggling designer with fabulous taste and an eye for color who can also sew anything in record time, and Viola who has closets full of exquisite designer fashions and the perfect look for any occasion.
“Viola is fighting for the affections of her son,” says Barrett. “So anything that can make her appear to be more glamorous, younger, more ethereal will do. She’s showing off. She’s also playing the innocent game, the I’m-not-doing-anything-wrong game, and I wanted to be able to reflect that side of her.
“Viola is one of those people who became so rich and famous, so well known that she’s created her own persona. She’s a myth, even to herself, at this point. She does have moments of Garbo in her performance.”
Fonda also saw the importance of her character’s wardrobe.
“Viola knows how to play to her strengths,” says Fonda. “She sees this creature who intends to marry her son and she has to be more spectacular. She’s going to wear a big hat, a lovely skirt and overload it with jewelry just like you put on too much makeup when you feel insecure. And at the rehearsal dinner she wears a sinister long black dress adorned with calla lilies, which is the flower of death. She’s a character!”
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