Chapter five of Fargo features a hypnotic ensemble. A part of their appeal is how they present themselves to the world. In other words, the costume design from Carol Case. The Emmy-nominated artist has been with the show since the beginning of its run.
For the latest chapter, Case makes every character a unique presence. Their costumes communicate who they are and what they are in seconds, whether hero, villain, or somewhere in-between. The Fargo costumes, too, are a simple yet complex treat to the eyes.
Recently, Case spoke with Immersive about crafting the costumes for the show’s latest ensemble.
Just the other day I told [cinematographer] Dana Gonzalez Roy Tillman looked like the evil Marlboro man. Lo and behold, I read that was an influence.
It’s true. It was the one very clear thing when we started. It was exactly how he should look, which seemed like the clearest of all. Always a bit of a process figuring out who’s what, especially on that show because the characters are so developed that you have to peel back like an onion to see what’s underneath there.
Roy Tillman probably grew up watching John Wayne and Burt Reynolds, so he is playing a role. Did you look at his costume that way, that it’s almost a “costume” for the character?
Yeah, truly. I mean, a lot of the pieces are real, the pieces are what a lot of the ranchers around that area would wear, but it’s all put together. With Jon’s characterization and the sort of bravado of the whole thing, it definitely is a sheriff outfit. It’s that guy’s outfit, not Jon Hamm’s outfit. For sure.
I’m sure you had this question for yourself, where would Roy Tillman buy one of his hats?
Interestingly enough, no one’s ever asked. They were custom made for him and they were made in Calgary. We shot it in and around Calgary, which is a kind of big cowboy world, too. They were all custom made there, but it’s not the kind of thing you go into the store and just buy the hat. Probably not high enough quality for Roy Tillman. So, one of the big expenses of the show was really trying to get the right hats.
It’s a great hat.
Well, lots of people can’t get past the cowboy hat thing, which I don’t have a problem with. I don’t have a problem with it, but I know a lot of people find it almost like a caricature because they’re big. They say a lot about the man.
He’s almost a caricature of a caricature. It’s fitting. He’d dress big.
True enough, true enough. It’s like a belt buckle. Let’s go for the bigger belt buckle. All of those things, the holsters, the belts, the hats, everybody got nervous and then pulled back. Then it was like, “No, this is not that guy. We have to push forward and really commit to it.” I think it worked. I think he’s believable and he’s believable as the character.
He’s a great villain. Do you have certain colors in mind for certain characters?
Well, a lot of the color palette, there was a lot of discussion between myself, Noah, the production designer, and Dana. The four of us spent a lot of time discussing colors and we ended up with a palette that was kind of the old European Masters. When you look at those old paintings, a dark version of it might be red, but it’s a darker red and it’s a richer, deeper color. Although you put all those colors together, they don’t pop. Whereas in some of the more modern colors, the colors will pop against each other, but they all sort of melded into one really nice palette, I thought.
For Munch, he dresses like chaos. I don’t think this is someone that would care much about how he presents himself, but who knows, maybe he does, maybe he thinks this looks great. What was your take?
We broached it. It was a costume that Noah and I had the most fun with, really. Just go for it, have a good time. And so, we wanted it to be something that wasn’t connected with modern clothing, but yet had that feel something he could have worn for a millennium or he could have just founded a thrift store. So, that was the basic premise.
Halfway through the show he changes his coat, because he finds another warmer coat and ditches the other one. It’s the fact that the clothing is secondary to the man. It paints the picture of him not caring, but yet it’s comforting. What can he survive in that will work the best and what can he do to make it work for him? And he wants to stand out. I mean, he’s of this work, but he’s not of this community or this whole civilization. He’s working on some other plane. We wanted to really underscore that he is every man and no man.
How was working with hair and makeup for Munch?
We did sketches that included hair. There were lots of camera tests on Sam’s hair, how does this work? After putting it together, we do a camera test. We put the clothes on, take pictures, and send them back. There was a lot of back and forward trying to get the right look for him.
Yeah, I think he’s beautiful.
Oh, thank you. It’s one of those costumes that you think I’ll remember for a long time.
Do you do mood boards?
We do. I do mood boards and illustrations. I work with an illustrator. Someone like Dot, will do a basic drawing, but I usually put together before that a series of mood boards. Then Noah and I’ll have this conversation that sounds a bit like, “Well, I like this, but I don’t know about that and will this work?” And then he’ll say, “Well, I like this, but will that work if we do this?” We’ll play around with it.
We’ve worked together for a number of years, so there’s a certain amount of shorthand that helps. And then once the mood boards are settled, that’s when we’ll do the sketches. It’s more helpful as an interpretation that we can put the right face on it and pull it all together.
What was on your moodboard for Dot?
A bunch of fashiony things, but it was more about the look of things and the colors of things. We were determined to get a yellow sweater and that whole concept of which I’m sure you got. We started with that, that she has this yellow sweater coat, whatever it is, and that it carries throughout. So, if the first yellow sweater gets wrecked, there’s another. She likes yellow.
We actually started with her with the very first look, the one that we see when she gets sent to jail. So, we started there and we did most of it chronologically, because with that particular character, so much happens and there’s so much action. At certain points, it’s like, oh, we have to go back because she can’t be running across the snow in bare feet, those kinds of things. The practicalities of it all. And so, many times she ends an episode gone off somewhere where there’s no chance she’s going home to change her clothes. We had to pick, especially in the last episodes, where all the action takes place.
One character scarily familiar is Gator. He just looks like a guy you’ve seen at protests or other…. activities. What were some of your references for him?
Yeah, it’s from the world that you probably assume it’s from, that he is a blind follower, he’s a blind follower of Roy’s. All he wants is Roy Roy’s acknowledgement. It’s that whole sort of tough guy bravado that doesn’t necessarily amount to too much, at least in his character. Yes, it was that sort of survival. Survival was in a sort of paramilitary feel, because they are technically police, and that’s always a fine line there.
Say for Deputies Witt Farr and Indira Olmstead, how’d you want to be authentic with their uniforms?
We try to be as authentic as possible to the period, but in the end, we’re doing Fargo, so we’re always going to want to default towards what’s recognizable as Fargo. Some of the colors, they’re real colors, but because we have so many different police forces in chapter five, we did have to do some adjusting and take a bit of license as far as what colors go.
For the most part, they’re pretty close to accurate. For me, the big thing is with police and anyone in that area, much easier with Roy and Gator, but with the other police characters, is to make them into a character as a person. You see it all the time on television where you put somebody in a uniform, and it’s just a cop, nothing else. Whereas I think it’s important to, with Indira, she’s a real person. What are her problems? We just pull those things into reality.
On the other side of the law, Jennifer Jason Leigh. I love her film noir vibe. Did you two talk about any 1940s or ’50s heroines or screen presences?
Yes. Well, I think that’s great that you got that she is a woman of another kind of generation. She’s a woman of so much power and used to having so much power. We did have a lot of conversations about how the character would evolve over the chapter, because we don’t really see any cracks in the veneer until later when she starts to open up. We’re trying to sort of keep the very sort of conservative First Lady kind of look. I think that that did come up in the conversation. She should look like every first lady there ever was, because she is the first lady of Minnesota.
Dave Foley’s attorney character, there’s such an ease about how he carries himself. How did comfort define him?
Dave himself is such a pro. I’m sure he could make it comfortable if he was wearing a paper bag. He’s just that guy. He’s so pleasant to deal with. It was always about the character, too. It was always about the show and what worked best for the show. The whole eye patch thing, he embraced it. I’m sure it’s an additional thing to deal with as an actor, but he didn’t even give a second thought to it.
I love how his character simply loves what he does.
Yeah, it’s true. He truly does. He’s just having a good time. He likes his job. Dave certainly had embraced it. Sometimes some people are harder than others, but he was not that person. He was lovely to work with.
Makes your job a lot easier, right?
Actually, I have to say that all the cast on Fargo, and I’m not just saying that because I am talking about Fargo, but that’s the one thing we always comment on about Fargo is the casting is fabulous. Never divas. I don’t know, it really comes off as an ensemble piece, everyone working together for the same thing. That goes with the crew too, but it’s remarkably consistent in the casting.
Fargo season five is available to stream on Hulu.
