This coming Friday, Disney is releasing the next instalment in the "Descendants" on Disney+. The new film, “Descendants: The Rise of Red” follows the story of Red (Kylie Cantrall), the rebellious daughter of the Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora), and Chloe (Malia Baker), the perfectionist daughter of Cinderella (Brandy). The tyrannical Queen of Hearts incites a coup against Auradon and polar opposites Red and Chloe must join forces to stop her.
Recently, I spoke with Tony-nominated costume designer Emilio Sosa, who designed the costumes for “Descendants: The Rise of Red”, and who explained some of the process of making the movie.
Hi everyone, it's Roger here, found what's on at DisneyPlus.com. It's time for a quick look here in an interview with Amelia, who is the lead costume designer on the brand new Disney movie at Descendants of the Rise of Red. Thank you so much for taking your time to speak to me today. And did you give us a just a brief introduction to yourself and kind of how you kind of got to work on this new film? You know, they found me out. The producers looked at, they were familiar with my theatrical work because I've been in the theater for a very long time. And then they found me and looked me up and asked me, was I interested in having a conversation with them? I said, yes, of course. Then I ran to my computer and watched every descendant movie I could find before the first initial interview. And I was taken by the style. They're so stylized that, you know, and it's different from my aesthetic, that I thought it would be an amazing challenge for me for to be involved in such an amazing project. So it was something like something I hadn't done. It was an opportunity that I was ready for. And I just said, yes. Actually, one of the things I was going to ask you was about, like, did you go back and watch the original films from Descendants? But also, did you go and have a look at the animated films as well to kind of see if there was any inspiration? Or you do want to do something completely different? I want to do, that's interesting, because I'm that type of designer. I don't like to do too much research about what's been done before. Because as an artist, I'm a sponge. Really, I've just absorbed energy. I've absorbed creatively, visually. So I watched enough to know the characters, but I didn't want to get too immersed because I didn't want to repeat anything subconsciously, which as an artist, you know, that happens all the time. Yeah, that's cool. And also, like, in some ways, this film, it's got kind of different cast, obviously, with the sort of the younger characters. Plus, also, you've got like Brandy and Rita Ora in there as well. Was that a little bit of a difference kind of to make them so different looking? Oh, my first of all, I'm like, I was such a fan of Brandy, first of all, the fun to jump into having opportunity to dress her was the lifetime experience. The same thing with Rita Ora, but but I love the idea. You know what? I grew up on Disney. I think if you're in the US, if you're American, at some point, you grew up on the wonderful world of Disney on Sunday. So the Disney aesthetic was always in my brain. So to what I loved about the film is that we're taking these younger characters that are derivative from the original characters. So it's always great to put a spin on it. But yeah, I want it to definitely it's two generations. And that's I think that's what the movies, it's that's the core of the movie. It's a new generation. So I wanted to honor what had been in the past, but definitely move it forward. So this movie is very special for those who first experienced it now. This is their descendants, the rights of red. It's not just another version of what they've seen before. That's good. I'm looking forward to watching it when it drops, but also ask you what was the transition like because you've worked on some amazing shows on like Broadway, moving like from theater on to your very first kind of big movie project. And I kept thinking about the greatest for me, the greatest learning curve is that theater, when you go to the theater, you experience the entire stage in front of you. So you're seeing the entire world. So everything matters as far as what color is the sofa, the curtains, the chairs, anything that your character comes across to while it does matter in the cinema world, the cameras right here, the camera is super, super, super close. For an example, I always give an example of a button on stage, a button. Some people might might notice a red button, some might not notice a red button on a shirt on camera and the movies. That button becomes five foot tall. So you do notice the details and that's the biggest difference. I went from big macro to micro, every little detail mattered. The color of the thread that we use to sew the collar, the beads on the necklace, the zipper, every little detail on on screen matters. And that for me was the biggest adjustment because I'm used to big, big productions where my closest audience is 30 to 50 feet away. So I have a lot of leeway in film, the camera is right there. So you got to be more precise. Yeah, it's kind of cool things. Well, like, like, like, I was like, when I get to see a show and stuff, you know, you are, you're looking around and stuff, but as you said, the camera is right. And you've got no room to kind of move. And what was your biggest highlight working on the Descendants film? For me, the biggest highlight, but besides working with someone like Brandy and Rita Ora and all of these amazing actors was just the scope of this film. I had never worked on a film with so many layers of technology. You know, you have your, your green screen stuff. You have like 40, 50 extras in soldier costumes. You have an entire campus of school kids from different parts of the world. The world that we were creating was so much larger than I had, than I had experienced in the theater. And for me, it's a challenge that I loved and enjoyed. I'm surprised I enjoyed it so much because there's so much working logistics that goes into it and every decision matters. And I enjoy that kind of pressure. That's cool. And what was your biggest challenge moving into this project? The speed of how things are made, how films are shot. It's so fast theater. I have rehearsal. I have what we call tech rehearsals, and then I have previews before we open a show. So I have a lot of time to look at my work and finesse and pick and tick and tick and tick on film. When that sucker is in front of the camera and they shoot it, that's what it is. Doesn't matter whether you have the wrong earring on or you missed a belt loop. All those things are what the audience will see. So the pressure of getting it right the first time is what really drove me to really focus and really get in the moment of the film. Because like I said, in theater, I have weeks to fix my work if I have, if I want to in film, you have maybe one time for a camera test and then you fix it and then you shoot it. So you have to really be precise with your choices and have a really clear vision of what the character is. I'm how long were you working on the project overall? Oh, my God, overall had to be over a year because I got, it was over a year because I got, I got introduced to it in like February of 22, maybe, and then we shot it in the spring of 23. Yeah, it was a while. And how many kind of costumes overall did you actually make for the film? Oh, my God, I would say that there's over 500 costumes. It's a big, it's a big. I mean, you know, once they were creating new worlds, so every world has his own color story, his own identifiable style. So it was fun. Like I said, I had, we had the big, I think we had a 50, no, maybe like 30,000 square foot warehouse in Atlanta. That was the costume hub. And it had my studio, my workshop, our background people. I mean, it was a hub of like a city, a city within a city. And I mean, it's going to be kind of hard for this next question, but I think you're like, is there one particular outfit that you kind of, you're most proud of? While, you know, choosing outfits is like choosing your children. You know, you love them all. And I was like, I feel corny to say you love them all, but I must say, I'm super proud of what we did for a Kylie as red. I think her stuff, it's, it's really super cool. In a sense, it's kind of hard because you're trying to project what the fashion is going to be for the next two years before you. So that, but my fashion designer background helped me with that. But also what we did for, for Rita as the red queen. We did some really, really, really, really special pieces, also brandy. I mean, we did some beautiful custom embroidery on her gown. I mean, it looks amazing. It's all, I love it all and for separate reasons. And that's why I love what I do and I do what I do. It's a unique career path or lifestyle. So I've been in the theater my entire adult life. And this is just the next step, the next phase. Let's go. And my final question is, this has got lots of different franchises that it works on. Would you like to work on any other feature projects with Disney? Yes. Yeah, I've got to say, I'm really looking forward to watching a movie when it drops on to Disney plus on Friday, the 12th of July. I'm really looking forward to watching it. And thank you so much for taking your time out to speak to Scott. And again, the costumes really do stand out and look again, very, very amazing. So can't wait for everyone to see it again. Thank you so much. I am so excited and thank you so much. [MUSIC] [ Silence ]
