Get Tickets THE OUTFIT opens March 18th
After winning an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for THE IMITATION GAME, writer Graham Moore makes his directoial debut with THE OUTFIT. In our exclusive interview, Moore shared how he used the golden trophy as motivation to create a captivating and masterful thriller. Recognized as an AMC Artisan Film for it‘s gorgeous cinematography and captivating plot with a plethora of twists and turns all driven by a subtle, yet witty performance by Academy Award winner Mark Rylance.
THE OUTFIT is inspired by true story that occurred during 1956 in Chicago. Moore partnered with Johnathan McClain to write the script based on the events of the very first FBI bugging, to uncover the mob which actually occurred in a tailor shop. Moore and McClain set out to explore a unique perspective from the real-life events.
“What a great setting for a kind of ‘Hitchcockian’ crime-thriller that we really, really love. What if we do a 50’s noir crime-thriller, but tell the story not from the perspective of one of the gangsters, but instead tell the story all from the perspective of this kind-of meek, mild mannered tailor who has to make their clothes.”
Bespoke Setting
The entire film is set in one location, the intimate and quaint tailor shop provides an immersive experience that allows you to focus on the characters within the scenes. Moore shared with us how he collaborated with cinematographer Dick Pope and production designer Gemma Jackson to craft a meticulous space that reflected the essence of the main character, Leonard.
”The whole aesthetics of the film should reflect the aesthetics of our main character. The film should look and feel like one of our main characters suits, like something he would have made. Which means, it is elegant, and its beautiful, and its precise.”
A Cut Above
Moore researched and spent time with tailors on Saville Row to get a better understanding of the craft and the craftsmen who spend decades training as tailors. Mark Rylance, who portrays Leonard, also trained with a cutter on Saville Row to accurately depict the role in THE OUTFIT. When discussing the Academy Award winner, Moore shared the similarities between Rylance and the character Leonard.
“He reminds me so much of his character Leonard his character, because I think Mark is a craftsman who has spent decades and decades of his own life training to perfect this esoteric and in some ways sort of spooky and mysterious craft of acting.”
Moore shared a story from the set working with Rylance on the height of the work table which the tailor uses to make suits. The story illustrates the attention to detail and care that Rylance wanted to capture in the film.
“Mark puts his hand on the table, and says… it's an inch too high. This isn’t how the character would work, it would have to be an inch lower. can you lower it?… That was the level of attention and care that Mark put into every detail of his performance, there was nothing that escaped him.”
Layers of Lies
In THE OUTFIT, the calm and meticulous Leonard is supported by his assistant, Mable played by Zoey Deutch while they try to outwit a dangerous group of mobsters lead by the impulsive and arrogant gangster Richie, played by Dylan O’Brien. The characters in THE OUTFIT are described as layered and complex, Moore shared that each character has layers that are used to hide secrets from the other characters. As the plot unfolds, we learn more about each of these characters and their motives and personalities.
“Every character in the film, I think… as the scenes go along, we'll find out has more layers to them than initially appeared. Like a suit of clothing. Over the course of the film, we are going to peel back the layers of every single character and reveal what they are hiding to each other, all the various games they are playing with each other. But likewise we are going to reveal what they are hiding to themselves.”
THE OUTFIT opens March 18th, with it‘s beautiful and immersive cinematography, and incredible performances of layered and complex characters, Moore hopes that movie fans will return to theatres to see the movie multiple times to uncover clues that may have been missed during the first viewing.
”It was important to all of us, that we make a film that wasn't just kind of watchable, but rewatchable. We wanted to make the kind of film that you could watch over and over again and see new things to realize that things that might seem surprising, were pretty clear about the whole time.”
Get Tickets THE OUTFIT opens March 18th
