Love Lies Bleeding: 'We wanted those final looks to become Halloween costumes'

Olga Mill on creating the 1980s outfits for Rose Glass's second feature film, Love Lies Bleeding.

On the first May bank holiday, I saw Challengers and Love Lies Bleeding one after the other. And while they are very different movies, I’m pleased to say I saved the best ‘til last. 

Starring Kristin Stewart as local gym manager Louise "Lou" Langston and Katy O’Brian as out-of-town bodybuilder Jaqueline "Jackie" Cleaver, the star-crossed lovers’ tumultuous relationship sees them morph into a modern day Thelma and Louise on the run from the law and Lou’s crime lord father, played by Ed Harris. This surreal-thriller-dark-comedy was undoubtedly more engaging (and more horny) than Zendaya and her “little white boys”. 

As costume designer Olga Mill puts it on a video call from Portland, where she’s currently filming her next project, “I don’t think it’s a safe movie”. She continues: “Rose [Glass, director] took a really big swing, and it’s really cool when you take a big creative swing, and people respond positively to it.” 

We discuss the individual character’s playlists, delving into the world of bodybuilding, and the multitude of Crater Gym t-shirts which the film has spawned.

Firstly, congratulations on Love Lies Bleeding. How has the reaction been to the film?

It's really exciting. I don't think it's a safe movie. It's sort of doing its own thing. Rose took a really big swing, and it's really cool when you take a big creative swing, and people respond positively to it. 

How did you land the gig?

In the same way a lot of jobs come about — I'll get the script and then I'll usually do a creative response to it. I’ll do a deck that is not necessarily specific to costumes, more of a visual collage or an emotional response, and then I’ll talk to the director. A lot of it is a vibe check for each other and making sure that you have the same perspective. But I really liked St Maud [Glass’s directorial debut] so I was excited to chat with Rose about it, and then we went from there. 

What was the process of making the film like? 

So usually, the next step after they say “You’ve got the job” is I’ll go ahead and have a conversation with the production designer and the director, and then get into doing more specific character boards. [For Love Lies Bleeding] a lot of it was research, because it was a period film [set in 1989]. So, just trying to look at as much material from the 80s as possible, and something that Rose and I talked about early on was trying to do a very grounded version of the 80s. Obviously there’s a neon, super graphic, shoulder pad version of that era, and we were more interested in doing something a little bit more naturalistic. 

Katy O’Brian as Jackie

I tried to find photos of normal people in their everyday lives versus looking at a lot of editorials. Each project calls for different research, so this was a combination of looking at muscle magazines from the 80s, and there's a really good documentary called Pumping Iron that I looked at for the women characters of the bodybuilding world. But then in terms of Lou and Jackie, it was about finding candid photos of people not in major cities, which was really important. We’re not looking at somebody who's working in New York in the 80s. You want to go a few years back [than the chosen decade] for your research if you are doing something set in a smaller town.

“You want to go a few years back for your research if you are doing something set in a smaller town”

Also something that Rose did which I found super helpful was that she made a playlist for each character. It helped to get a bit more of a sense of who they are in a way that sometimes you can't really put into words. 

I want to know what songs were on these playlists!

I would have to go back for specifics. But Jackie's was definitely a bolt of caffeine, like really pumped up 80s music. What was interesting about the Lou playlist was that it had some really sentimental, trippy love songs, so I then thought about that character as a sentimental person with their clothing too. Not somebody who has new things all the time, but who holds onto them. And then for Lou Senior [Ed Harris] that was a character who was tricky to crack. I found that playlist really helpful, it had a lot of acid jazz on it. 

Ed Harris as Lou Senior

Why did you find Lou Senior tricky to crack?

He's a bad guy in the movie, but we didn't want to necessarily dress him like a villain. He’s kind of an eccentric guy too. So a lot of those shirts that he’s in feel a bit more playful than the character reads right away. 

How did you collaborate with the cast on their characters’ wardrobes? 

You have to work really closely — there’s no other way around it. They’re not paper dolls, they’re human beings. You have to establish a sense of trust in the beginning and also be open to their interpretation of the character. The wardrobe fitting helps lead the actor and the actors help lead to the costumes, so it’s really hand in hand. Ultimately, they’re the ones that are on screen. It’s a really vulnerable process for them to trust you to dress them. So I try to take that relationship as a sacred thing and be really mindful of where their instincts lead them. The best case scenario is when an actor has a really strong point of view, but is also really open — I think that leads to the best work.

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A24 [the entertainment company behind Love Lies Bleeding] is known for its merch. How involved were you with the Crater Gym t-shirts and various memorabilia it is now selling on its site? 

That's actually a bigger question for costume designers in general, because they're not involved in the merch. You're involved in the designing of the costume, which is the t-shirt in the film [which Lou wears throughout and in promotional advertising] but then the merch is its own separate thing. A lot of costume designers have pushed against that, because we are the ones creating these things. 

[For the Crater Gym t-shirt] It was a collab between the costume department and the production designer in terms of graphics, but then colours and what the t-shirts actually were and looked like, that was on me.

A24’s Crater Gym merch

This is something that has come up in previous interviews (see Leslie Schilling and Susie’s caftan which was sold by HBO). What do you think needs to change to ensure costume designers are more integrated and fairly compensated for their work?

I don't know, it’s a huge conversation. This is my first time where something has really blown up. It’s complicated, in some ways you’re like “Oh this is so cool, people are responding to it” but on the other hand, you’re like “Hey, wait a minute” you know? 

There's a friend of mine who sent me somebody who had made their own Crater Gym t-shirt. But this is a little different, because the t-shirt I actually designed that is in the film is the merch — it's not reimagined. I think people doing their own versions of it is cute, but when there’s A24 selling it and a tonne of them being sold on Etsy too...When something’s out there, it’s out there. 

So you’re happy for people to recreate it for Halloween?

For sure, there's nothing more flattering! And that’s actually something we talked about when thinking about Jackie and Lou, especially in their final looks that they stay in for so much of the film. We wanted those to be like if you showed up to a Halloween party, you would immediately know who those characters are. 

But when there’s profit being made off of your design and you’re not involved in the conversation, I really hope that [costume designer’s] contracts are reworked to include that [merch].

Lou in the Crater Gym t-shirt

Do you have a favourite outfit or item from the film?

I just don’t think of it that way. For their final looks, I really loved how Lou’s jacket turned out and the process of making that. I’m also glad we got those striped shorts on Jackie. But none of them work individually on their own — they only work because they’re part of this bigger soup, so it’s hard to say “Oh, that was my favourite ingredient”. 

Love Lies Bleeding is a film with a woman director, which follows a lesbian relationship and has a cast largely made up of women. Did that offer a different experience to other projects or films that you’ve worked on? 

It was just a really good creative experience — I don’t want to dilute it down and say it was a good experience because I was working with women. In terms of it being about a lesbian couple, what I really liked about the script was that it doesn’t make that relationship the struggle. It’s a juicy, pulpy script, that’s a really fun ride and isn’t shying away from sexuality, but I also don’t think I would frame it exclusively around that. 

When this question comes up, I wish people would ask what it’s like to make a movie about a straight couple with a male director, you know? But I totally understand the motivation around it and that it should be acknowledged. However it’s less on the creative process side, and more on the women just need to be given more opportunities to direct side. It’s such a position of power, and as much as people want to talk about the progress that has been made, it’s still really still just men who get to do it a lot more often.

Bodybuilder Jackie

How did you get into costume design?

I went to a public performing arts school where I took acting classes and very quickly realised that it wasn’t my cup of tea. But I really liked the costumes and the set design aspect of it, so on a practical level that’s where I became interested. I studied it in college, I went to graduate school for it, I worked as an assistant and then started doing independent films.

“My family emigrated to America when I was about five…So you’re constantly decoding how people look, what that means and how to copy it.”

But on a more psychological level, if I break it down, my family emigrated to America when I was about five and when you change environment as a kid you want to assimilate. So you’re constantly decoding how people look, what that means and how to copy it. That tuned me in to what clothing means and trying to figure out somebody’s status — all the things you think about as a costume designer.

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What are your favourite kinds of projects to work on?

What I like about this kind of work the most is that with each project you're dipped into a completely other world. Like, I didn't know anything about bodybuilding before, and it was so cool to learn about that. Then doing Eileen [a 2023 film starring Anne Hathaway], I learned all about that time period of the 1960s. The variety is what is so cool.

What can you tell me about this film you’re working on in Portland?

It is called Night Always Comes [based on the novel by Willy Vlautin]. I don't know how much I'm supposed to say about it…[Directed by Benjamin Caron and starring Vanessa Kirby, the release date is yet to be announced].