Mark Bridges

“Heaven's Gate, I'm fascinated by it. It has a lot of baggage with it, but I've never really sat down and seen it. The parts that I have seen, though, are a lot of texture of clothing. It looks so period. I think Isabelle Huppert is in it. I'm dying to see it. I'm really dying to sit down, get the popcorn, and watch the whole thing. I can't wait.”

“The Damned. The costumes are by Piero Tosi, unbelievable designer. I try to emulate him, but I will never reach the level of Piero Tosi if I live to be 100. So one can try.”

“Here's another one: Barry Lyndon. Milena Canonero, another genius, designed it, and I use it often for inspiration.”

“Aha, The Leopard, from my buddy Piero Tosi. I've seen some of these clothes up close—the shapes, the fabric, the details. There's a thing with some of these films too that you get a sense of when the film was made, but you also are just in love with how period it all looks and how exquisite it all looks. That's the kind of thing that whets my appetite to watch and to enjoy and to just luxuriate in the beautiful artistry of a designer.”

“Jules Dassin's Naked City. I use it for research because Bill Daniels drove around New York and photographed real-life people from like a window in a bread truck. You really get a sense of the day-to-day with the citizens of New York. I think I used it to research a film I designed called The Master because of what real people would be like in 1948. You see that not everybody wears hats; it's only the older ladies.”

“Let's see, what's this?, La belle et la bête. Just beautiful, surreal, shot right at the end of World War II in France. Everybody was cold, everybody was hungry. Jean Cocteau came down with impetigo during the filming of it but managed to have the most amazing, beautiful fantasy film. It's beautiful to this day. I love to watch it.”

“Sunday Bloody Sunday. Someone mentioned this to me last night. I currently have a film out, Maestro, and there's part of it in 1971. Someone asked me, 'Oh, were you influenced by Sunday Bloody Sunday?' I said no, but I'd love to look at the movie, and here we are today getting a copy. I can't wait to look at it.”

“Wait a minute, My Beautiful Laundrette. One of the first films I worked on in Hollywood, I was assistant costume designer to Richard Hornung on The Grifters, and it was directed by Stephen Frears, who directed this film also. I've done a couple of films, Phantom Thread and There Will Be Blood, with Daniel Day-Lewis, and I have to say the whole time I was working with Daniel on There Will Be Blood, I never once related that was the same actor that played this part.”

“Marriage Story. Beautiful, beautiful movie. Oh, who did the costumes? Oh, I did. But it's a beautiful movie and directed by my friend Noah Baumbach, who I've done another film for him too, and it's always a joy. He lets you do what you do and supports you all the way.”

“Oh, you have another one of my movies. Wow, Punch-Drunk Love. It was our beautiful musical—not musical—beautiful love story. We were kind of influenced a little tiny bit by Godard films in making this, and it's just sweet. I highly recommend you see this if you get a chance.”