One of the panels I most enjoyed getting to go to at WonderCon was the Behind Hollywood’s Hottest Heroes with TV and Film’s Top Creatives. There was so much talent on stage: Ruth Carter (Black Panther,) composer Jeff Russo (Star Trek: Discovery, Legion), makeup designer Sarit Klein (The Defenders, Daredevil), composer Sean Callery (Jessica Jones, 24), and costume designer Stephanie Maslansky (Luke Cage, The Defenders), and composer Siddhartha Khosla (Runaways, This is Us). Here are the highlights:
Working in Established Universes
Jeff Russo is currently scoring two shows that have established cannon and themes, like Star Trek Discovery. Jeff looks at it as a good challenge, because he has to create a new sound that is also familiar to the franchise. He gets to balance this with a show like Legion, that is wildly different from the Bryan Singer films. With that, he just wants to keep people off balance.
Black Panther
As a fan of Black Panther, I was ready for any and all behind the scenes details from the production. Ruth said that her favorite moment working on the film was dressing Winston Duke, who played M’Baku. There were plans to have the character wear a grass skirt, but that once the 6’4″ actor put it on, he looked like a girl. She started using wood armor and leather. Director Ryan Coogler wanted the character to have a silver back, like the ape of the tribe, so they had to pin the fur down with magnets.
She also said the Dora Milaje was some of her favorite armor to work on because she had to make 10 look like 50 and she met the necklace make on the street of New Orleans. That necklace maker now has an official line of jewelry.
Composers Corner
Composers have the coolest, yet most mystifying process regarding what they do. For example, Sean Callery composed the opening theme of Jessica Jones (Which won him an Emmy) on a melodica his father found from his youth. Siddartha, who is working on Runaways and This Is Us, gets the chance every week to make people cry and feel things, which is how he likes it. He says he makes a concerted effort to have the music tie in to the emotional relationships with the characters. He also gets chances to write songs for the shows he’s on, and as a former member of a band, he likes getting to flex those skills. It also allows him to make sure the songs fit in perfectly with the score.
Behind the Scenes on The Defenders
Having Stephanie and Sarit on the same panel was fun because both women worked on Marvel’s The Defenders. Stephanie mentioned that as the costume designer she had to walk a delicate balance between the various color palettes of the characters but also maintaining consistency. She said that she actually leaned into highlighting the differences via the costumes.
Sarit had an even bigger challenge, especially when it came time for the climactic fight. She said her process was to breakdwon the script once it arrives and then work with the stunt coordinator to get a previs of the fight. This is so she can know what caused a wound, what type and where it should be. She’d then go to hair and makeup to talk with them. Perhaps most fascinating was that she’s often dealing with characters who have healing powers, which provides another continuity issue cause what if the characters heal during the fight? All of those considerations have to be noted when doing something like The Defenders where you might only have 2.5 hours to get everyone ready.