When British costume designer James Acheson says he has done a bit of everything, he is not exaggerating.
The three-time Academy Award winner’s credits cover film, television, theatre and opera such as The Last Emperor (1987), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Doctor Who, Hamlet in London and Broadway and The Marriage of Figaro in Vienna and at the Metropolitan Opera.
But he had never done a ballet.
So in 2015 he wrote to then Royal New Zealand Ballet artistic director Francesco Ventriglia suggesting a collaboration, as he was now living in New Zealand.
"I’d always wanted to do one. I done a bit of everything. But I didn’t hear anything for a long time and then I suddenly got a phone call."
The proposal was to design costumes and sets for Ventriglia’s new full-length ballet Romeo and Juliet.
Acheson, who has been described as "master illusionist", suddenly found himself in uncharted territory — he knew nothing about ballet. He is probably best known in New Zealand for designing the costume for Mr Creosote in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life.
"I would have been really up against it if it had been tutus."
A saving grace, he says, was that he loved the music, the 1968 film of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Franco Zefferelli, and loved Italy. He was also no stranger to period costumes.
He is also no stranger to men in leotards, having designed for director Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, and also being known for controversially removing Superman’s red underpants.
"I was destined to come to the ballet."
With Romeo and Juliet, he remembers Ventriglia having plans for moving set pieces without bringing down the curtain, managing to eliminate all but one. This time they have eliminated even that one.
"That slightly filmic idea is something we developed over a long time."
With a tight budget for costumes, he raided the RNZB’s storeroom for whatever he could find. They took inspiration from Zefferelli’s film and the art of the Renaissance period, its paintings and lighting.
"I was helped by some lovely people who knew where bits could be found. So we pieced things together like a jigsaw puzzle and used lots of cheap velvets."
The whole experience was a dream for a designer, he says. Acheson did not realise when he started the project that the real joy would come from working with the dancers.
"I absolutely loved it. For me working with dancers is the best thing of all. These young people in some cases have this short butterfly life and they come up and say ‘it’s lovely to work with you’ and you think ‘it’s my pleasure’ — you inhabit the stuff I’ve designed and you make it live through movement.
"That is so much more rewarding than working with egos in the film industry."
"You are working with young athletes who are disciplined, who are beautiful, who move beautifully. I don’t think they had worn anything quite like this and they make it work, make it sing, make it dance, made it their own which made it such a special thing."
Having a young dancer come up to him and ask if they could wear a gold necklace given to them by their parents was an example.
"Of course it was, but the idea she came to me from a tiny part to make sure I was OK with the necklace that would be almost invisible on stage."
However, Acheson has spent most of his working life in the film world. A world he "stumbled" into.
"You know the thing about imposter syndrome? It’s true."
He studied theatre design but then got a job at the BBC after he followed a girlfriend, an ex-ballet dancer who had grown too tall, in applying for a job at the British broadcaster.
"I got the job and she didn’t. That was the end of a lovely friendship."
So he found himself in "this strange world I didn’t know anything about" designing for television shows, most notably for Doctor Who in the 1970s.
He designed costumes and monsters during the time of the third and fourth Doctors, including the costume for the fourth Doctor Tom Baker. It is said he bought the wool for the long scarf that was to become a trademark of the character, although it was never his intention for it to be that long.
Acheson then moved into films collaborating with director Terry Gilliam and other members of the Monty Python troupe for the films Time Bandits, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life and Brazil.
With the 50th anniversary since the first Python television show coming up, the comedians’ works are again in the spotlight.
Acheson is still bemused at how New Zealanders are so taken with the character Mr Creosote, which he designed.
"It seems to be very iconic in New Zealand for some reason. The Pythons are lovely, lovely people. I had a lovely time."
He still remembers filming the famous vomit scene which took four days, with the smell getting worse each day.
"I still think it was a disgusting scene that doesn’t stand the test of time, but people still talk about it. They were crazy times, an awful long time ago now."
Acheson then went on to make a name for himself for his detailed period costumes, winning his first Academy Award for The Last Emperor, where 10,000 costumes were created over 26 weeks, and his next the following year for Dangerous Liaisons and a third in 1995 for Restoration. He has also been recognised with a career achievement award from the Costume Designers Guild (2004) and was one of the first three costume designers to have been awarded by the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style in 2006.
When asked what his favourite is, Acheson says it’s a bit like asking what your favourite book is.
"I like bits of certain films, but I certainly loved working with the Italian Bernardo Bertolucci ... He was very different.
"Everybody loved being a lemon — you were engaged; you were flattered by his friendship and his communication; you want to contribute."
He worked with Bertolucci on The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky and Little Buddha.
"Also I loved his vulnerability, I loved his doubt. He was OK about being doubtful as we often all are. He showed his anxiety, his doubt, his fear. He would say if you pushed through the fear it can be useful. Even [with] this ballet, you have to push through things to get things done."
He can still remember the run-up for the first production of the ballet.
"We are in the final dress rehearsal stage now, but five years ago at this time we were still making costumes — we had just about built the set but we were still building costumes for the public dress rehearsal — it was that crazy."
It was 22 years ago when he came to New Zealand — he had married a Kiwi 10 years prior, and they were keen for their daughter to grow up with her New Zealand family. He was also keen to cut down on film work.
"I wanted to give up the business as I’d become a sort of nomad working all over the world."
He has stayed in New Zealand, wanting to be close to daughter Grace, loving the lifestyle and the old villa he has renovated, although he wishes people understood their own heritage a bit more.
"There are times when I miss Europe terribly. I miss old stones, I miss those centuries of history, but I have good friends here.
"I have a sweetness of life I like among Kiwis and I love my New Zealand rugby."
