Jenny Beavan interview: ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ costume designer

Jenny Beavan, a three-time Oscar winner, has plenty to celebrate this year. Her fellow costume designers have chosen her as the recipient of the Career Achievement Award at the 27th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards on February 6. This honor recognizes her nearly five-decade-long career as one of Hollywood’s leading costume designers.

“It’s extremely special,” Beavan tells Gold Derby (watch the video interview above). “At the same time, I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’ve achieved everything I need to achieve in my career. I’m not finished yet!”

This year, the 12-time Academy Award nominee is back in contention for her post-apocalyptic designs in George Miller‘s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The film tells the origin story of renegade warrior Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) before her encounter and team-up with Mad Max. It is a prequel to Beavan’s previous collaboration with Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road, which earned the designer her second Oscar.

“Fury Road was totally out of my comfort zone,” says Beavan, who was mostly known for intricate Victorian designs. “It was great to come back and take it further — knowing about the universe I was walking into and George’s whole concept of the apocalypse, the wasteland, and the people who inhabit it.”

Beavan describes her rapport with Miller as “very simple” while recounting his request to have her embark on another Mad Max adventure. Completely unaware the director was making the prequel, Beavan was hurriedly brought into the fold. “Luckily, I knew a bit about the Furiosa story because he talked about it over the years,” she says. “He thinks in a way that you’re simply going to know what to do. In this case, not only did we not have a cast, we didn’t really know what we were up to. I absolutely love George, but he’s in one way very clear and in one way very illusive. Somewhere in the middle, you find a way.”

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros.)

Beavan’s work on Furiosa was a monumental undertaking — creating designs where every element, big or small, serves a purpose. After all, there are no shopping malls in a wasteland. Nothing could be ruled out, from parachutes to motorbike gear to teddy bears.

“Some of it’s in the script, and some of it is George’s wishes — because he’s very clear — he’s what I call an auteur,” she explains. “He generates the process, writes it, casts it, and directs it. It’s very much his film. He has strong and clear ideas about where he thinks it could go. He came up with the parachute. The teddy bear symbolizes people who have been abused and hang on to something. We had no idea who Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) was. If you read the script, you have no idea who he is, where he comes from, or what his background is. We used to have these Zooms and meetings about, ‘Who is this character?’ That was actually fascinating. Chris Hemsworth’s parents are child therapists, and he’s very interested in what happens to children. That helped me come up with the teddy bear idea. It’s not entirely uncommon for people to hold on to soft toys.”

Chris Hemsworth in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros.)

From her first feature, The Bostonians, to her third Oscar win for Cruella, here’s Beavan looking back at some of her career highlights in her own words.

On her first feature film, The Bostonians (1984):

“Judy Moorcroft was supposed to do it — I was going to be her assistant. We’d actually done a couple of fittings when she was offered Passage to India with David Lean and decided to do it. And basically, they were left without a designer. The producer, Ismail Merchant, just turned to me and said, ‘Jenny, you will do it.’ And Jim (director James Ivory) was willing to take the risk. I said to him — even not that long ago because he was in England — ‘Jim, you took such a risk on me.’ He said, ‘Well, you’d done some really good work.’ And I thought, ‘But Jim, I’d only literally been an assistant for you.’ And he said, ‘No, no, I knew you were good.’ I thought, ‘Blimey, the trust.'”

Madeleine Potter and Christopher Reeve in The Bostonians (Photo: Courtesy of Merchant Ivory Productions)

On her first Oscar nomination for The Bostonians:

“I remember we all went in economy — and I think we all stayed in Judy Moorcroft’s room. She was being properly looked after because she was nominated for Passage to India. We all piled in like a dormitory. I had no money in those days. It was just bizarre. Anyway, it was all fine, but it was an extraordinary thing to do.”

Vanessa Redgrave and Madeleine Potter in The Bostonians (Photo: Courtesy of Merchant Ivory Productions)

On her first Oscar win for A Room With a View (1985):

“We were there a couple of days before — and there’s lunches and things — and people were saying, ‘I think you’re going to go home with your suitcase a little heavier,’ or, ‘You got it.’ If we hadn’t, I think we’d be quite surprised. So it wasn’t unexpected. I had my now ex — not husband — but partner there, and he insisted we make speeches. He had us practice. So, we practiced this speech, which I think lots of people do because you do actually have to be prepared — and it was really fun. We got these ridiculously wonderful gold statue thingies.”

A Room With a View (Photo: Courtesy of Merchant Ivory Productions)

On how eight collaborations with director James Ivory shaped her career:

“Working with him is extraordinary. He really loves letting the people who he chooses be creative. I think the only thing he didn’t like in anything I’ve ever done for him was that I put Robert Powell in a fur coat in Jane Austen in Manhattan because he was head of an alternative theater company. He really didn’t like it, so we swapped it for a more military navy blue, ex-army vintage kind of coat. But, in all the films I’ve done for Jim, that’s the only thing. He always just appreciated what we did. My goodness, his eye for detail was extraordinary. But if he liked it, he would just be happy that you gave it to him. So, you gave him your absolute best because you wanted to. I find him completely inspirational, still.

He trusted me. He trusted Helena Bonham Carter — he took a complete gamble on her — Emma Thompson, a load of us who are now really well-known but weren’t known then. He just had an instinct that we’d be okay.”

A Room With a View (Photo: Courtesy of Merchant Ivory Productions)

On why she was thrilled Emma Stone broke her collarbone while shooting Cruella (2021):

“Oh, I had a great time. Dear me, it was last minute. So, I got this call from the producer, and it said, ‘What are you up to?’ And I thought, ‘Uh-oh.’ I didn’t know what she was doing, but I thought, Cruella — but Sandy Powell would do it. Every time I did a Disney film, they would go on to Cruella next, but it never happened. Anyway, what apparently happened was they had a last-minute opportunity in Emma Stone‘s schedule, so it was like, ‘Let’s do it.’ And Sandy, absolutely correctly, didn’t think there was enough time. She was so right. Of course, I thought, ‘Oh well.’ And my wonderful supervisor, Claire Sprague, thought we could do it. And I thought, ‘Well, if Claire thinks we can do it, we can do it.’ And so we launched in and then, happily, Emma managed to slip and I think broke her collarbone. She was mortified.

We were so thrilled. She was obviously in pain, but not ridiculous. And I said, ‘You don’t know, you’ve just handed us a complete lifeline because it was an extra six weeks for her recovery — and it’s very stunt-laden for her — very active. So, she would not do it in any plaster or sling or whatever. So we actually got a bit more time. Originally, it would be 10 weeks, which is hardly enough time to think, let alone find stuff, go over to LA, and do a fitting.

I knew what it looked like instinctively. I always see a film in color, and it was just so obvious that it had to be black, white, and red. I found a wonderful image of a German pop singer named Nina Hagen, and I thought she was perfect for a reference before Cruella really got into fashion.

The trash dress is in the script. I didn’t make that up out of the blue. The three photo bomb opportunities—walking onto the car and circling it so the baroness can’t see out—are also in the script. I was just making it work.

Emma Stone in Cruella (Photo: Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios)

Emma Stone is gorgeous. Total fun. The two Emmas (Stone and Thompson) were just a complete joy. It was beautifully cast. Some really funny people. I used almost to embarrass myself laughing. Both Emmas are absolutely fantastic to work with.”

Emma Thompson in Cruella (Photo: Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios)

On where she keeps her Oscars for A Room With a View, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Cruella

“In this house where I’m sitting at the moment, it’s quite a big house — Peckham, Victorian. At the back, there’s a gorgeous room — we call it the Green Room. It’s got a gorgeous window that is sort of arched. My mother’s desk is a nice sort of Victorian oak desk. They’re on there, the Oscars.”