Nosferatu's Oscar-nominated costume designer on how period-accurate clothing can transport you back in time

As It Happens6:14Nosferatu costume designer is thrilled at her Oscar nomination — but won’t be making her own award show outfit

Linda Muir is no stranger to recreating historically accurate, period-era attire in painstaking detail.

But an Oscar nomination? That is a first.

The Toronto-based costume designer is up for best costume design at this year's Academy Awards for her work draping vampires in gothic robes for Nosferatu, Robert Eggers' remake of the 1922 original horror film

Muir has been working in film and TV since the 1970s and has made costumes for Eggers' movies in the past, including clothing lighthouse keepers in knitwear for The Lighthouse, and dousing Vikings in furs in The Northman.

She says her phone has been dinging non-stop since the Oscar nominations were revealed this morning.

"It's been … so great to hear from people," Muir told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. "It's just been fabulous chaos all day."

Nosferatu was also nominated in three other categories — best makeup and hairstyling, production design and best cinematography.

Muir spoke to Kӧksal about what it was like learning she'd been nominated, and why accurate costume design is so important in period films like Nosferatu, which is set in 19th century Germany. Here is part of their conversation.

How did you find out? What was that moment like?

Well, it was pretty thrilling. It was, you know, intense. It was emotional.

I was listening to it on my laptop. There was the first announcement, I think, for either supporting actor or lead actor. And then costume was the second category up. So I didn't have to wait that long.

What did you say when they said your name?

My partner Alan texted quite soon after that and said that makeup [for Nosferatu] had been nominated. And I said, "I am too!"

And then he phoned [me].

And what did he say?

He's beyond thrilled.

This morning it was pretty overwhelming. You know, this is not something that I'm used to. So … it's lovely.

You talked about this being a first and a big honour. What is not a first is your relationship with Eggers, and also the amount of detail, the lengths that you and your team go to to make everything as historically accurate as possible.… Why is that so key to your process and your execution?

In the films that Robert makes, the four that we've worked together on, they are all period films and they are, you know, involving storylines, costumes, settings that a contemporary audience isn't necessarily familiar with.

And so the … notion is that, you know, to present as many authentic-looking things as possible really grounds the film. And it … becomes more an interaction with the period and the characters.

I was reading that you had to … test different fabrics, different weights. So it's not only sourcing the fabric that is appropriate and accurate to that time [but also] how is that going to read on camera. So how do you test something like that? 

There is a large portion of the story that is told with the character Ellen [played by Lily-Rose Depp] in a nightgown.

In the scenes with Ellen in bed initially with Thomas, we wanted a very fragile, diaphanous-looking nightgown in order to kind of tie in with her fragility and her mental state. 

And then that same style of nightgown carries through in two scenes … one of which is a somnambulistic walk outside, you know, from the interior of a very posh home into a cobbled street. And so that is a different kind of lighting. And so I wanted it to look like the same nightgown, but to be a different weight that wasn't as revealing for the actress.

And then we have had a third time where we have, you know, pouring rain. And that presented a whole other set of circumstances that I wanted to address … so that what the audience is looking at is Ellen in the rain, not Lily-Rose in a transparent nightgown.

You want to transport them?

Yes, exactly. What we do in that case is we bring in a fit model and we do … some mock-ups in the fabric. And, you know, we douse her with water.

We film it and … go forward from that.

Is there a moment for you personally from working on Nosferatu, on the set itself, that stays with you?

Absolutely, yes. In every one of Robert's films that I have worked on with him, there has been a moment

In this particular film, we were on set in … this very upscale home. It's all Peter Meyer furniture … beautifully decorated. And the ladies are in their evening attire … the governess is there and the children and they're all in a parlour together. And the gentlemen are two rooms behind us in a billiards room, smoking cigars and drinking scotch. And we were, you know, waiting for final tweaks on lighting.

And I was just standing in the doorway watching Lily-Rose and Emma [Corrin]. And it was absolutely stunning how much it felt like it would have been … at that [time] period, you know. And again, that is just [due to] everyone attempting to, you know, bring as much detail to the picture as possible.

You were transported yourself.

I was.

Robert Eggers announced this week his next film is going to be a reimagining of the werewolf story. Since you've partnered up so many times, is it safe to say you're embedded in werewolf research right now?

Well, I am … starting to read, you know, a lot of medieval literature and looking and trying to find … medieval images. So, yes.

So you are working together again?

Well, I don't know if I'm at liberty to say that yet.

Well, we'll draw our own conclusions for now.

I was also reading that a lot of the cast, they loved a lot of these pieces. One of the fashion magazines was saying "Is Nosferatu-core imminent?" For you, is it going to inform what you wear to the Oscars?

Perhaps in colour. I might include lilac. 

The one thing that I realize time and time again is that garments that are beautiful design really are timeless, you know. And it doesn't seem to matter whether it's a linen night shirt from 1630 or if it's a nightgown from 1838. If there's something that is appealing, then it is appealing to a contemporary person as well.

You make clothes for these projects. Will you make your own ensemble for the Oscars?

Not on your life! It's kind of like … the cobbler's children who have, you know, horrible shoes. So no, I will not make my own outfit.