While Jennifer Lawrence is usually the one revealing embarrassing stories about herself during the production of her box office hits, one new revelation about the making of American Hustle comes from costume designer Michael Wilkinson. He revealed that the Oscar winning actress almost ruined one of the beautiful ‘70s inspired gowns he designed for her with Doritos dust.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Wilkinson talked about the white gown Lawrence wears in one scene where her character goes to a party with her husband, Christian Bale, and his mistress, Amy Adams. In the scene, Lawrence gets champagne on the dress, so Wilkinson and his staff had to make more than one dress anyway.
“And I’m kind of glad we did...because Jennifer Lawrence is a very . . . let’s say . . . raw and intuitive young lady, and she’s not against eating Doritos and snack food in her costume,” Wilkinson noted. “So we were glad that we had a couple [backups].”
Wilkinson earned one of Hustle’s 10 Oscar nominations. The film is noted for its flashy, 1970s style, bringing authenticity to David O. Russell’s fictional version of the ABSCAM scandal. The film was also nominated for Best Picture.
Wilkinson said that not all the costumes were designed specifically for the film. Adams got to wear a vintage Diane von Furstenberg wrap, even though it had a wine stain on it when it was found. “We fell in love with it, Amy loved it, and, David was crazy about it,” Wilkinson said, so it’s in the movie. It works, since Adams wears clothes left at a laundromat.
“And it was Amy’s fortune that she got to keep the dress,” he said. “She didn’t care about the stain because she felt like a million bucks in it, and Christian loved her in it.”
image: Sony