I’LL
BE INTRODUCING ‘NEWS OF THE WORLD’, AND SIGNING MY BOOK, AT THE AUTRY ON
SATURDAY, JULY 13TH
I was delighted to be asked to introduce a film in The Autry’s long-running ‘What is a Western?’ series. I chose News of the World not only because it is an exceptional Western but, because of the pandemic, so few people had the chance to see it as it should be seen: in a theatre, on a screen. The title, which admittedly doesn’t sound particularly Western, refers to the profession of Captain Kidd, played by Tom Hanks in his first Western. He’s a former Confederate Civil War officer, now barely making a living by travelling from town-to-town with a sheaf of newspapers, reading them to the public. He meets a young girl (Helena Zengel), a former captive of the Kiowa, and is given the unwanted responsibility of returning her to her family. It’s a tale that echoes John Ford’s The Searchers, focusing not on the search, but the challenge of a long-time captive’s return to her former world. The Autry bookstore will have copies of my book, The Greatest Westerns Ever Made, and the People Who Made Them, which I will be signing after the film. The link to The Autry, with all of the particulars, is HERE.
And if you want to buy my book right now, you can get it HERE.
JOSEPH
PORRO – THE MAN WHO DRESSED ‘TOMBSTONE’
Joseph
A. Porro’s costume design career is astonishing. Since 1985, beginning with
no-budget films like Neon Maniacs, Porro has used his amazing design
skills and style in a wide range of genres, from horror films like Fright
Night Part 2 (1988) and Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), to crime
thrillers like The Thirteenth Floor (1999) and The Lizzie Borden
Chronicles (2015), science fiction like Stargate (1994) and Independence
Day (1996). And there’s his international work. “I’ve spent three years in
Hong Kong and seven years in mainland China and India. I'm probably one of the
most traveled designers, because early in my career I worked with Jean-Claude
Van Damme and Dolph Lungren, who didn't like to pay taxes in the United States.”
His designs for the 2003 version of The Music Man, and 2020’s The
Mandalorian earned him Emmy nominations.
But his most appreciated designs? “I still get fan mail from Tombstone
all the time.” He also designed costumes
for the Western comedy Shanghai Noon, and even the unsold pilot for the
space western Martian Law. I recently had the pleasure of chatting with
Jospeh about his wide-ranging career, and especially his Westerns.
HENRY
PARKE: I've just been rewatching Tombstone, and I love your work in it.
It just doesn't look like any other Western; the costumes just seem to breathe
authenticity. I understand that you're from Boston. Is it the movies that
brought you to California?
JOSEPH
PORRO: No, not at all. My mom was living out there with my uncle and my
cousins, and I wasn't doing well financially in Boston. So I went out just to
see if I could get some work out there. I said to myself, you have a design
degree from Parsons in New York. Maybe you should look into costume design. I
was making animal costumes like Bugs Bunny for Warner Brothers, actually
sewing, in the factory in North Hollywood. And this lady, a designer, drove up
in this brand new 450 SL Mercedes, and I was like, wait a minute. I'm on the
wrong end of this business. (laughs), I quit the job that day. It was very
scary, very lean years, the first years in Hollywood, but I was determined to
be a designer.
HENRY
PARKE: What was your first costume job? I mean designing, not Bugs Bunny.
JOSEPH
PORRO: Near Dark was, probably. I did some stuff that went directly to
video, but this was for Catherine Bigelow, who's won an Oscar (for The Hurt
Locker). It was a modern-day western vampire kind of thing. Very unique in
its day. That was my first decent movie.
HENRY
PARKE: One of your earlier direct-to-video films was Neon Maniacs which
was written by a high school friend, Mark Carducci.
JOSEPH
PORRO: That was my first film as a designer and it was quite a disaster. We
didn't get paid. They owed us four- or five-weeks salary and I was living in my
car then. That was not my favorite film, but you know, whatever doesn't kill
you only makes you stronger.
HENRY
PARKE: Absolutely true. With Independence Day, Stargate, now The Mandalorian
among so many others, you've specialized in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Was
that your primary interest in film at that point?
JOSEPH
PORRO: I liked movies where you actually designed, where you didn't go to the
store to buy the outfit. You actually took a pencil and paper and did your own
thing. Which I did on Tombstone, and it wasn't how I originally wanted
to approach it. At the time I was hired, Kevin Costner was doing Wyatt
Earp, and they were doing Geronimo. So literally every single
western (rental) costume was gone. The only place that had any left was
American Costume. So I go to Luster Bayless (who owned American Costume). “I've
just been hired on Tombstone.” And he sits me in his office and tells me
that when hell freezes over is when he will give me a costume for that movie!
(laughs) Luster Bayless had interviewed with (writer/director) Kevin Jarre as a
designer for Tombstone, and (not been hired).
All
the big costume houses were empty, so how the hell am I going to do this movie?
I said, I can get Victorian clothes in England. I think you need to put me on a
plane because there's nothing here. I said, I'm from a fashion design
background, so I ‘get’ manufacture. I was in New York for four years working
with the designers, and we made things. So everything was manufactured, and
that's why I think it had that look. There's things I would change today. I'm
much more persnickety about period men's suits and coats and how they're done.
Then I was just happy to get someone to make it. So we built it: we built the
whole show. And Kevin (Jarre) wanted it much more Technicolor. He was very into
the history. He really knew his shit. He got fired, of course, like a week into
it. But he wrote the original script too. I was very sad to see that happen.
And then they brought in George Cosmatos. He was a piece of work, that one.
(laughs) He'd walk on this new set, he'd turn to the set dresser. He'd go, “You
see that painting? You see that chair? When we're done with the scene, I want those
sent over to me.” He just cleaned the place out! He said that to me with the
sketches, too. He said, “I want all your sketches.” And designers were allowed
to keep their sketches back then. Now everything's on a computer, but back then
they were all original drawings. And in 40 films, he was the only one ever to
say to me, “I want your sketches.” I gave him some, I let him think it was all
of them. It was either that or be fired. He was not a nice person, but he liked
me. I think he fired about 40 or 50 people. Cleaned house. I don't think he's
got a devoted fan club, but he finished the film right, and it did look good.
HENRY
PARKE: Did he have the kind of strong feelings that Kevin Jarre did about costumes?
Or did he just go with what had been planned?
JOSEPH
PORRO: He went with. He said what he'd seen in the dailies totally worked and
just stay with it. He wasn't persnickety about what I did. He gave me free
rein.
HENRY
PARKE: Obviously the costumes for all of your characters were very different.
I'm thinking particularly about characters like Curly Bill or Ike Clanton.
JOSEPH
PORRO: I built all of it. What I rented from England were background, Victorian
costumes for people doing crosses (background extras). I built all the chaps. We did the hat thing with Stetson. I had a
glove manufacturer downtown doing the western gloves. I had guys doing all the
hand tooling on different things. Guess who it ended up with? This is the part
that's great.
HENRY
PARKE: Who?
JOSEPH
PORRO: Well, the line producer wanted Luster (Bayless) to be on it. It was some
serious kickback kind of thing going on. At the end of the show I was given two
days to wrap, and it all went to American Costume. Everything. I swiped one
pair of cowboy boots, and Charlton Heston's neck scarf I kept for myself
because I paid for it with my own money. American took everything. That would
never happen today in a studio film. But back then it was different.
HENRY
PARKE: Right.
JOSEPH
PORRO: But there was that interesting mix of characters there. Dana Delany was
absolutely wonderful. All the ladies, the wives were all great. And Bill
Paxton, that first film I did, Near Dark, Bill Paxton was in that. I
loved Bill. God, it's so sad he's not with us anymore; such a great guy. Fun,
enthusiastic, and he worked your costume, you know what I mean? He got into it,
and it helped him become a character; he really was just a joy to be around.
Really fun.
I
ended up spending literally the whole year with Kurt Russell because I did Stargate
with him right after Tombstone. I got to know Goldie (Hawn) pretty well
because I'd see her like 20, 30 times at the house for the fittings. She was absolutely
lovely. From the crew perspective, boy, Sam Elliott worked the whole room. He
knew everybody's name -- the guy who was doing the coffee in the morning, and
his wife's name. All the girls thought he was the most charming thing that ever
walked, and I thought he was wonderful too.
Billy
Zane was an absolute joy, just fun to be around. And so was Powers Booth, absolutely
lovely. Stephen Lang, Jason Priestley, Thomas Hayden Church. Michael Biehn was
nice, very polite, but he was kind of reserved. What's the name of the other
guy who became a much bigger star? Billy Bob Thornton. Yeah, he's a great guy. And
so was Charlton Heston. I was kind of in awe. It was originally going to be
Robert Mitchum. He couldn't pass the medical; that's the only reason he wasn't
in it. And I think it was one of Heston's last films. It was a real joy to
dress the guy. Because I was a kid who saw Ben Hur, and he was such a
big, big, big star for so long. Planet of the Apes and all these great
films he did. He was lovely. He was with his wife every second of the time. And
she was a lovely lady. She was by the camera, and as soon as they stopped, she
would be with him and she'd go get him a cup of coffee. The two just were very
close. You could tell he was having fun. I think it was like a bunch of
overgrown kids, playing. And I saw this again when I did Shanghai Noon
too. It was like, these really are a bunch of overgrown kids, they get their
toy guns and they get on a horse and they get to ride over the hill and shoot
the gun, and they're having a ball. It's that kind of environment when you're
on a Western. There was only one real pain in the ass on (Tombstone).
And you know who that was.
HENRY
PARKE: No, I don't.
JOSEPH
PORRO: Val Kilmer. And I think he had a lot to do with Kevin Jarre getting
kicked out. He didn't think (Jarre) was up to snuff. He stole my father's
watch-fob chain, which he was wearing in the movie. He took everything that he
could of his (character’s) stuff. He stole the guns that were genuine pistols
of the period; a big gun collector was a gun guy on the show. And he brought in
the real deal and Val stole 'em. I don't know if those got back, but I called
the producer and I said, he's got my grandfather's watch-chain; it's a family piece.
I didn't get it back. He said, I'm going to send you a check for a thousand
dollars. He had been dealing with props and everyone with Val. I'll tell you
one thing he did do well. He was definitely the one who worked out (twirling) the
silver cup. I'm the one that supplied the silver cup. I still have it.
HENRY
PARKE: I particularly loved Dana Delany's costumes. Was it fun to design for
her?
JOSEPH
PORRO: It was. We used the Tucson Opera House to build the clothes for her and the
other ladies. And the cutter fitter there, the head person, ended up staying
with me. She was on The Mandalorian with me. We stayed together for 30
years. Her name is Maggie McFarland. Lovely, lovely lady. And she's still
working in Hollywood. I'm retired, but she's still working.
My
favorite day on Tombstone was the day that they all rode over the hill
-- that big crowd of cowboys. Because that was a big setup, and very early on
in production, the third or fourth day of shooting. I was so desperate: how am
I gonna get clothes on these guys? And when I saw them all come over the hill
and thought, I still haven't been fired! That was my, “I did it!” day. It was
one of the toughest films I've ever worked on in my life. It was 18-hour days
and a 40-minute drive to that set. The last two, three weeks of shooting Tombstone,
the Stargate people wanted preliminary sketches. <laugh>. So then
I was getting three to four hours of sleep, because I'd have to do drawings at
night. It was a tough show.
HENRY
PARKE: Did the success of Tombstone have a big effect on your career?
JOSEPH
PORRO: Well, no. You would think I would get 20 westerns after that, right? It
doesn't work that way in Hollywood. So many directors liked it, but they
weren't Western directors. It was definitely a feather in my cap. And they
would be like, oh, he did Tombstone. So it did not hurt my career at
all. And here I am now looking back;
it's probably, movie-wise, the one I'm going to be known for, you know? I've
done television things that were costume-wise better than Tombstone.
Much better.
HENRY
PARKE: What was your favorite part of doing Shanghai Noon?
JOSEPH
PORRO: The barroom scene in Shanghai Noon is something that I'm
incredibly proud of, because that was hysterical. It took three weeks to shoot,
as it was like 40 people in the fight, and everything that they've done in
every movie for a hundred years with barrooms they did in that one. And they
did it with a great sense of humor.
HENRY
PARKE: Was doing a comedy Western a lot different from a serious western?
JOSEPH
PORRO: No, there was no difference at all. What the joy for me was to actually
see Jackie Chan still in his golden years, working at a level of choreography
and magic that I've never seen in my life, on anything else. I mean, I worked
with Jean-Claude Van Damme and those guys, a lot of action stars early on in the
eighties. And none of them could put a show on like Jackie Chan, like him in a
fight. His choreography and his sense of humor -- like, I can't believe that he
just did that, you know? <laugh> I mean, he jumped over this or tumbled -- it's
like, what the hell?
HENRY
PARKE: When you did Shanghai Noon, did you actually get to go to China?
JOSEPH
PORRO: It's the first time I was in China. It was an absolute nightmare: they
forgot to get me a Chinese visa. I didn't know I needed a visa because I was
just a guy from L.A. I didn't need a visa when we shot in Canada. So here I am
at the airport for 18 hours, and Jackie Chan made one phone call and I was let
out! <laugh>. He was that powerful. Since Charlton Heston did 55 Days at
Peking (1963) the only American to do the Chinese Imperial Court was me, in
Shanghai Noon. And I did the full-on court. I did 500 guards, all
different levels, with generals. I did the whole royal family, I did a Chinese
opera troop, and I did all the servants and the eunuchs. It was roughly 700
costumes to pull those scenes off. My God. And I had 'em all built in China.
HENRY
PARKE: Amazing!
JOSEPH
PORRO: That it was! It was fun! <laugh>. And I made friends from that
first trip and then, they called me for something else, and I ended up doing
seven Chinese movies. I was the American in China doing Chinese movies.
I'm so proud of some of them. No one's ever going to see the Chinese movies in
America, some of my best work. But they paid literally double what they were
paying me in Hollywood. So I took the work, which was bad because that kept me
out of the loop in L.A. It kind of took me out of the picture. You need to be
seen and be around. It was bad on that level, but otherwise it was great.
HENRY
PARKE: We’ve talked about Jackie Chan, but how was Owen Wilson to work with?
JOSEPH
PORRO: Oh, dreadful, horrible. Me and my crew wanted to just slit our throats
every five minutes we spent with (Kilmer and Wilson), they were that obnoxious.
Owen Wilson: you're doing an 1870s western and I've done all these sketches,
and we have all these materials that are authentic. I've got actual pieces from
the period, to show him how the real shit looked. And lots of black and white
photos from the period, and sketches. And he comes in and he goes, "Oh, I
was just on Rodeo (Drive) yesterday" -- and he actually talked like this
-- “I was just on Rodeo and I saw these white Gucci jeans, and I really feel
that is direction we should go in." Could you hear me? 1870s western male
lead wants to wear white Gucci jeans? How is he with Jackie (Chan)? Amazing.
The two were perfect together. The chemistry was great. How was Val Kilmer in Tombstone?
He was amazing. You watch him, and he's the perfect person for this role. Could
I stand him? No. It wasn't just me; it was hair and makeup. He drove all of us
crazy.
Val
Kilmer would just sit in front of the mirror staring at himself like he was a
Greek god, and we have five other fittings to do today, and this is a film done
on a tight little budget. I’ve got to get shit done nonstop around the clock, and
he is sitting there and asking you, can you get sushi in Tucson? I go, you've
got 28 (costume) changes; we need to lock them in and do the alterations on
them <laugh>. And we didn't know what he was wearing till 10 minutes
before he was in front of camera. Everybody
has their tough times on a shoot. And if you're good at what you do, you have a
vision, you fight for it. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. Take it for
what it is, but it's a hell of an exciting business to be in. For every person
that's difficult, I had 500 that were a joy. And I never had two days that were
alike in 45 years.
AND
THAT’S A WRAP!
Happy
Trails,
Henry
All
Original Contents Copyright May 2024 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved
