Basic Provisions
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Star film "Masters of the Universe"« Nicholas Galitzine and director Travis Knight reveal which parts of He-Man's costume were the most challenging to get right.
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Galitsin says one particular body part has been the subject of much debate.
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Costume designer Richard Sale details how his team had to make adjustments to the costumes to accommodate Galitsina's changes in appearance.
Nicholas Galitzine remembers the exact moment he realized how much his body had transformed into the ripped, muscular He-Man from the new Masters of the Universe teams .
«"I mostly sleep on the right side of the bed, and when I came home from work in the evening, I'd see the mattress lifted on the left side and sagging to the right. I thought, 'What's wrong with that?'"» Wow, that's amazing. I've never seen anything like that before. «,» the British actor told the publication, laughing. Entertainment Weekly . "But of course, now nothing fits inside you.".
Galitsin trained with various trainers for several months; he eventually found David Kingsbury—who has worked with everyone from Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds to Chris Hemsworth—and said he "took really good care of me." In the process, he first gained muscle (consuming thousands of calories a day) and then lost fat (eating in a calorie deficit) to ultimately achieve his ideal physique.
«"I wanted my goal to be to constantly grow and grow," he admits. But for his first film, director Travis Knight didn't want him to be "too big" and distract from the more modest Adam. Nevertheless, the star of the films «Red, White, and Royal Blue» и «The Idea of You» , who played sports as a child, says he "learned a lot about myself and how far I'm willing to go and really suffer for it... It's really not for the faint of heart. It's something you have to do full-time for at least six months. But I'm very happy [with the results].".
Nicholas Galitzine as Adam/He-Man in Masters of the Universe. Photo: Giles Keith/Amazon MGM Studios
Throughout the training period, costume designers worked on He-Man's appearance, his clothing, and how much skin he should show.
«"It actually took a while to figure out what this costume would look like, because He-Man, as you know, has this metal harness and these fuzzy short pants. We were like, 'Oh, Is it possible to do this? «", and I answered : "No, you can't. «"," Knight recalls. So they went in the opposite direction—a lot more clothes, in a style Knight calls "the Jim Morrison look," with "tight leather pants.".
«"The thing I loved most about He-Man was that he had no pants," says costume designer Richard Sale, laughing, "and believe me, that had been planned for quite some time.".
They ultimately settled on a design best described as a gladiator skirt. "It's more leather than fur, but it still closely follows the shape and silhouette of the original cartoon character and toy, but in an updated and slightly more modern way," says Knight. "But essentially, this is a guy who runs around in a sports bra and a miniskirt all day. So it doesn't leave much to the imagination. Nick is essentially half-naked all day.".
Nicholas Galitzine as Adam/He-Man in Masters of the Universe. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios
The chest area also had to be taken into account.
« Should it have a cross? What kind of cross? Are we saying something with this cross? »"—Sale recalls of conversations about this aspect of the suit. "And you think: It's not a specific cross, it's just two intersecting lines at right angles. We don't say anything. We made it as versatile as possible… But the fact that we were able to show so much skin to the character, I think, was a process that not everyone was happy with, but I'm so glad we got there because it's an integral part of the character.".
In fact, a certain part of the body has become the subject of close attention.
«"Nipples were actually a hot topic," Galitsin says. "It was this weird feeling: I'd stand in front of the mirror wearing just a pair of belts, and it felt like people were just staring at my nipples. We'd ask ourselves: Is it weird? Is it cool? Do we like it? And in the end we decided that no nipples was probably the safest option.".
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Knight, Sale, and their team were confident in the look months before production began, but Sale's team's work didn't stop there; they had to make constant adjustments as Galitsina's body took shape.
«"We had to wait for Nick, and we kept coming back to him with the suit. Every three to four weeks, we'd try it on him again," Sale says. "We had to make sure the chest armor covered enough of his chest. As his pecs developed, we had to add new pieces. And then, as he built and then lost muscle mass, his waist fluctuated. And kudos to him for that, because for an actor to embrace that and make it natural—he wasn't going to do it artificially, he was going to try to achieve it himself—was an incredible transition for an actor.".
Nicholas Galitzine as Adam/He-Man in Masters of the Universe. Photo: Giles Keith/Amazon MGM Studios
The transformation would not be complete without hair and makeup.
«We definitely weren’t going to give him a pageboy or an «80s Dorothy Hamill haircut, which we all had in the »80s—me and He-Man in the »80s,« Knight says. »But we wanted to do a cool, modern version of it. So when he goes from Adam to He-Man, it looks like he’s had a little styling. He’s transformed. Adam is a pasty lawyer and guy. And when he turns into He-Man, he’s bronzed, oiled up, with a deep, deep tan. So makeup was part of the process. Every time he transformed, he had to do [a full range of procedures] to look like a bronzed beach god.”.
You'll be able to see Galitzin in all his glory as He-Man when the film "Masters of the Universe"« will be released in cinemas on June 5th.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.