Sharen Davis is one of Hollywood's most high-profile costume designers, something helped in part by her Oscar nominations for her work on Dreamgirls and Ray. Her latest project was Django Unchained, which saw her work closely with famous director Quentin Tarantino along with A-list actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx. HELLO! Online caught up with Sharen to chat about the film, working with Beyoncé and why she thought that her Oscar nomination was a prank…
Working with Quentin Tarantino was incredible… He is amazing. He wrote the script and he knew exactly what he visualised. He gave me a great amount of information to work with. He was specific but sometimes if I offered alternative options he would go for them. He had a specific image of Django… He wanted Django to wear exactly what Little Joe wore in Bonanza, a TV show from the 60s. So I had to make sure the colour and the concept was right but also bring it up to date and make it a little more hip. There was too much blood… That was the hardest part, everybody getting killed. It meant there was a massive amount of fabric to make eight multiples of everything. Eight if not ten or fifteen sometimes! It's also important to make sure the weight and the fabric works with the amount of blood you put on the clothes.
Working with Leonardo Di Caprio was amazing… I had never worked with Leo before but he was fantastic – just one fitting for everything and he loved it all. He was so polite and funny and it was just effortless. Leo really does his research… I really respect that he spends so much time rehearsing for a film role. When I first brought a costume to him he asked me if it was the illustration I had sent him. I couldn't believe it – he was actually studying the illustrations and he was doing Great Gatsby at the time. I thought my Oscar nomination was a prank… I thought it was my friend playing a prank on me! Then I panicked. It was definitely a turning point of my career, of understanding what's needed to make a film successful.
Beyonce makes everything look good… It was a delight to work with her on Dreamgirls. She will try on anything and she always make it look good, no matter what it is! She's not picky at all.
Django Unchained is out now on Blu-ray & DVD
