When Aristocrats and Gangsters Collide, Designing Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen
Production designer Martyn John and costume designer Loulou Bontemps pulled out the stops to match the 'maverick' auteur's expansive vision for Netflix's 'The Gentlemen'
Welcome to the latest episode of Art & Crafts, The Ankler’s podcast series dedicated to bringing audiences behind the scenes to examine the careers and contributions of the talented artisans who create and craft the movies and TV series that we love. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts.
Guy Ritchie’s stylish crime series The Gentlemen, adapted for Netflix from his 2019 action comedy feature, brings together a wildly dangerous and diverse set of tribes — British entitled aristocrats, Liverpool thugs, Thai underworld killers, a billionaire American gangster and even a lovesick pothead — in a power struggle over drugs, land and money. To build the world where these characters collide and suit them up for battle, Ritchie turned to production designer Martyn John and costume designer Loulou Bontemps, the director’s co-conspirators on films including The Covenant and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. John and Bontemps spoke with Jeannine Oppewall — the Oscar-nominated production designer behind Seabiscuit and L.A. Confidential — about the intensive research, aesthetic battles and lucky discoveries that added up to an “amazing creative rhythm” between them and their “maverick” auteur.
From finding the perfect English country house (actually, five houses) to stand in for the ancestral home of Theo James’ Eddie Halstead, to styling a “boss bitch vibe” for Kaya Scodelario’s Susie Glass, the creative team relished bringing Ritchie’s expansive vision to life. When design and style ring true, John says, “You empower the actors to explore their character.” Take James’ evolution from “humble soldier” to “discovering the gangster within him,” says Bontemps. “By the end of it, he’s wearing these beautiful bespoke three-piece suits and he’s very comfortable sitting there smoking his cigar and embracing the fact that, ‘Okay, well, this is my new life and I’m going to slay it.’”
John got in trouble with Ritchie for some of his own maverick location choices, such as the mid-century modern church where John Dixon’s (Pearce Quigley) criminal disciples gather — a departure from the series’ traditional stately settings. “I said, ‘Guy will hate it. However, it will be perfect for the characters,’” Martyn recalls. “Part of our job is to push the envelope.” And Bontemps always had his back. “You do have to fight Guy when you really believe in moments and sets and costumes,” she says. “He always wants to be surprised and he loves to be challenged.”
Transcript here.
