“We sent anyone who lived near a 99 Cents store all over L.A. County to get 400 or 500 of them,” she said. Western Costume milliner Patrick Rogers made 150 rain hats and a shoemaker cut the leather tabs. “And every costume has a story like that,” Zophres said.
Jean Smart plays gossip columnist Elinor St. John, who wears spiky headdresses and beaded floor-length gowns in “Babylon,” starring Diego Calva, at left. (Scott Garfield)
For example, crew members dug dirt samples from Piru, the location of the silent-movie studio set near the Santa Clara River and California 126, and the Big Sky Movie Ranch in Simi Valley, then custom-mixed theatrical dirt to distress and age costumes with a perfect match. Zophres and several departments became experts in elephant poop that splats voluminously over the actors in the opening scene. In filming, an elephant rig stands in for the real thing that’s later computer-generated with its own poop and process.