One of the films taking Sundance by storm is “Freaky Tales,” a four-chapter love letter to 1987’s Oakland, California, co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
The film has four chapters, each highlighting a different element of Oakland at the time: punk kids in a war against Nazi skinheads; the world of hip-hop and a rap-battle with Too $hort, whose song “Freaky Tales” inspired the film’s title; a hitman for hire; and an epic Warriors basketball game.
With all seven showings sold out online before the start of the festival, the hype around the film grew, spurred on by a star-studded cast including pop culture’s beloved Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us,” “Wonder Woman 1984”).
But the actors are only one small part of the team needed to put a film together, and when it comes to making a successful period-piece, costuming is crucial.
For costume designer Neishea Lemle, “Freaky Tales” was an exciting and difficult challenge, especially since most of her previous work, like on TV shows “Black-ish” and “Grown-ish,” was contemporary. But she was ready to try something new.
“I wanted to do a lot of period pieces, a lot of interesting, even kind of weird, I would say, projects as well, just to be very diverse in my portfolio and being able to do anything,” she said. “So when this opportunity came, I was like, ‘Oh, this is perfect.’ And then they had a lot of great names attached to it. So I was like, ‘Oh, OK. Yeah, I’m in.’ I didn’t know what I was in for.”
“Freaky Tales” was even more demanding than she expected.
“It was like, what do I do? How do I find it? Finding resources, calling around, finding vintage suppliers, aging clothes to look worn in and not so new,” she said.
Lemle was determined to make it as authentic to the era as possible, she said, especially knowing that co-director Fleck grew up in Oakland in 1987 and knew what it should look like.
To make things authentic required attention to seemingly obscure details, like fabric type and color shade.
“We had to do a Warrior warm-up suit for the Warriors (basketball team), but from 1987,” said Lemle as an example. “So now it’s researching what exactly that was, the exact color royal blue, the exact color gold, and finding the fabric that was that weight for that time. … And then have them make sure it’s enough, because this guy I’m going to have to make six (suits) for him and four for his stunt double.”
This attention to detail comes naturally to Lemle, but it’s also been strengthened by her time in the industry. Becoming a costume designer wasn’t always what Lemle wanted with her life, she said, so she didn’t come with the formal training most designers have.
“I was a dancer, ballet, modern. So that’s what I thought I was going to do. But then I hurt my knee in 11th grade, so they’re like, your dance career is over,” she said.
After graduating, she moved to New York and got a job in the corporate side of fashion.
“And then I had a friend who is director and producer, (who) was having short films, and she was like, ‘You dress so cute, do you want to do the costumes for this?'” she said.
The film was “I Want You” by Nefertite Nguvu.
“At that moment, that’s when it clicked, ‘This is what I should be doing,'” she said. “And to this day, that’s probably like one of my best films I’ve done, like it still looks good to this day.”
She moved back to L.A. and joined a costumers union and the Costume Designers Guild, which opened the door for more work.
“Everything I’ve learned has been on the job, reading and researching, common sense, and trial and error. And (with) mentors, figuring it out and having a great team of other people who know more than me. That’s the key, have somebody who knows more than you,” she said with a wink.
A major part of the costume designer’s job is to dress everyone on screen, and to think about the progression the clothes will go through. Like with blood, if a character kills people while wearing a certain jacket, the designer must think about where to place the blood and how multiple kills would add more blood splatters, Lemle said.
With “Freaky Tales,” she enjoyed dressing the punk kids especially, and learning the nuance between the 1987 Oakland punk and the same era’s European punk.
“For the punk kids … they were just putting stuff together. They didn’t have any money. So they’re like cutting holes and their shirts and they’re making it cool, they added safety pins, and so it needs to look worn down and not just like we bought a white T-shirt and cut it,” said Lemle.
Aging the clothes for the punk kids looked like wearing down denim and dirtying their shoes. But when it came to dressing the hip-hop group, the strategy was different, said Lemle.
“They were clean and (had) many black people, so as a culture, we don’t do dirty shoes, everything’s crisp and clean. So that’s a huge transition for how these people looked,” said Lemle.
Her biggest worry with doing a period piece was pleasing critics, especially people who lived in Oakland during that time, she said. But after the screening and hearing people’s feedback, Lemle said she’s felt relieved at how well recieved it’s been.
“I’m glad they’re happy. That was the biggest problem, that they enjoy. That they’re happy at the product, that they’re happy that they chose me to do it. And so I feel honored for sure,” she said.
“Freaky Tales” will be shown at theaters in Park City and Salt Lake City through the end of the festival, and tickets can be reserved online at festival.sundance.org. Lemle’s latest costume design project, “The Vince Staples Show,” will premiere on Netflix on Feb. 15. For more, you can follow her on Instagram @neishea.