With “Process,” creator Brad Ingelsby returns to Delaware County (Delco), Pennsylvania, the place his earlier hit HBO mini sequence, “Mare of Easttown,” was set.
“We used to joke in prep — there’s a model the place Mare (Kate Winslet) may roll by means of the again of the body in any scene,” stated “Process” manufacturing designer Keith P. Cunningham. “She’s proper down the road, in one of many native police departments, and sooner or later the FBI activity power may finally work together with her.”
In keeping with Cunningham, one of many many Ingelsby collaborators who labored on each sequence, regardless of the similarities in location, crime style, and the creator’s distinctive voice, “Process” was a distinct mode of visible storytelling. Gone have been the claustrophobic, overcast grey and blue vibes of “Mare;” “Process” moved exterior of the home drama into the pure world, with a summer season coloration palette and its personal strategy to cinematic storytelling led by govt producer and director Jeremiah Zagar (“We the Animals,” “Hustle”).
What didn’t change was how Ingelsby’s scripts and the manufacturing have been rooted in regional specificity. That activity (it’s unimaginable to keep away from the unintentional pun) was extra demanding, because the sprawling sequence didn’t concentrate on one tight-knit neighborhood like “Mare,” however integrated a wider swarth of the inhabitants, to incorporate an area drug-dealing biker gang (the Darkish Hearts), the Brandis household’s suburban Philadelphia neighborhood, the Prendergast household’s extra rural existence on the outskirts, and an ecclectic group of characters that made up the FBI activity power.
Make-up division head Adrienne Bearden, a Delco native, advised IndieWire, one thing we heard from everybody who labored on “Process,” “I needed to honor [the region] in order that locals would come as much as me and say, “Oh yeah, that’s completely relatable.”
That anthropological examine of Delco served because the uncooked materials from which Ingelsby’s scripts and his craft group molded the story of characters and households as particular, layered, and nuanced because the area itself. Within the three movies beneath, watch how Cunningham, costume designer Meghan Kasperlik, and the make-up and hair group — together with Bearden, make-up division co-head Anna Stachow, and hair division head Diane Dixon – delivered to life the world of one of many yr’s greatest TV sequence.
The Manufacturing Design of ‘Process’
The center of “Process” lies within the parallel tales of FBI agent Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) and the trash-collector-turned-masked-bandit Robbie Prendergrast (Tom Pelphrey). Within the first episode, Ingelsby’s script lays out the 2 males’s comparable station in life — each are single fathers, approaching the one-year anniversary of dropping their wives — and the contrasting methods they’ve dealt with their grief. Right here, the fragile visible storytelling relies on the manufacturing design.
“Tom has had a lack of religion, so we tried to replicate that in his dwelling,” stated Cunningham. “He’s a extra structured man, actually having hassle coping with life after this traumatic subject, so it motivated grays, desaturated colours. There’s a symmetry and a little bit of a stability [to the house].”
Within the miniseries’ opening four-minute montage, slicing forwards and backwards between Tom and Robbie’s each day routines, Ruffalo is commonly in static pictures, framed inside the weight of those inflexible symmetrical constructions. It lends a way of vacancy, a void in his life, that’s felt when juxtaposed with the fluid, steadicam photographs of Robbie.
“Tom’s areas have a density to them, contrasted with Robbie’s world, which is unquestionably looser — there’s a lightness, it’s extra colourful, there’s extra bodily affection being proven inside that household,” stated Cunningham. “We needed to juxtapose these two completely different lives, however though Robbie’s world was extra colourful, it was considerably clear — supplies like draperies and different materials — there’s a loss in that home [as well].’’
For all of the wonderful character work, the story of the households serves because the manufacturing designer’s tenet. Cunningham’s homes have backstories, leaning into how Delco properties are sometimes handed down technology to technology. Within the video above, he breaks down how his place to begin with the Prendergrast dwelling was Robbie’s niece, Maeve (Emilia Jones), and her household’s backstory.
The Make-up and Hair of ‘Process’
Within the function of Robbie, Tom Pelphrey delivers a star-making breakout efficiency, rooted in his transformation from a historically good-looking, well-groomed Hollywood actor into the free-spirited Delco native.
“We had a couple of [phone] conversations relating to his character, and Tom had let me know he has very thick hair, after which after I met him, I believed, ‘I believe he ought to have lengthy hair,’” stated hair division head Diane Dixon, who discovered Pelphrey enthusiastic to provide it a attempt. “We did a check with two appears, one down, after which one again within the ponytail, and Brad [Ingelsby] stated, ‘That is it. That is Robbie.’”
The “Process” group conceived of the character as somebody who threw on no matter garments he discovered on the ground and by no means regarded within the mirror on his means out the door. The ponytail was an essential step in establishing this low-maintenance look, however it was the beard that pushed it excessive.
“The character of Robbie jogged my memory of my brother’s associates rising up within the [Delco] space,” stated co-makeup division head Adrienne Bearden. “And along with his beard, I believe Robbie’s character utterly got here to life.”
Bearden stated Pelphrey was prepared to do no matter it took to appear like a Delco native, however at first, his facial hair didn’t cooperate with the Delco large bushy beard aesthetic: “He has this beard that in the event you let it dry naturally, it simply curls proper up. He may dread his beard, I’ve by no means seen something prefer it, so we’d really smoothed it out on daily basis with a heated system simply to get the hair to [look] longer.”
True to the area, Pelphrey’s beard was one in every of dozens that Bearden needed to carefully monitor the expansion with an elaborate “beard chart,” because the manufacturing’s checkboard schedule was continually leaping throughout episodes, shifting ahead and backwards in narrative time.
“As a result of each of our main males ended up with these large, fabulous beards, we additionally actually needed to discover a method to create some distinction between the 2, and with Robbie we leaned actually closely into the paintings,” stated co-makeup division head Anna Stachow, who was introduced on to deal with the intensive tattoo work on “Process.”
Stachow labored carefully with Pelphrey, who felt every tattoo was essential to his character’s backstory, particularly these related to his late brother Billy (Jack Kesy), whose dying provides Robbie his vengeful objective to take down the Darkish Hearts’ drug homes. However it will be the Darkish Hearts’ ink that might turn into Stachow’s greatest activity. Within the video above, she breaks down the colour, backstory, and generational divide of the biker gangs’ tattoos, in addition to the technical challenges of getting to first cowl up an actor like Sam Keeley’s real-life ink, earlier than including his character Jason’s Darkish Hearts tats.
As for the largest technical problem complicating all three artisans’ jobs: It was the intensive motion scenes, particularly these involving water or swimming. From wigs to tattoos, their groups needed to prep each the actor and the stunt double, whereas in some way making certain their work held up below the stress of bodily, typically violent, and generally underwater scenes.
The Costumes of ‘Process’
Tom Brandis has had a tough yr, having misplaced his spouse and his son in jail for her dying, leading to his having misplaced his means and each day routine as he tries to drink away his ache. How Ruffalo bodily carried this backstory could be key to his outstanding efficiency.
“I had at the back of my head that this character ought to have a bit of bit extra weight than Mark [Ruffalo] did,” stated costume designer Meghan Kasperlik. However with the actor on one other gig, and restricted entry to him within the months main as much as manufacturing, the costumer deserted the thought. “I believed, no, we’ve by no means talked about it. It’s a lengthy present, and that’s a protracted concept.”
However when Ruffalo confirmed up for his first becoming, it turned out he’d been considering alongside the identical traces. Kasperlik, utilizing silicone being pregnant pads she had together with her, shortly created a makeshift answer to check out what a further 40 kilos would appear like on the actor. After Ingelsby’s jaw hit the ground, they landed on the completely satisfied medium of including 20 kilos. Kasperlik reached out to a body-sculpting knowledgeable to shortly flip round padding for the upcoming shoot, however she had already been eager about tips on how to carry this to life with the wardrobe.
“To be able to make Mark appear like he had gained weight, I needed to make it possible for he had plaids and that the pleated trousers, one thing that may add a bit of bit to the hips,” stated Kasperlik.
In pre-production, Kasperlik additionally studied Ruffalo, not solely his performances, but in addition his on-camera interviews, to study his physique language and the way he used it to specific each himself and his characters. “Process” is an instance of how an incredible costume designer can collaborate with an actor to help a efficiency. In the meantime, she tailor-made Ruffalo’s pants so the belt fell beneath his beer stomach, accentuating his slouch, whereas making a “work uniform” of patterned gown shirts and khakis that might really feel restrictive to the actor when mixed with the padding. This aided the usually casually dressed (in actual life) Ruffalo in capturing how his character carries his character’s psychological burden into his bodily efficiency.
Delicate touches like these sign to the viewers how Tom has began to show the nook within the “Process” finale, which story-wise comes months after the dramatic occasions of episodes 5 and 6.
“For Episode 7, [Tom] pulled himself collectively,” stated Kasperlik. “So we did decrease the stomach. We did pull his pants up. We did tighten the waist a bit of bit, and we adjusted the match of the costume to point out that his character was transitioning into getting it collectively.”
Kasperlik marvels at Ruffalo’s efficiency and the way he subtly shifted his physique language within the final two episodes. She pointed to the distinction in how Ruffalo performed off Sam (Ben Lewis Doherty), the kidnapped boy from his case, in comparison with his teenage daughter Emily (Silvia Dionicio)
“It’s all the time actually telling if you work with an actor who has kids of their very own, after which they must be the daddy determine,” stated Kasperlik. “There’s a transition of Mark Ruffalo’s physique when he’s with the Darkish Hearts and even with the Process group, however then when he’s with Sam, he has a distinct posture than he does along with his personal daughter who he’s feeling very misplaced with, and I really feel like that actually comes out within the character after which we attempt to exemplify and showcase that inside the costumes.” — Chris O’Falt
This text is introduced in partnership with HBO.
