<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="18428" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ewan-McGregor">Ewan McGregor</keyword> stars as the iconic fashion designer <keyword id="215525" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Halston">Halston</keyword> in <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword>'s new series.</li><li>Insider spoke to producer <keyword id="2855432" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Christine-Vachon">Christine Vachon</keyword> about the show.</li><li>Vachon spoke about McGregor's casting, dramatic license, and being transported back to the 1970s.</li></ul><p>Netflix's newest Ryan Murphy show is an entertaining jaunt through the history of one of America's most iconic fashion designers, Roy Halston Frowick.</p><p>Directed by Daniel Minahan and produced and co-written by Murphy, "Halston" is led by <a href="https://www.insider.com/ewan-mcgregor-best-movies-ranked-critics-star-wars-trainspotting-2021-5">Ewan McGregor</a>, who delivers a delicious, tour-de-force performance as the troubled, talented, tantrum-prone designer.</p><p>But while <a href="https://www.insider.com/straight-actors-praised-for-playing-lgbtq-characters-gay-queer-pride-2020-5">his work in the role has been celebrated</a> (and even <a href="https://www.goldderby.com/awardshows/expert-predictions/emmy-awards-nominations-2021-predictions/movie-limited-actor/sort/recent/">flagged for Emmy success at this early stage</a>), some viewed the casting of McGregor, a straight man, as Halston, who was gay, to be problematic. <a href="https://www.insider.com/halston-family-ryan-murphy-netflix-series-inaccurate-fiction-2021-5">Halston's family members</a> separately called out the show as "sensationalized fiction," adding another layer of controversy the show would have liked to avoid.</p><p>Insider spoke with the legendary producer Christine Vachon, who is behind not only "Halston," but also some of the most celebrated <a href="https://www.insider.com/best-lgbtq-movies-of-all-time-according-to-critics">LGBTQ cinema</a> in recent years, including "Carol," "Boys Don't Cry," and "Far From Heaven."</p><div type="image" title="Ewan McGregor Halston" height="1440" width="1920" msid="82886287" hostid="261"></div><p>The producer has no qualms when it comes to defending the show's casting choices.</p><p>"For me, he is absolutely the right person to play Halston and that's really what it comes down to," Vachon said of McGregor's casting. "He brings an extraordinary amount of depth and pocket to the part and I kind of can't imagine anyone else in the role."</p><p>On McGregor's part, the Obi-Wan Kenobi actor previously told the Hollywood Reporter that <a href="https://www.insider.com/ewan-mcgregor-defends-playing-gay-designer-halston-ryan-murphy-netflix-2021-4">he decided to take on Halston because the character's sexuality is only one small part of the role</a>, whereas if it had been a story more specifically about Halston being gay, he might not have accepted. But Vachon isn't sure if she agrees with that sentiment.</p><p>"I don't know if we can start parsing it out like that. But I know it's something that people feel really passionately about, so I don't want to say that's not a valid argument," Vachon said.</p><p>"As somebody who's been telling these stories for many, many years, I think a lot about representation and gender and what makes a film a gay film, as opposed to a non-gay film or simply a film that has gay people in it -  all of that nuance that we've been wrestling with as a community for years," she continued.</p><p>"I believe we made the right decision, creatively for, our show," Vachon added.</p><p>While <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/halston/s01">reviews for the show</a> haven't been quite as piping hot as Vachon and her collaborators might have hoped (although this writer personally loved every colorful moment), McGregor's performance, in particular, has drawn consistent praise from critics and viewers. </p><p>Vachon worked with McGregor on 1998's "Velvet Goldmine," in which the actor played a sexually ambiguous character, and stressed that despite "Halston" being 20 years in the making, no other star was attached to play the role.</p><div type="image" title="Ewan McGregor Halston" height="1200" width="1600" msid="82886290" hostid="261"></div><p>McGregor, of course, would have been too young to play the role years ago, so it's worked out well that the show has come out now in 2021, when McGregor is the right age for the role and it's unimaginable for anyone else to don that iconic Halston accent.</p><p>But telling the tale of someone real carries the burden of <a href="https://www.insider.com/historically-inaccurate-movies-and-tv-moments-2019-5">historical accuracy</a>, and with that comes the threat of people who knew the real person calling out the project. Sadly for Vachon and the show, this is what happened to "Halston."</p><h2>Halston's family said the show is 'inaccurate,' but Vachon defends it as true to the designer's spirit</h2><p>Halston's own family accused the show and its makers of falling foul of this, describing the show as "an inaccurate, fictionalized account of famed fashion designer, Halston."</p><p>But Vachon has defended the show, arguing that while she understands people are "always protective of the memory of somebody who's gone," others who knew Halston have applauded the show.</p><p>For one, fashion mogul and designer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67okzz9Qe4Q">Diane von Fürstenberg recently told Naomi Campbell</a> that "Halston" was "very good."</p><p>"Because I know every single person, of course some came out better than others. But it was good. It did give very much the feeling of the era," she said, calling McGregor "really, really good" in the role of Halston.</p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/67okzz9Qe4Q" frameborder="0"></iframe><p>"Our show has to take dramatic license, like any other show that's based on somebody's real life," Vachon said. "But I feel like there are many more people who feel like it is true to his spirit - who knew him, knew who the other people in his life were - then there are people who say that it isn't true."</p><p>On set, Vachon said the moments where she looked at McGregor in full Halston garb and gear, were innumerable - but one particular instance transported Vachon right back to the 1970s: the scene in Studio 54, with Liza Minnelli dancing in the spotlight and eventually collapsing.</p><p>"We shot that in the middle of the pandemic. We couldn't fill it up as much as we wanted to. Everyone was in their masks and it was all the stuff that you had to deal with to shoot in such a time," Vachon said, describing the "tremendous responsibility" they had to keep everyone safe while shooting a show amid COVID-19.</p><p>Needless to say, it was stressful, according to Vachon. However, there was a brief respite.</p><p>"Everyone's masks were off for this scene, the lights, the music played, and suddenly I was transported back to the seventies," Vachon recalled.</p><p>All five episodes of "Halston" are currently available to watch on Netflix.</p>

'Halston' producer defends Ewan McGregor's casting and the show's 'dramatic license' after the designer's family called it 'sensationalized fiction'

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="18428" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ewan-McGregor">Ewan McGregor</keyword> plays the iconic <keyword id="6" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="fashion">fashion</keyword> designer Roy <keyword id="215525" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Halston">Halston</keyword> Frowick in <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword>'s new series.</li><li>Insider spoke to Jeriana San Juan, the costume designer for the show.</li><li>San Juan was inspired by Halston's famous pocket-less pants and a photo where he looked like <keyword id="25718" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="batman">Batman</keyword>.</li></ul><p>Ryan Murphy's shows always have a signature look to them: clean, polished, vibrant, and fashionable. There may well be many different inspirations for each particular show, but all of them share a similar visual style.</p><p>However, there is one inspiration you may not have thought to look for in Murphy's latest show, <a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-halston-ewan-mcgregor-dramatic-license-producer-christine-vachon-interview-2021-5">Netflix's five-part miniseries "Halston"</a> - Batman.</p><p>Costume designer Jeriana San Juan revealed to Insider that she had the Caped Crusader in mind when designing what is perhaps the most signature look for <a href="https://www.insider.com/ewan-mcgregor-best-movies-ranked-critics-star-wars-trainspotting-2021-5">Ewan McGregor</a>'s Halston.</p><p>After coming across an old photo of the real Halston where he wore a long trench coat that made him look like <a href="https://www.insider.com/the-dark-knight-joker-plot-hole-explained">the Dark Knight</a>, San Juan incorporated this <a href="https://www.insider.com/zack-snyder-batman-joker-robin-movie-2021-2">Batman</a>-esque silhouette as inspiration for her work on the show.</p><div type="image" title="Ewan McGregor Halston coat Batman" height="1200" width="1600" msid="82948310" hostid="261"></div><p>"I found one image of Halston wearing this great big, long wool coat, and he's crouched over these big rolls of carpet in the Olympic Tower office before he's even decorated the space," San Juan told Insider.<br /><br />"And I just loved how he looked like Batman in that picture. He had this big, long coat around him. I loved the idea that he would just consume more space around him, suck up all the air and really just fill a space," she added.</p><p>San Juan immediately had the coat remade for McGregor in the show. Initially, she made the coat a little too short so that it came just below his knees, which was exactly how it looked in the photo of the real Halston.</p><p>But Halston was a man with a flair for the dramatic, so San Juan wanted the costume to reflect that - and thought the theatricality of the Dark Knight suited that perfectly.</p><div type="image" title="halston netflix series still 02" height="1333" width="1777" msid="82948315" hostid="261"></div><p>"I thought, you know what, he really needs to be Batman. When he walks, I wanted that coat just to swing and waft through the air, so I remade it a little longer so that it would really have more drama to it," San Juan said.</p><p>The costumes San Juan created were born from her own research into Halston's collection of clothing and designs, as well as her own creative license that she was afforded by the show. Plus, her collaboration and working relationship with McGregor behind the scenes provided a sense of authenticity on screen.</p><p>While the dramatic coat may be one of the most signature looks used in the show - McGregor can be seen strutting throughout streets, clubs, and offices while wearing it - it wasn't the only item of clothing that helped to shape McGregor's performance.</p><div type="image" title="Halston coat" height="1200" width="1600" msid="82948323" hostid="261"></div><p>Halston was famous for wearing a particular pair of pants that became a "sort of mythology in the fashion industry," San Juan said. The pants had no side seam and no pockets. San Juan enlisted the help of Chris Royer, a former Halstonette, and Gina Balsamo, who worked for Halston and made the trousers, to recreate the mythical pants for McGregor to wear in the show.</p><p>"When [McGregor] put those on, he really found his gait and his stance as Halston," San Juan said. "He kept reaching for pockets, trying to find pockets. And it sort of forced his hands upwards to gesture more - and hold cigarettes all the time, which is all that we see in the images of [Halston]."</p><p>"So it sort of just became this synergy of: 'of course his pants didn't have pockets, that's why his hands were always in the air,'" she continued.</p><div type="image" title="Roy Frowick Halston" height="1200" width="1600" msid="82948328" hostid="261"></div><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/straight-actors-praised-for-playing-lgbtq-characters-gay-queer-pride-2020-5">McGregor's performance as Halston</a> has been critically acclaimed by many, and <a href="https://www.insider.com/ewan-mcgregor-defends-playing-gay-designer-halston-ryan-murphy-netflix-2021-4">his initially controversial casting as the gay designer</a> has proved to be a stroke of genius. As producer <a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-halston-ewan-mcgregor-dramatic-license-producer-christine-vachon-interview-2021-5">Christine Vachon told Insider</a>, it's now impossible to imagine any other actor donning that black turtle neck and quirky accent.</p><p>On San Juan's part, she had a blast collaborating with McGregor. Not only did the two work together well, but San Juan taught him how to sow and handle fabrics, and <a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-halston-ewan-mcgregor-made-own-trousers-costume-designer-2021-5">McGregor ended up making his own pair of trousers</a> as a result. In all, San Juan told Insider that working with McGregor is something she'll cherish for the rest of her career.</p><p>"I'm not saying this because it's an interview," San Juan said. "Ewan McGregor is the loveliest human being that's ever walked this Earth."</p>

The costume designer for 'Halston' said Batman was an inspiration for Ewan McGregor's look in the show

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58439a89e02ba735318b70f9-1200/undefined" alt="Katie Holmes 2x1" data-mce-source="Getty/Business Insider"><p class="source"><span>Getty/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Katie Holmes.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Katie Holmes has gone through many phases in her career. We first fell for her as the pretty girl next door on the late-'90s series&#xa0;"Dawson's Creek." Then she suddenly became one of the most recognized faces in the world thanks to her marriage to Tom Cruise in the early 2000s (they divorced in 2012). Now she's forging a new chapter as a filmmaker.<p>After two short films - a 2014 AOL original on women who inspire her and the 2015 ESPN "30 for 30" "Eternal Princess" on Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci - Holmes, 37, has made an impressive feature debut with "All We Had" (opening in theaters and on VOD on Friday). Based on the Annie Weatherwax novel of the same name, it stars Holmes as Rita, a down-and-out mom who leaves the man she's with to start a new life with her daughter, Ruthie (Stefania LaVie Owen).&#xa0;</p><p>Business Insider talked to Holmes about the challenges of making her first feature film, if she has any regrets about walking away from the Christopher Nolan-directed Batman franchise, and why she dedicated "All We Had" to her daughter, Suri.</p><p><strong>Jason Guerrasio: When did you catch the directing bug?</strong></p><p><strong>Katie Holmes:</strong> I think it was around the time of doing those shorts. [Producer] Christine Vachon, I had a meeting with her, and she mentioned the short, this AOL short, and asked if I wanted to do one. Once I had an idea of what to do and how to do it and actually did it, I was like, "Oh, I can do that. That wasn't so bad." And then the next step was the "30 for 30," and again that boosted my confidence enough to decide I'm going to do a feature narrative. And I was supported by my agency, and [producer] Jane Rosenthal has been an exceptional friend, and she produced "All We Had," she encouraged me to do the "30 for 30." So it was having people around me saying, "Go for it." So here I am.</p><p><strong>Guerrasio: When reading "All We Had," did you get caught up with the story and characters or were you trying to figure out if this was a story you could direct?</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> Well, when I read scripts and when I read books, it's more of an emotional response and I was really drawn to these characters. The book was written from Ruthie's perspective and I felt that there was a beautiful story to be told and one that was valuable and also one that was a size that I could do as my first.</p><p><strong>Guerrasio: It was a story where you didn't feel you'd be overwhelmed.</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> Right. It didn't have a lot of locations. And I felt I really wanted to play Rita because she's a person that is often judged and overlooked and I felt she was really strong and resilient and kind of funny and she really loves that little girl and I felt it was nice to celebrate that.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58439d21e02ba738018b765b-647/undefined" alt="All We Had Gravitas final" data-mce-source="Gravitas"><p class="source"><span>Gravitas</span></p><p class="caption">"All We Had."</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p><strong>Guerrasio: Did you have to star in the movie to get the financing to make it, or would it have been possible if you were just behind the camera?</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> I don't know because I always wanted to play her. I never even thought about it.</p><p><strong>Guerrasio: So was it hard directing and acting? Did you need someone you could turn to so when you were through acting in a scene you could figure out how it looked?</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> It was a process. You go in thinking you have to do this all by yourself, and what I learned was no, when you hire great people, they do so much for you. I started working on how I would direct this a year before we started shooting and I was prepping, acting, and directing sort of at the same time. I knew that I didn't want to hold people up on set. I didn't want it to be all about how did I do, I had to be giving to the other actors. So I kind of involved everyone in my acting and directing prep before the traditional four-week prep. I had my cinematographer, Brett Pawlak, and my production designer, Michael Fitzgerald, and my wardrobe designer, Brenda Abbandandolo, they were my key teammates. We were constantly watching movies, sending photos that inspired us, shooting certain test footage, so by the time I got to location scouting, we were all very clear about the story we were trying to tell, so the decisions came from a very grounded place and a place of clam and not panic. &#xa0;&#xa0;</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58439d78e02ba71b008b7631-2400/undefined" alt="All We Had 2 Gravitas.JPG" data-mce-source="Gravitas"><p class="source"><span>Gravitas</span></p><p class="caption">Katie Holmes (R) on the set of "All We Had."</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p><strong>Guerrasio: So you wanted to be a well-oiled machine by the time you got to production.</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> Right. And we didn't have the time to watch playback all the time so I depended on my team, and Jane was there and was whispering in my ear, "Do that again," or "You got it." Then it was really fun because you trust everybody. There was even a point where I grabbed the camera and shot a scene.</p><p><strong>Guerrasio: You've worked with so many directors. Was there one you emulated the most?</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> Working on "Pieces of April" with Peter Hedges at a young age was really very powerful. It was a different kind of work. We shot that in 10 days and Peter was right there with us, right next to the camera. It was very grounded and I really liked working that way. I liked the way he directed us. And also Simon McBurney on "All My Sons" on Broadway - we had an eight-week rehearsal period and I really enjoyed the way that he prepared us to go onstage. It was different than anything I've done and it was a different way of being directed, so I tried to take my different experiences of these directors and give those to my actors.</p><p><strong>Guerrasio: When you are on the set just to act - for example you recently did Steven Soderbergh's "Logan Lucky" - do you see it with different eyes having now directed? Would you watch Soderbergh to see how he did things?</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> Steven is so generous and when I sat down to meet him for "Logan Lucky" he answered so many questions about directing, so when I was on set I tried not to bug him too much. [<em>Laughs</em>] <em>"Why did you put the camera there?"</em> But he was very open to my questions and definitely being on his set was really thrilling because he's such a master. I was paying attention to where he had the camera and his shots. I was blown away.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/52f50f606bb3f7074d1afa3d-590/katie-holmes-batman-begins.jpg" alt="katie holmes batman begins" data-mce-source="Warner Bros."><p class="source"><span>Warner Bros.</span></p><p class="caption">"Batman Begins."</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p><strong>Guerrasio: You starred in "Batman Begins," which kind of predated the onslaught of comic-book movies we have now. Does that kind of movie interest you to direct? Would you want to direct something of that size one day?</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> I think that I'm always open to any kind of project. It would be something that I would really have to work very hard to understand how to make something of that size. I remember when we were doing "Batman Begins" and to watch Chris Nolan go from "Memento" to "Batman" and take that leap from such a smaller size to a big movie, that's inspiring. But those movies are their own type of art and you have to really understand it and really know that world and I would have to take a long time to figure that out. [<em>Laughs</em>] Because my brain doesn't naturally go there.</p><p><strong>Guerrasio: Any regrets not continuing with the Rachel Dawes character in the Batman franchise?</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> You know, I really enjoyed working on the first one and I wish I could have worked with Chris Nolan again and I hope to work with him again. It was a decision that I made at that time and it was right for me at that moment, so I don't have any regrets. I think that Maggie did a wonderful job. But I really hope that I get to work with Chris some day.</p><p><strong>Guerrasio: Any role that you've gone after and didn't get that still sticks with you?</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> Burns! That really burns you?</p><p><strong>Guerrasio: Yeah.</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> [<em>Laugh</em>] Every role that you don't get burns you for a while. I'm not going to lie. Because you want it. But over time you sort of realize, okay, whatever. You get over it. There's not one that sticks out, no. And I think now I'm just excited to continue directing and find stories that inspire me and bring those to the screen.</p><p><strong>Guerrasio: You're going to direct an episode of "The Kennedys: After Camelot," in which you also play Jacqueline Kennedy. What about beyond that?</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> I optioned a book called "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rare-Objects-Novel-Kathleen-Tessaro/dp/0062357549" target="_blank">Rare Objects</a>" by Kathleen Tessaro and I'm adapting it right now. It takes place in the 1930s and it's about two women and that's what I'm working on right now to direct.</p><p><strong>Guerrasio: Are you doing the screenwriting adaptation yourself?</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> For now I am.</p><p><strong>Guerrasio: At the end of "All We Had," you give a special thanks to your daughter with the words, "Dreams come true." What did you mean by that?</strong></p><p><strong>Holmes:</strong> She's my daughter, she's very, very special to me, and this project took a lot of time and because it's my first feature I wanted her to know that she's so special to me. I thought that as she gets old that will mean more to her, that she's always the most important, and I wanted to give her a special thanks because she means everything to me.</p><p><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/usa1lBKEDnY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/10-details-easter-eggs-westworld-season-finale-2016-12">10 details you may have missed on the season finale of 'Westworld'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="hsMTAyODE6zwL_Qr1xmDbBZmJj9qJGag" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'hsMTAyODE6zwL_Qr1xmDbBZmJj9qJGag',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

You Searched For "Christine Vachon" and got 3 results

'Halston' producer defends Ewan McGregor's casting and the show's 'dramatic license' after the designer's family called it 'sensationalized fiction'

Jacob Sarkisian

The costume designer for 'Halston' said Batman was an inspiration for Ewan McGregor's look in the show

Jacob Sarkisian

Katie Holmes talks about directing her first movie and trying to 'not panic'

Jason Guerrasio