- Wow, my boobs look good in that actually. [laughs]
Hey "Glamour," I'm Toni Collette,
and today we're gonna be breaking down
some of my best character looks.
Hilarious. [laughs]
[funky upbeat music]
[low eerie music]
"The Sixth Sense" was really interesting.
I play a single mom
who just would do anything for her kid,
scraping along,
trying to put everything together to get food on the table
and be there for him emotionally.
I remember having some of my first fittings for this film
and I just thought, oh, this doesn't feel right at all.
So I took myself down to the local market in Philly
and I just started buying pieces that felt right,
and then I think that helped create a baseline
for where we needed to go.
I had envisioned something much more working class
that was representative of her means.
She wasn't some pretty single mom.
She was struggling a bit.
I mean, it was really interesting
'cause Night used reds
and those warm tones very sparingly.
And I guess at this particular moment,
there's a lot of new information for my character,
and it's like a flood of recognition and enlightenment
and emotions that come to the surface.
And I think potentially that's what this,
this very bright deep turtleneck represents.
[light airy music]
There's nothing glamorous about Sheryl.
She's just there really for everybody else,
and it's reflected in her clothes.
They're very simple, they're very cheap.
She's just not really thinking about fashion in any way.
A lot of my characters don't think about fashion in any way.
It's more about getting food on the table
and being there emotionally for her kids.
You can see here looking at the color palette,
Nancy Steiner had me in quite a few,
actually not some dissimilar
to the color that I'm wearing today.
Sometimes it's really funny.
You'd think there's some deep
and meaningful reason behind a choice,
but I think literally,
it was just 'cause it brought out the color of my eyes.
[Toni laughs]
[low chill music]
I think in playing Rose, I mean her name is Rose,
she's someone who blossoms
throughout the course of the story.
So she starts quite conservative.
Everything's quite buttoned up.
She's not very expressive with what she's wearing.
However, she has this obsession with shoes
because she doesn't like her body.
She feels overweight.
But shoes always fit.
Rose changes her life.
She quits her job and she finds some happiness and love.
And so her body changes,
the way she dresses changes, she shows more skin.
She lightens up.
That wedding dress is very beautiful actually.
I don't know who made it.
I remember loving that dress.
It was just gorgeous.
I mean man, I loved making that movie.
[soft lofi music]
I actually really loved my clothing in "Hereditary"
because it couldn't obviously be a statement.
She's an artist.
She's going through a lot of internal challenges
and changes and struggles.
I don't know how Olga did it.
She just created a shape that was actually very interesting
and specific to Annie.
She does look creative in the shapes that she wears.
The colors are very simple.
It's like you can project anything onto her,
which I think is representative
of what has happened in her life.
She has been lied to and manipulated
and used her entire life
and hasn't really had her own existence to enjoy
or thrive in.
And I think the clothing is shapeless and so is she.
There were a lot of things that helped me remember
where my character was at any given point.
It's a dark looking film,
so I think it just helped
to have my character in light clothes
because you need to see her. [laughs]
In almost every fitting,
they help inform how to be in that person's skin
more than you would think.
And sometimes I don't have a clear idea
until I have that meeting with the costume designer
because they've already put so much thought into it,
they have physicalized ideas
of what this person should look like,
and it helps me actualize the character in ways that,
I mean, I'm just so grateful for.
'Cause it generally happens before rehearsals,
before you can start to really articulate things,
and it happens in a,
just in a playful way,
and it just helps you build the character.
[light upbeat music]
I think Muriel Heslop, [laughs]
without any real knowledge of who she is,
what she wants, where she's going,
and so everything she wears
is what she would see in a magazine
and is told she should wear,
you should be presenting this kind of image,
this is how you'll achieve this kind of life,
and it has nothing to do with who she really is.
So she's got no money,
she's not really confident in herself,
and she steals a very unflattering dress
and wears it inappropriately to a wedding. [laughs]
Bless her.
That's just the beginning
of a really interesting costume trajectory
because as she gets to know herself,
as she learns to like herself,
she starts to become more confident in herself,
it goes from being very daggy clothing
that doesn't really suit her,
to something that's more representative of who she is
and how she feels
and what makes her feel comfortable
in her own skin a bit more.
She's very uncomfortable to begin with.
I wish I had counted how many wedding dresses I tried on.
I wish I actually knew that because it was unbelievable.
I tried on so many,
and they represent this total fantasy life
that she thinks she should have
and really doesn't feed her soul in any way.
And then when she does get married,
it's a complete ruse and a lie,
but she's gonna go through with it
because she gets notoriety, she gets money,
she gets all these things that she thinks are important
that really truly aren't.
And that particular wedding dress, I guess is,
she's tried on hundreds by that point
and she finds the one
and gets to walk down the aisle to ABBA in it. [laughs]
I talked about her feeling uncomfortable in herself
and not really knowing herself.
She's bullied and abused at home.
It was in the script that she was a little overweight,
and I think that's perfect
because she has to have a protective layer
to survive her childhood.
I don't think I really actively tried to lose weight
throughout the film, but because we,
I don't think we had the luxury
of shooting chronologically to do that.
But I do know that initially everything was very tight.
So you could see every curve.
You could see how frumpy and uncomfortable she was.
And then as the story unfolds
in how she comes into a bit more self-knowledge
and comfort and confidence,
she starts to wear things that actually represent that.
[light whimsical music]
I love Joni's wardrobe.
The costumes are amazing.
I actually said...
There's an Australian designer called Zimmerman,
and I have been a fan for years
and I suggested their clothing
because it's incredibly feminine
and it has a kind of earthy, but refined quality.
Joni's an influencer.
She has a certain idea about
how she needs to represent herself
and who she wants to be publicly.
And the Zimmerman clothing is so beautiful,
and it was just really ideal for Joni.
So when I suggested it,
I didn't know how much they were gonna get,
but I pretty much exclusively wore Zimmerman.
I think except for...
There's a picture here of me meditating.
I think that was just a gorgeous silk satin nighty
with that lace thing.
I think that was the only thing that wasn't Zimmerman.
And it's so funny,
I've been such a tomboy my whole life,
but these clothes are very feminine,
and I feel so good in them and I love wearing them.
They just weirdly suit me. [laughs]
[low chill music]
This is a very particular style.
This is a woman who doesn't give a shit about fashion.
She is just living her own, what do you call it here,
granola lifestyle? [laughs]
She's a total hippie.
She has high ideals and she wouldn't stoop so low
as to think twice about what she's wearing.
Having said that, she must obviously think twice
about wearing this kind of thing
because it's very specific.
There's the Yeti jumper, which is an oversized...
In some circles,
maybe it would be quite fashionable now actually.
But I remember nothing was form fitting,
nothing could look expensive.
It kind of had to look earthy and green.
It had to be sustainable and environmentally friendly
and representative of what she believes in.
She's very passionate,
has a lot of ideals about how the world should be,
and I just think her sadness came
from not being able to achieve that.
And it's almost like a rebellious uniform in a way.
I don't think she'd think of it that way.
That's me talking.
And I wouldn't have judged her like that at the time.
It's just me looking back at it retrospectively now.
It felt right.
When it feels right, it is fun
'cause you feel like it's some kind of truth
that you're playing with.
[soft lofi music]
I think that's the first time I worked with Ann Roth,
who's an incredible costume designer,
formidable and has done everything.
You look her up and you'd just be gobsmacked.
I love her.
I think I only had one scene,
but it was such a well-written scene,
and it's such a beautiful period
that I think my body works well
with this particular shape of clothing.
It's set in the '50s.
I have quite a curvaceous figure.
Wow, my boobs look good in that actually. [laughs]
This character is really well put together.
It's quite a facade 'cause inside,
as you see in the scene,
things are kind of falling apart,
and she's questioning her entire existence.
But it's a time when women were not encouraged
to talk about their issues.
Women were repressed.
Females in general were living an oppressive life,
and there was a lot of towing the line
and living up to societal expectations.
And so yeah, she looks perfect,
pretty as a picture,
but underneath it's just very tight and very wound up.
This is that.
That just looks like, when I look at it,
it's like a perfect manifestation of those qualities.
[light upbeat music]
I love that show.
If they came back and said, "Do you wanna shoot it again,"
I would do it in a heartbeat.
I loved doing this show.
I think ultimately we all have different parts
in our minds that make up who we are.
She had Dissociative Identity Disorder
or Multiple Personality Disorder,
it used to be called.
And so these different parts were actually physicalized
and took on their own personality and look,
and they were able to be completely externalized
and played out.
So it was really fun to play with.
We have a '50s housewife,
equally as restricted and tight and controlled.
We have T. who's a 15 year old little maniac,
which was fun to play actually.
She says whatever comes to her mind,
is completely irreverent and does her own thing.
Buck, who is clearly a Vietnam veteran
and lives in trucker hats and men's clothing.
I actually watched it recently
because my 11 year old son wanted to watch it,
and it was amazing to revisit.
But he was just so taken with Buck,
that I played this guy.
And there's a scene where I come out of...
I wake up back into Tara's body,
and I'm wearing Buck's clothes
and I start to run home,
and then I'm like having to hold my boobs
because she's not wearing a bra.
She just really takes on a manly look and feel.
And then Tara herself is the most neutral,
which she is.
They all exist to support and protect her.
So in a way she's...
It was important for her to be less loud in what she wore.
I play a woman called Margo Cleary Lopez.
She wears a lot of hats, has a lot of responsibilities.
She's the mayor of Seattle.
She is a mother to three beautiful kids.
She's married to a beautiful man.
As a mayor, she has to present a certain professional look,
but also it can't be too glamorous. [laughs]
She has to represent every woman
and not be intimidating in any way.
And she's much more grounded at home.
She lives in jeans and soft cashmeres [laughs]
and is much more relaxed.
Thank you so much, "Glamour."
I've really enjoyed looking back
at some of these incredible costumes
that I've had the privilege of wearing
over the last several decades [laughs]
because I'm old now. [laughs]