RIVER ROAD ENTERTAINMENT Presents BRAD PITT SEAN PENN ...

West continues: “For Jessica, her clothes are classic and simple to allow her character to shine through.
For Brad I looked to a photo I found of Texas-based NASA engineers standing in the wind in soft, muted
gabardines. I felt that in all the rigidity of his character, there was still a soft side that should come through in his
wardrobe. But he has to be intimidating to the boys, so he’s always in a suit. He never really undresses or
exposes his inner self to his children.”
West collaborated closely with the actors and Malick in all her choices. “I made a little closet for Jessica
with all the items we had picked and then she would just pull the clothes out that fit how she felt that day. It was
a lovely way to do it.”
Chastain loved working with West in this way. “Jackie helped me to know my character in a way I
couldn’t even have come close to on my own. Everything she gave me were just the perfect choices,” says the
actress.
For the three O’Brien boys, West allowed their outfits to echo one another. “They are definitely
individuals but they are also brothers who have that kind of common thread, so I tried to keep the similarity
going, and also that sense that they wore hand-me-downs from each other.”
West saw Sean Penn’s older version of Jack as standing in stark opposition to those boys. “The palette
of the family is soft and almost sepia-toned, like a photograph, but Jack became an architect with very sharp lines
in his life. I felt that a black suit created the right contrast to the earthy tones of his memories and Terry was in
agreement. He loved the modernity of it.”
THE TREE OF LIFE also marks the fifth time that West has collaborated with Jack Fisk, with whom she
has a nearly symbiotic relationship. “I almost feel that I don’t have to communicate with Jack, we feel so
similarly about using design and palette to tell a story. Just as Jack’s sets reveal Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien’s take on
life, the clothes had to do the same.”
Perhaps the most unusual scene to design for was the climactic sequence, as the O’Brien family meets
again in a numinous space. “I talked with Terry about how this would be a very emotional, beautiful moment
and that there should be a lovely softness, an ethereal feeling, yet using everyday clothes,” she explains.
West says that the entire experience of THE TREE OF LIFE will stand out as something entirely
different from anything else in her career. “Working with Terry feels like you’re doing much more than making
a movie,” she summarizes. “I think for all of us, it had to come from a different place. With Terry, it’s more like
you’re all going out and painting a painting together.”
THE MUSIC
But the art of making a movie is not just visual but also aural – with music and sound as vital to the
experience of THE TREE OF LIFE as color, texture and mood. Voiceovers bleed into the orchestral score by
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