Kasia Walicka Maimone (Costume Designer) received an excellence in period film nomination from the Costume Designers Guild for her work on Bennett Miller’s acclaimed “Capote” in 2006.

In 2013, she was again nominated for her designs for Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom.”

Walicka Maimone reteamed with Miller on “Foxcatcher,” starring Steve Carrell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo as well as on the award-winning “Moneyball.”  Recent credits include “A Most Violent Year,” directed by J.C. Chandor; “St. Vincent,” directed by Theodore Melfi; and “Deepwater Horizon,” directed by Peter Berg.

Additional credits include: “Infinitely Polar Bear”; “The Adjustment Bureau”; “The Switch,” with Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston; “Little Manhattan”; “Jesus’ Son”; “The Opportunists”; HBO’s “Hysterical Blindness”; and “Songcatcher.” She also designed costumes for Ang Lee’s BMW short, “Chosen,” Mira Nair’s segment “India,” from “September 11” and “Amelia,” a look at the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart.

Walicka Maimone has also been involved with several opera projects, including Philip Glass’ “Les Enfants Terribles” and “The Sound of a Voice,” and has participated in elaborate experimental theater pieces by Robert Woodruff (“Oedipus Rex”) and Richard Foreman (“Maria del Bosco” and “King Cowboy Rufus Rules the Universe”). She has also collaborated with choreographers Susan Marshall, Twyla Tharp, Donald Byrd and David Dorfman.

Tell us what drew you to the project.

This film was an amazing opportunity to work with the master storyteller Steven Spielberg, which was very satisfying emotionally, as well as intellectually. On a project like this, my job is to listen and find the underlying design of the characters, and this is such a great story and the characters are portrayed in such a clear way, which helped make it a great experience. There was a good deal of photographic research from that time period available and I was given such clear direction from Steven, which helped me to find the proper skin for each character.

Can you explain your process when beginning a new film?

I start by doing very thorough research on all the real characters in the story, and we were able to locate hundreds of pictures of James Donovan, Rudolf Abel, the New York streets and the building of the Berlin Wall. From there, I put together a book of images vital to the telling of the story and which showed how I was envisioning the treatment of colors in the film, and presented it to Steven Spielberg. I was very excited to see that we were both speaking the same language and had a similar visual understanding of the story. Working closely with Steven, the production designer, Adam Stockhausen, and the director of photography, Janusz Kaminski, we immerse ourselves in the worlds in which the characters exist, hoping to find a glimpse into the truth about them, which makes dressing them much easier. It’s also important to effectively represent the period and the colors of the period, so Adam and I mapped out the balance of colors to figure out how everything was going to match. We absorb as much of the vocabulary from that time period as we can, choose whatever is needed for the particular frame of the film, and then construct those realities so they are strong enough to resonate the period, while not overwhelming the story.

Tell us about the looks of the time period in which the story takes place.

The story takes place in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s when fashions were somewhat different and people tended to dress up more. Men and women, for the most part, were more formally-attired, meaning suits and hats for the men and dresses, suits and skirts for the women. When we started comparing the street looks between New York and Germany, between West Germany and what was becoming East Germany, we found actually very few differences.  In fact, the fashions of the East Germans were surprisingly very up-to-date. We were quite selective about representing reality to support the story.

What was the color palette for the film?

There were two different color palettes in the film.  New York was much more color-driven, as it represented the successful, commercial world of America in the ‘50s, with women wearing predominantly green, maroon and yellow and the men, brown, gray and navy. In Berlin, colors were scarce and muted, when used, as most everything was black and/or dull gray to reflect the city’s dismal atmosphere at the time.

Tell us about working with Tom Hanks and shaping the look of his character, James Donovan.

There wasn’t too much of a journey to find the look for his character, as we knew he was a lawyer and had to look professional.  The biggest challenge was finding a tailor who could create a very precise period suit, as the suits at that time had different sleeves, a different body shape, and more loose-fitting trousers, so to find a tailor who could actually recreate a correct period suit was of utmost importance. Fortunately, we found a great one in New York. The fabrics at that time were made from a much thicker weave, and the way those materials carried the body of the suit were quite different.

How was it collaborating with Amy Ryan as Mary Donovan?  

We had a lot of good information about the real Mary Donovan, most of which came from Amy Ryan, including some amazing photographs from the family’s personal collection. Looking at those photos helped us understand the essence of who this woman was. We created a lot of pieces for her, like the green coat she wears in the courtroom, which seemed to represent the era and, subliminally, provide the audience with a better feeling of that time.

Tell us about working with Mark Rylance as Rudolf Abel.

I actually started working with Mark when I was in New York and he was in London, and when we finally met, we were both full of ideas as to how we pictured Abel. The pieces that Abel was wearing in his life before he was arrested were very simple, very classic, but it took a while to find exactly what we were looking for. We abandoned the herringbone look and switched to brownish tweed so as to separate the look of his character from that of the lawyers, and found this beautiful straw hat with a porcupine shape that was a bit unusual for the period, but gives the audience a glimpse as to who this man really was, both in the style of the hat and the unique way in which he chose to wear it. We also found these great, late ‘50s khaki pants which were beautifully distressed, which also went well with his character.

Can you talk about dressing the extras?

On somedays we had more than 300 extras on set, and we couldn’t put them all in suits or it would look as if they were attending an insurance convention. So it was our job to deliver a sense of reality in those scenes. We discussed every single extra that needed to be dressed because in order to represent a crowd effectively, you need to have a good mix of people. When having to present a crowd which represents the humanity and the streets of New York, the collaboration starts with the extras casting director, because it’s much easier to dress people when they have great faces.

What was your biggest challenge during production?

The biggest challenge, on every film, is to be a really good and careful listener, because with each project we have to come up with new ways to truly understand what the story is telling us. To really grasp the color of the period and represent it in a subtle way that helps to portray the story and not overpower it, was an enormous challenge.  And when you’re invited to work with amazing filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski, it’s really important that everyone speak the same language.

Do you have a costume that stands out as a favorite?

It’s hard to choose a favorite because as we dive into discovering each character, we end up falling in love with each one of their costumes. But I did love seeing Tom Hanks as James Donovan in a suit that fit him perfectly and the flight suit for Francis Gary Powers, played by Austin Stowell, which was beautiful because of all its details and its beautiful execution. It was also incredibly powerful to see hundreds of extras dressed in period clothing. But truly, just being part of each frame of this film brought me enormous satisfaction, because every moment of each scene just became bigger, richer, and deeper than it was initially on the page.

What was the most complicated scene to film?

The building of the wall was the most complicated scene, crowd-wise, as we had such a variety of people on set, including crowds of civilians and children, construction workers and several layers of uniforms from both the East and the West, and we had the most extras on those days. Plus, we were filming in Poland, which was not where production was based, which made things somewhat more difficult.

BRIDGE OF SPIES IS AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL HD ON 14^TH MARCH AND BLU-RAY AND DVD ON 28^TH MARCH FROM TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT 

Mark Rylance plays a character in Bridge Of Spies.

Tell us about the character you play?

I play Rudolf Abel, a Russian spy who was captured and arrested in America. We don’t really know all that much about him, other than the fact that he received and passed on messages at various drop sites throughout New York using a hollow coin. He was hiding out in a kind of bohemian artists’ warehouse in Brooklyn with all of these young guys who were what you would call, “left of center.” Eventually, the New York Bar Association gets an insurance lawyer, James Donovan, played by Tom Hanks, to agree to represent Abel, knowing that he was involved in the Nuremburg Trials and had some knowledge of foreign matters like this.

Did you find it liberating to play a real person? 

Playing a real person can help you draw out a particular side of yourself, but Abel is a mysterious character. There are not any actual recordings of his voice, so I based his accent on other people’s descriptions, but there is a brief clip on YouTube of him being led from a truck into a courtroom which provided me with some nice physical aspects to play with, like his stance, which was almost hawk-like. Unfortunately, I don’t have his wonderful nose and I’m not quite as thin as he was.

Tell us about the time period in which the story takes place, as well as the political climate of the time.

This is a true story, and the events that open the film took place in 1957. It was a dangerous time when the U.S. government thrived on frightening its citizens. When Abel was captured, the country was in a frenzy and everyone was convinced he should be executed for his crimes, and, in fact, there is a scene in the film where members of the public present at Abel’s trial become very angry when his sentence is read. But Donovan’s argument had always been that this was not treason, because Abel was never an American citizen, but a professional spy doing his patriotic duty for his country, and it is Donovan’s brilliant assertion that no matter who the enemy is or what they have done, everyone needs to be treated equally under that law. We can’t change the law simply because the public is outraged.

How would you describe the film?

It is a Cold War thriller with the psychology of James Donovan’s actions at its heart. It’s fascinating to see how an honest, hard-working lawyer like Donovan gets drawn into the powerful corridors of the CIA and the FBI and the subtleties of international relations between America and the Soviet Union at that time.

Tell us about the look of the film.

The sets are all incredibly beautiful with an amazing amount of detail. And the props on set were extraordinary and so completely accurate for that time, things like jars of peanut butter…stuff you just assumed didn’t exist anymore. As an actor, we are working amongst crafts people, and just being surrounded by these people with such skill and love for what they do is very inspiring. It is the combination of all these crafts which make a great film, and Steven leads so creatively.

How was it working with Tom Hanks?

Tom saw me in “Twelfth Night” in Los Angeles in 2003 before the production was famous and he was one of the first actors to come to it and to come backstage afterwards and talk to the cast, which was very exciting for everyone. The day before we started filming, he invited me over to read through the script with him, since a big part of the story is the relationship between their characters, which was very considerate. What surprised me the most about Tom is that he loves to make people laugh, and has this very goofy sense of humor which immediately puts people at ease. He also has a phenomenal memory, loves to do  crossword puzzles, and is a history buff.

How was it working with Steven Spielberg?

Steven trusts you to come, obviously, with your lines learned, and to know where you’re going to and where you’ve come from, but he also expects you to have a willingness to play.  We never had any discussions about what he was hoping to convey with my character because it was more about making fascinating stories with real people and having interesting things happening to these people. He knew this story so well, and told me at one point that he had read the script at least 50 times before shooting even began. He has a very open, questioning, kind of presence, and if you watch him on set, he’s often working with two cameras and has two monitors, each with very important images, but he is able to watch both of them simultaneously. Another thing about Steven is that he’s really focused on the narrative. Some directors are focused more on the feeling of the actors or on the beauty of the image or the unusualness of the image, but he’s always concerned about where the audience’s imagination is. He also likes to work very fast, but was always quick to ask if I needed additional takes of any scenes, which was quite kind of him, especially since my background is in British television where we didn’t have the time to do more than one or two takes, due to budgets.  But Steven will take the time when he wants something…he will stay with it until he gets what he wants.

What do you hope audiences take away from the film?

I hope people will find it to be an entertaining film, and one that will make them think as well. This is a film about an unsung civilian hero, James Donovan, who does the right thing at the right time in the right place. He risks his own comfort, safety and employment, and his family’s comfort and safety as well, just to do the right thing, and that’s an important story. But this is also a thriller, and is extremely relevant in the way we deal with international affairs, which is so different from the way we deal with family and business affairs, so it does have a resonance for the present issues of justice on an international front.

BRIDGE OF SPIES IS AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL HD ON 14^TH MARCH AND BLU-RAY AND DVD ON 28^TH MARCH FROM TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT 

Adam Stockhausen (Production Designer) won an Oscar® for his work on Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

He was also nominated for his work on Steve McQueen’s Oscar-winning film “12 Years a Slave.”

Among Stockhausen’s other credits are “Moonrise Kingdom,” “Scream 4,” “My Soul to Take,” “The Switch” and “Every Day.” As art director, Stockhausen’s credits include “The Darjeeling Limited,” “Margot at the Wedding” and “Synecdoche, New York.”

Stockhausen was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was educated at Marquette University and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University School of Drama.

Q. Tell us what drew you to the project. 

A. It is a great story, and what’s amazing is that it’s a true story, as well.  I had heard of Francis Gary Powers, but not James Donovan, so it was fascinating putting all those pieces together. And it’s so timely and interesting how it relates to what’s going on in the world right now. Steven Spielberg and I had numerous conversations about the historical relevance and significance of the story, and it’s just fascinating to see how our judicial system worked in this time of crisis.

Q. Explain your process when you first come on board a film.   

A. The first thing is really breaking apart the big set pieces and figuring out where the film is going to shoot and what sets and exterior locations are needed. From day one we talked about shooting in Germany, and I have some experience shooting there and am familiar with the architecture, so I went back to my photos and notes to determine which areas could best meet our needs. We were looking for the Berlin of 1960, but today’s Berlin looks completely different due to all the new architecture. A crucial part of the film is the creation of the Berlin Wall…in fact, the story actually bridges the moment in time when the wall was constructed, so we needed to see that construction taking place and see the immediate, brand new wall.

Obviously, the wall doesn’t exist anymore, and the immediate surroundings have completely changed. There aren’t any beaten-up remnants of the war in Berlin either, so we ended up shooting most of those exteriors in Poland. Fortunately for us, there was a huge amount of video and photographic material available so we could see some of the actual people and events. From there, my job was to fill in the bits in between that don’t exist anymore in a way that makes you believe they never disappeared.

Q. Tell us how you went about constructing the Berlin Wall.

A. We spent a lot of time focusing on the look and height of the first wall (which was eventually replaced with the wall that most people recognize), and how it was constructed. The first wall went up quickly, and as a result, the construction was very rough and simple with no foundation. It was basically concrete blocks mortared together with a Y-shaped piece of steel and barbed wire on the top. We actually had to build the wall in several different locations throughout the film, so we became really good at moving it around.

Q. Did you speak with cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and costume designer Kasia Walicka Maimone early on to discuss the palette and colors for the film?

A. I went out to Los Angeles and met with Steven Spielberg and Janusz together, and we talked through the locations and the color palette of the film and how there would be a muting and a draining of the color as we came into East Berlin.  Kasia and I have worked together several times before. We spoke frequently and shared photographs to point out what colors each of us were planning to use so we didn’t double up.

Q. Can you talk about some of the locations used in both New York and Berlin?

A. We spent a lot of time shooting in Donovan’s house in Brooklyn, in an area called Ditmas Park. It just felt right for his family, which was important because we wanted to show that he had a strong connection to his neighborhood. The actual home which doubled for the Donovan’s was a free-standing Victorian, full of charm and period detail with an open floor plan, a front porch and a small backyard area. We built the kitchen and the entire second floor on soundstages at Steiner Studios, also in Brooklyn. For the offices of Donovan’s law firm we shot in the New York Bar Association’s building on 44^th Street, and for the New York subway scenes we filmed interiors inside an actual subway car from the ‘60s, thanks to the New York City Transit Museum. The hard part was shooting a period subway car from a station platform. In order to make it look realistic, we needed to use a live subway system, and the Metropolitan

Transportation Authority was happy to work with us, giving us access to the Broad Street subway station very early on a Sunday morning. We had to work fast in “blitz-style,” which meant swapping out posters and signage, changing lighting fixtures and redressing everything from top to bottom, and then everything had to be put back in place as quickly as possible. We also used locations in Manhattan, including the Federal Hall Courthouse in Foley Square.

In Germany, Messe Berlin, which is a sort of a fair park/convention center site, was used for the Hall of Trade Unions in Moscow where Gary Powers’ trial actually took place. It had the right scale, and we were able to add onto it and bring in pieces that we had seen in the research. We also shot at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport, which is quite iconic and has been featured in many films over the years, where we did a wonderful shot underneath the real sign exchange when everyone is about to get on the plane, which looked amazing.

Q. Can you talk about the collaboration between your department and the props department? 

A. I had a wonderful team on this film, starting with Annie Atkins, our graphic designer, who did an amazing job building the newspapers and all the graphic props, and, whenever possible, researching, finding and clearing real things, like all the advertising in the subway. Sandy Hamilton, our prop master, created the Holland nickels and all the other spy gear, and Rena DeAngelo, the set decorator on the New York portion of the film, did all the work on Abel’s studio. Bernhard Hendrick and Marco Bittner Rosser, our set decorator and supervising art director in Berlin, respectively, did an incredible job making the Berlin Wall sequence possible.

Q. Tell us about filming on the “Bridge of Spies,” Glienicke Bridge.

A. It was a remarkable experience to shoot on the actual bridge where the exchange of Rudolf Abel for Francis Gary Powers took place, as it gave us a real sense of the events that happened there. That doesn’t mean it was easy, as we weren’t just shooting one tiny little scene at the bridge, but the film’s big, climactic moment. Today the Bridge is an arterial traffic route for the city of Pottsdam. I’m sure it was inconvenient for the residents, but the government was excited to help tell the story of what happened on the Bridge and really went out of their way to help. It sounds easy, but it took months of work by our great locations department for it to go so smoothly.

BRIDGE OF SPIES IS AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL HD ON 14^TH MARCH AND BLU-RAY AND DVD ON 28^TH MARCH FROM TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT