Hollywood hat trick: Artisan shaped the look of 'Oppenheimer'
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[March 05, 2024]
By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - To create the look of renowned physicist J.
Robert Oppenheimer for the big screen, his trademark hat had to be just
right.
Two hatmakers had failed to replicate the scientist's unique style when
Mark Mejia, owner of Baron Hats, headed to a Hollywood studio lot to try
his version on Cillian Murphy, the actor who would play the lead role in
"Oppenheimer."
Director Christopher Nolan joined the fitting and gave his approval,
plus made a tweak of his own.
"He just cranked the brim down a little bit and gave it a little bit of
attitude," Mejia said.
The hat helped define the silhouette of Oppenheimer, the formidable
scientist who led the 1940s race to build the first atomic bomb, in the
movie that is the frontrunner to win best picture at Sunday's Academy
Awards.
Mejia has three decades of experience making hats by hand for A-list
movie stars from Clint Eastwood to Leonardo DiCaprio and musicians from
Bob Dylan to Beyonce.
His workshop sits on the third floor of a century-old building in
downtown Los Angeles. On the first floor is B. Black & Sons, a
family-owned woolen house that has supplied fabric for costumes since
"Gone with the Wind."
A hand-operated elevator shuttles visitors up to the Baron Hats showroom
and workshop. Doors open into what looks like a museum of memorable
Hollywood moments.
Among dozens of hats on display is a cowboy hat from Eastwood's "Cry
Macho." Across the room is a straw boater donned by Johnny Depp as
gangster John Dillinger in "Public Enemies." A reproduction of Jim
Carrey's yellow, feather-adorned fedora from "The Mask" sits on a
green-faced bust.
"It's a long list," Mejia says when asked to name the projects he has
worked on, which include thousands of hats over the years.
He mentions the Russell Crowe drama "3:10 to Yuma," TV series
"Justified" and Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," plus work for
bands such as AC/DC and Cheap Trick.
On the wall, a framed Rolling Stone magazine cover features folk singer
Dylan wearing a silver hat made by Mejia, with a handwritten note of
thanks from the singer. A photo shows Beyonce sporting a black hat with
a giant brim for her Formation tour. Mejia also is working on current
projects with Beyonce.
Rows of shelves feature reproductions of famous movie hats, such as the
fedoras sported by Dick Tracy and Indiana Jones, that Baron sells to the
public. Baron uses the original wood blocks used on the productions to
recreate the shapes.
FROM SKETCHES TO THE SCREEN
A California native, Mejia started learning his craft after working as a
science technician for the Los Angeles school district. He felt he had
little job security and searched for another career, joining a friend
who was a hatmaker in New York.
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Two ancient devices, a conformateur (L) and a formellion (C), used
to measure the head of actor Cillian Murphy for his hat in the movie
Oppenheimer, are shown at Baron, a custom hat maker for Hollywood in
Los Angeles, California, U.S., February 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake
In 1993, Mejia apprenticed with
Baron Hats founder Eddie Baron, who had started working for movie
stars including John Wayne in 1969 and become Hollywood's go-to
hatter. Baron sold the business to Mejia in 1995.
To create a hat for a film, Mejia typically works from sketches
supplied by costume designers and must figure out how to bring their
ideas into three dimensions.
He often works with beaver or rabbit felt. Once a rough shape has
been created, the felt is heated and steamed so that Mejia can
stretch and shape it into the precise form.
"To really capture the silhouette of the costume, and the movie
itself, it takes a lot of manipulating of the felt to really create
the exact, iconic style that you want," he said.
The Oppenheimer hat was an unusual shape. Costume designer Ellen
Mirojnick describes it as a porkpie crown combined with something
between a fedora and a cowboy brim.
Mirojnick, who is nominated for best costume design at Sunday's
Oscars, studied black-and-white images and had to guess the hat's
color, deciding on a taupey gray. Designs were sent to hatmakers in
Italy and New York, but neither could nail it.
Much closer to Hollywood, she found Mejia, who she said "hit it out
of the park immediately."
Getting it right was important, Mirojnick said, because the
real-life Oppenheimer had intentionally crafted his look.
The hat, she said, was "part of the image that Oppenheimer created
as he stepped into his power and opened up Los Alamos," the New
Mexico lab where the bomb was created. "He wore it all the time."
Murphy wears one hat in the movie, reflecting the fact that
Oppenheimer kept the same look throughout his life. At Nolan's
direction, most other characters in the film do not wear hats.
Mejia said he never sought a career working with celebrities, but he
enjoys seeing his hats on film.
"There's a lot of gratification and satisfaction," he said, "when
you actually build something with your hands from scratch and see it
on the big screen."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Mary Milliken and Jonathan
Oatis)
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