Timothée Chalamet’s crazy mullet in the apocalyptic satire Don’t Look Up was inspired by Joe Exotic’s unique hairstyle from the popular Netflix series Tiger King, which took the world by storm in 2020.
In a recent interview for Vogue, costume designer Susan Matheson revealed how she was building the look for Chalamet’s character Yule when he came up with the idea. “The first thing he said to me was ‘I want a mullet,’ and of course, he sent me pictures of Joe Exotic,” Matheson said. “At the time everyone was obsessed with Joe, but instead I found this guy from New Zealand who had this amazing mullet, and the moment I showed it to Timotheé, he said: ‘Bingo!'”
The description of Chalamet’s character in the film was an “evangelical shoplifting skater punk,” so Matheson had to use vintage patches and T-shirts from Christian camps to represent his religious roots. One religious reference is used to foreshadow the apocalyptic events yet to come.
“My friend’s brother designed the art for a fictional Christian rock band called Noah’s Flood,” says Matheson. “Throughout the film, Adam wanted there to be these little symbols within the movie, signs of the impending doom. You have to look in order to see the shirt, but the hand-painted design was this incredible image of Noah’s ark riding away like a surfboard with an electric guitar sticking out.”
Chalamet is no stranger to crazy costumes that help portray a character. In a recent Instagram post, he revealed the first look at his costume for the eccentric candymaker Willy Wonka in his upcoming film simply titled Wonka. With multiple blockbusters on the horizon, including the Dune sequel, Chalamet is sure to don many more wild costumes in the future.