In the psychological thriller “Heretic” from A24, the typically debonair Hugh Grant turns diabolical, but like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, he’s disguised by a singular cardigan, one painstakingly selected by costume designer Betsy Heimann.
The colorful button-front cardigan not only coordinates with the moody set but it also subtly says everything about the character’s history and intent.
That’s a lot to ask of a store-bought piece of knitwear, but the right item on the right actor playing the right character can be indelible, whether it’s the shaggy Cowichan style on Jeff Bridges in “The Big Lebowski” or Tom Hanks transforming into Fred Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”
Through her decades-long career, Heimann has demonstrated a kind of prescience that distills personality into character-defining costume, often creating iconic looks. She’s the eye behind Uma Thurman’s white blouse in “Pulp Fiction,” the black suits and skinny ties in “Reservoir Dogs,” the hippie chic of Penny Lane in “Almost Famous” as well as the memorable attire in “Out of Sight,” “Be Cool” and “Get Shorty.”
In “Heretic,” two young Mormon missionaries call on a potential convert, Grant’s charming and welcoming Mr. Reed. He soon traps Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) in a brutal test of their beliefs, a search, he says, for the “one true religion.” All along, he’s deceptively cloaked in his innocuous patchwork sweater and retro gray denim shirt and jeans.
From the first conversations with directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, (“A Quiet Place”), Heimann was on the same wavelength, curating images to send to Grant in what would become a highly collaborative process.
Heimann and the directors made a composite of personality and style influences for Mr. Reed that included academics and writers about religion and faith, notably author and provocateur Christopher Hitchens and his friend, English novelist Martin Amis (“The Zone of Interest”), and NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere, who is in prison for sex crimes.
She and Grant agreed on his backstory as an academic whose heyday was in the ’80s, when double denim and aviator glasses were in vogue.
“I even presented to Scott and Bryan an image of Monty Hall,” the longtime host of the ’60s game show wearing a plaid sport coat and polyester slacks. Mr. Reed is playing a diabolical game with the girls, and the irregular patchwork pattern is like a scrambled chess board, Heimann said.
“It was the idea of a game show kind of guy. We didn’t go that route, but these are some of the avenues we explored on the journey to the cardigan,” she said.
Heimann avoided cardigans with fusty suede elbow patches or hefty yarn that can invoke infirm geriatrics.
“He’s like a panther, like a killer. You don’t want to be bulky; you want to be sleek,” she said.
While browsing online, Heimann found the sweater. It’s a no-name brand, thin with a flat surface in somber tones of brown, black, blue, burgundy and orange, each a color found in the film. She bought multiples, added a breast pocket to hold Mr. Reed’s glasses and fit it to Grant’s slim physique.
“It was a found object that we readjusted to our purposes, kind of like the character,” she said. “Control is his mantra. This cardigan is very controlled. You perceive it as haphazard, but it’s very precise. He is using it to make them think he is soft around the outside … not weird or threatening.” It’s also a complete contrast to the innocent, pastel pink cotton cardigan of Sister Paxton.
“Every single piece of this film is a puzzle that has to fit together,” said Heimann, who introduced the idea of the cardigan during her first fitting with Grant. At a second session a few days before shooting began, she started with his denim pieces.
“And then I pulled the rabbit out of my hat. And he put that [cardigan] on and I could tell,” she said. “He looked at me, and we knew we had something.
“And the fitting was complete.”
