Timothée's Hilarious Inspiration for 'Don't Look Up'

Celebs

| LAST UPDATE 12/30/2021

By Molly Houghton
Timothee Chalamet Joe Exotic
Lisa Maree Williams / Stringer via Getty Images

Some are loving it, others are hating it, but one thing's for sure: we can't stop talking about Don't Look Up. Adam McKay's latest film parodies the world's inaction at climate change news. And just when we thought things couldn't get funnier, the movie's costume designer revealed the hilarious inspiration behind Timothée Chalamet's on-screen look.

Celebrities - they're just like us. So it should come as no surprise that when we were all freaking out over Tiger King last year, so was the cast of Don't Look Up. Well, at least one of the actors was. Susan Matheson, the film's costume designer, just revealed how Mr. Chalamet took inspiration from the hit series while getting ready for his role as Yule.

"The first thing he said to me was, 'I want a mullet,' and of course, he sent me pictures of Joe Exotic," Susan shared with Vogue. "At the time, everyone was obsessed with Joe." Sadly for all of us, Timothée didn't get exactly what he wanted: rather than a blonde, straight-haired mullet, Matheson found a more fitting hairstyle for the actor.

Timothee Chalamet Tiger King
Netflix/Kobal/Shutterstock

She chose a curly brunette mullet instead. "I found this guy from New Zealand who had this amazing mullet, and the moment I showed it to Timothée, he said, 'Bingo!'" Susan recalled. And thus, Yule's wild hairdo was born. But that wasn't the only part of Chalamet's character that got plenty of thought and attention to detail.

The Dune star's role was that of an Evangelical Christian who falls for Kate (Jennifer Lawrence). And Susan made sure to incorporate that part of Yule's identity into his costumes. "I wanted to reference the religious element of his character, so I used vintage patches and T-shirts from Christian camps," she explained. "They aren't always visible, but underneath his clothes, he'll always have one of those shirts."

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And for this costume expert, the Don't Look Up set was a dream come true. "The characters that I love are always going to be gritty outsiders - someone who is a bit of an iconoclast and doesn't follow the same path as everyone else. I get very excited whenever there is any character like that, but here, we had several," Matheson said.

You can catch Don't Look Up at select movie theaters or stream it from your couch on Netflix.