Designer's Insights on Crafting Ghostly Figures in Fallout
Hey there!
Let's dive into the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout, a show that's consistently impressive, mainly due to talents like Walton Goggins. As Cooper Howard, he brings an intimidating yet entertaining presence to the series, making life a living hell for main character Lucy (and everyone else) throughout the season. Yet, he's still entertaining to watch, both in the devastated present and the pre-nuclear past.
Creating his character and others like it wasn't easy because they're different from anything you've seen on TV before. Walton Goggins just doesn't play an ordinary dude turned ghoul, but someone who's neither fully human nor the feral ghoul we're used to in the games. In the show, he's somewhere in the middle, maintaining his sanity while coming off as an ordinary (if somewhat irradiated) person.
To understand the costuming behind these unique characters, we chatted with associate costume designer Amy Westcot. She explained their approach, showcasing different "ghoulness" stages, each with various degrees. In the games, ghouls can be regular people with the right meds, otherwise they become feral and attack anything that moves. But watching them transform isn't exactly a pleasant experience - far from it, actually. The show's creators made it clear that viewers should find the process disturbing, to say the least.
In terms of visual aesthetics, keeping the ghouls in a mostly human state was critical, especially when it came to their humanity. Westcot and the costuming department worked hard with the textile team to ensure that they looked the right age while still evoking sympathy from the audience. "Remember, these were people once," she noted, "even the feral ghouls."
As for Cooper Howard, he stands out among the ghoul crew because he manages to be the least grotesque of the bunch. Throughout the season, we see him pop those aforementioned meds, allowing him to stay relatively sane and set apart from the rest of the ghouls. That being said, he's not completely one or the other. It's crucial that he appears like a regular (albeit irradiated) person while also being at a stage of ghoulness that he just can't be feral. Moving forward, it's possible we'll see him sliding closer towards that feral edge.
If you haven't caught the first season of Fallout yet, you can binge it over on Prime Video. If you're craving more sci-fi tidbits, don't miss out on the upcoming Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, the future of the DC Universe, and what lies ahead for Doctor Who!
- The post-apocalyptic world of Fallout, depicted on television, showcases a unique blend of technology and ghoulness, providing an intriguing perspective for the future.
- Walton Goggins, the talented actor portraying Cooper Howard, displays an impressive balance of intimidation and entertainment, at the same time making the character's discomforting transformation understandable for the average viewer.
- In the creative process behind Fallout, associate costume designer Amy Westcot and her team delved into the concept of ghoulness, showcasing different 'stages' to reflect the characters' varying degrees of transition from human to ghoul.
- Despite the disturbing nature of the ghoul transformations in Fallout, the show aims to maintain a semblance of humanity, emphasizing that even the feral ghouls were once ordinary people, a poignant reminder that remains especially true for the character of Cooper Howard.
