'Woodshock': How Rodarte's Mulleavy Sisters Went From Fashion Design To Making Their First Film

Ten years after founding the fashion label, Rodarte, sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy have become the first female designers to write and direct a feature film. Starring longtime friend and muse Kirsten Dunst, Woodshock is an artistically rendered exploration of isolation, paranoia and grief set against the backdrop of the redwood forest of California’s Humboldt County. Fresh from the film’s world premier at the Venice Film Festival, the award-winning design duo, who memorably created the costumes for 2010’s Black Swan, talk muses, mistakes and misguided advice.

Claire Coghlan: How did it feel to premiere Woodshock in Venice?

Laura Mulleavy: It was completely thrilling. This film is so special to Kirsten, Kate and I, and it felt like a magical way of letting it out into the world.

Mulleavy: We met Daniel Katz and Noah Sacco from A24, and everyone said, “I think this could be a really good partner for you.” It's an artistic film. It's thoughtful. It poses questions and makes you look inward, just as the character does onscreen. And it’s been a magical partnership. They really believe in the idea of auteurship and they support individuality and creativity and they believe in the movie-going spirit.

Coghlan: Kirsten is a longtime friend and muse. How did it feel to work with her?

Mulleavy: To watch her work is such an honor. She's just breathtaking. She worked for a year on this character before we even started shooting to figure out how she could portray someone who needed to feel emotion rather than speak it. It’s a very powerful performance I don't think anyone else could do.

Coghlan: For the male leads, you chose Joe Cole, a.k.a. John Shelby in Peaky Blinders, and Pilou Asbæk, Euron Greyjoy in Game of Thrones, both violent, emotionally detached men. Coincidence?

Mulleavy: Hilton Als, who's an amazing writer, did say to us that our film was Alice in Wonderland in reverse. Theresa (Dunst) is so small in the beginning and so overcome by this landscape and she's so powerful and large at the end standing on that stump and levitating. The male characters do kind of remind you of the Mad Hatter or the Caterpillar. These people are posing the questions to her. But she follows her own journey and makes her own decisions. We wanted to create a female character who had 100% agency, each choice would be of her own doing. For Nick (Cole), we needed someone who could be Theresa's shadow, a presence that could be so aggressive, yet so soft. Keith (Asbæk) is so complicated. He's seductive and yet he has no boundaries, he has no rules. He's not defined by logic or morality. Theresa is so burdened by her choices and Keith provides a great foil.

Coghlan: You say Theresa has the burden of trying to understand life in a deeper way. Yet she lives in a world that doesn’t understand her.

Mulleavy: That's another thing we wanted to touch on in this film — it’s almost solely about emotion and feeling. It requires that the audience look inward and question what they do and why they do it. As things get faster and faster with technology, and we become more and more disconnected from our natural world, it's important to remind ourselves that these trees have been here for thousands of years. They’re a lot older and wiser than we are and they're still standing. Unless we completely destroy them. If you think about it, it’s so strange that we can disconnect so much from something that sustains us .

Coghlan: You note that 95% of the old growth forest has been destroyed in the span of 150 years. What compelled you to make this film now?

Mulleavy: We started writing it in 2011. In 2013, we started meeting people, producers, etc., and we shot it in the summer of 2015. So it's been a long journey. But I do think Theresa's character feels very relevant right now. For me, she’s a representation of things people need to take some time to stop and think about.

Coghlan: You’ve received both rave reviews and harsh critiques. What have you learned about receiving and processing criticism?

Mulleavy: After our first show, we decided that we wouldn't read reviews because you get addicted to really kind ones and you get really hurt by negative ones. That’s just human nature. We've had experiences where, three years later, the same people who really critiqued something asked us, “Why aren't you making that style of clothes anymore?” In fashion or design or any form of art, it’s your job to question what people think they like, to say, “This is a new idea.” And that idea isn’t always immediately loved because it makes someone think or it feels new. So I think it's wise to not pay so much attention. It protects your individuality in the creative process.

Coghlan: What's the best piece of advice you ever got?

Mulleavy: Anna Wintour said that our work was very personal and to keep it that way. That’s something I go back to all the time. The world is looking for different voices and different perspectives and that's how things move forward, so it's really important to make sure your voice gets out there and to then protect it. And that’s not easy. Easier paths will present themselves, but they usually require giving up something that could hurt the integrity of what you do.

Coghlan: Have you experienced failure?

Mulleavy: All the time! There’d be no drive to succeed if you didn't have setbacks. I find they usually lead to a new idea or cycle, and you could never have done that thing you did without that first mistake. It doesn't work to only succeed. It’s about balancing the two, and making sure to maintain some sense of self within the highs and lows.

Coghlan: What do you love most about your job?

Mulleavy: I love questioning what I think I know and gaining new experiences. I love meeting inspiring new personalities who make me a better human.