KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — There are some costumes from movies and television series that will be immortalised in popular culture.
Two weeks into HBO’s latest Watchmen series, it’s hard to forget the all-black hooded cloak donned by vigilante Sister Night, brought to life by Oscar-winner Regina King.
Set in an alternate history where the police are forced to conceal their identities with masks, King plays a baker moonlighting as a Tulsa Police lead detective and a mother of three in the American anti-hero drama series that serves as an extension of the popular 1980s comic series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
In a phone interview with Malay Mail, King confessed she would love to see someone in her character’s costume.
“If I see just one post of a person in the costume is probably going to make me giddy like a child,” said King who was in London getting ready in her hotel room.
While she did not keep the costume after filming had wrapped up, she described it as an empowering experience.
“Every time I put it on, my body language changed, my shoulders would be more erect.
“I believe that costume is somewhere under lock and key until possibly if she needs to come out and play again, hopefully we’ll get to see it again for another season,” she said.
Asked if it was uncomfortable, the Watchmen star said doing fight scenes and running in Sister Night’s garb would make her sweat so much that the crew would have to place cooling bags on her.
“When people wear those suits that make them sweat when they’re working out, I would be ‘Yeah, that’s just silly, you’re not going to lose any weight.’
“I had to eat those words because after the first day when we did the scene at the cow ranch, I lost weight and they had to take the costume in because I had sweated so much,” said the 48-year-old actress.
Her amazing costume was a struggle on its own, being responsible for many funny moments on set when she would fall several times thanks to the cape skirt that made fighting and running a challenge.
“There were a lot of moments of skirts getting tangled up while running fighting and landing on the ground.
“The entire crew would be holding their breaths waiting for me to say, ‘I’m okay’,” she said laughing.
On playing the lead in a TV series that unapologetically delves into racial tensions, King hopes viewers in Asia will be entertained by the material while learning about the rarely mentioned 1921 Tulsa race riot.
The actress spoke about the importance for people to be aware of their environment when it comes to social issues.
“That’s one of the biggest problems. I don’t know about where you are but in America, we get so caught up in the election of the president and forget about the local elections, which probably affect us even more in any of our district.
“So, it’s important as a human being to be aware of what’s going on politically,” she said.
King added that she was lucky to express her art through works that hold a mirror up to society.
Having worked with Watchmen creator and writer Damon Lindelof in The Leftovers previously, King did not have to think twice about accepting the project when it was offered to her.
In fact, she said yes without reading the script and simply told Lindelof: “Just tell me what day we start.”
What King did does not happen very often but knowing Lindelof’s style of show running, writing and collaborative spirit was a combination that won her over.
“Just knowing I could have an experience like that again was what made me feel like ‘I don’t care what is it just as long as Damon is involved’ is the reason that I felt that way — it doesn’t hurt that Damon is such an awesome writer.
Watchmen airs same time as the US on Mondays, 10am on HBO GO and HBO (Astro Ch 411/431 HD).
Catch episode encores on HBO at 10pm the same day.
