ZM's Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley - Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley's Lil Bitta Pod - 10th December 2023

Episode Date: December 9, 2023

On Today's Lil Bitta Pod; Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley have a chat with Mary Gossett, Set Costumer for The Mandalorian!This is the Way.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fleshborn and Hayley's Little Bit of Pod Enjoy a refreshing McCafe iced coffee available only from Macca's Great things are brewing Welcome to A Little Bit of Pod Well we've got some very interesting people that listen to the podcast And we're honoured to have each and every one of you as a podcast listener Except that one person Which we don't talk about

We don't say their name And if it's you, you know it's you. You know it's you. Stop being a jerk. Say no more. We had an email from Mary who's going to join us on today's podcast. And this is rad. Lauren is so excited about this.

This is rad. And then she was like, this might seem hard to believe. Here's some photos. And I was like, okay, the photos are even better. Mary, hello. Hello. Mary, tell everybody what you do for a job, please. I work in the film industry

in Los Angeles, but specifically I work in the costume department on The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. Oh, that's amazing. That's amazing. How did you find the podcast? It was Girl Math. I found it.

Girl Math. Girl Math. Girl Math. I mean, that's not that old, so we haven't deterred you yet with some inappropriate content. And you'll be like, no, fuck them. I've had enough of that. We haven't done that yet. I say yet.

Oh, Mary, we're happy to have you here. Mary, you have worked on some of my absolute favorite TV shows in the Star Wars universe. But before I get too deep into that, what other shows and stuff have you worked on that we might be familiar with? I worked on the Mindy Project. That was one of the first things I worked on

when I got in this industry. Love that. I've also worked on a lot of not successful Netflix shows. I feel like that's very common in this industry. You like a lot of pilots and shows that like don't get picked up or not very popular um i worked on a show called never have i ever that was on netflix yeah uh yeah so um a lot of kind of like sitcom stuff and then suddenly overnight star wars happened and then i just i've been doing that for like four years so that's definitely probably the biggest thing i've worked on and you get to work and like for people like me that watch star wars and just like pause it and like look in the background and be like yep

yep yep yep yep yep yep taking in everything we can from the law you're working in costuming which is the coolest part yeah it's so cool. The Mandalorians, the helmets. So you've held the Mandalorian helmet? I'm pretty sure I've seen a photo of you holding it. Oh, yeah, yeah. That's like my life is holding the Mandalorian helmet. Specifically, like my job is that I'm on set and I help. It's like, you know, like on Game of Thrones,

when you see like a page boy, like dressing the knight in the armor. That's basically what I do for a living. Because I just like follow them around and take care of them they're like toddlers that can't put their pants on by themselves so for like Mando yeah I'm just like chasing around him with a helmet or a jetpack all day long

a jetpack oh calm down yeah oh god Mary the moment you said jetpack something happened within Vaughn and he got very very very excited about it. The costuming and like and you'll know, you will have met Dave Filoni, who I just think is the

most magical man. Oh my god, he's so good. He's so good. He's in charge of Star Wars now, guys. They were like, give him the kiss to the kingdom. I was starstruck when I got to talk to him on set and see him and he's such a nice man and I can't tell you to have your producer just like know everybody's name on the crew and come talk to me and be like see him and he's such a nice man and i can't tell you to have your producer just like know everybody's name on the crew and come talk to me and be like how are you

doing mary how's your day and he's just that's nice it's amazing and it's so rare um so we love him he did a drawing for me actually i have a canin drawing from dave filoni it's like one of my most prized possessions so were you a big star wars fan before you got into it yes i was okay good good good good good all right yeah it would mean so much more you and we're not going to ask because you've said there's other stuff you can't talk about but you're you're privy to a lot of like nda level like full-blown disney star wars secrets i mean not as much right now because like ahsoka's out. And currently there's not another...

Well, yeah, basically anything else in the works, yeah, that's super secret, top secret. But now it's so nice that Ahsoka's out because I'm like, oh my God, I can talk about it. Because even way back, I had to hold on to Luke Skywalker being a secret for a year. And that was the hardest

one back in season two of mandalore we were hiding that that one was insane um but right now it's actually like kind of like a slightly easier period that i don't have anything like burning up i couldn't sit on it that was definitely the biggest yeah because i'm told not to tell people things and i just go home and tell my wife they always tell my husband everything oh you tell your husband because they always have to yeah he watches the show and he's like, I don't remember you telling me that. So it's like totally fine.

They make us sign these NDAs when we watch a movie like three months early. And in the fine print, it's like, we'll sue you for like $2 billion. I'm like, I don't have like $100. You can try. You can try. You can try.

Come get it. Yeah, you can try to collect that. What would you say is, like, the coolest bit of costume that you handle or, like, that you've been part of creating? Well, I think just because it meant so much to so many people in the most recent season, like, in Ahsoka. Vaughn probably knows that there's this whole, like, Ahsoka, the white moment where we just, like, unveil this costume that was sort of shown in the cartoon but we hadn't seen it in real life yet um

and getting to watch the journey and progression of that costume like coming about and knowing that it was going to mean so much to the fans um and it was also just beautiful like it's an absolutely beautiful costume so um and yeah that one was great and Rosario Dawson is just like such an amazing performer. She's so amazing. Everyone on the crew. And it was really, because I was basically glued to her hips.

So if she had been like, you know, a diva or something, but she wasn't like, she's like a kid in a playground. Like every day was just a joy with her. I feel like in Hollywood, but surely, and obviously no names, but surely you've worked with a difficult person or two i have but you know what on the star wars shows i haven't because i just think that john favreau and dave bologna i really think it's important to them um to i don't know if i can curse but to like

not have assholes around like they like every actor they've ever brought in has been just like so chill so nice like i mean i don't know if y'all met tomorrow morrison i'm just assuming that because yeah yeah like you know like he's amazing he's so laid back he's such a nice guy so like i we've had such a good run on uh on this like mandovers um but yeah probably earlier in my career i've had some but i've been very lucky the past few years it's got to be something to do with that universe and how like special it is to people right so if you are if you do get to be part of it you kind of know that it's something special and sacred to people that you want to be a dick as opposed to like you say like pilot season and someone's coming in because they want a job and the script's shit

and you know and they know it's not really picked up but then maybe they're slightly less uh kind to people like yourself yeah well and it's hard too because like with what i do my my job is they can be pretty intimate because i'm like you know like literally physically dressing them and so like i am like in their dressing room every single day like there might start out in their underwear and i'm putting like piece by piece on so it's like they're not having a great born space for everyone involved oh yeah i mean i've worked i did always i always just think that when I see a photo shoot And someone's just covering themselves

I'm like how many people saw them nude I've worked on small scale like New Zealand TV productions And there's always costume people there And even on that size thing You're like sorry about the I stink and I'm sorry about the pubes And I don't know I'm like apology Oh my fingernails are dirty

Sorry about this I can't know. I'm like, apology. Oh, my fingernails are dirty. Sorry about this. I can't imagine. Yeah. Working with someone. Well, that's what's funny with like the Mandalorian. Okay. So like,

we have stunts and they're crazy. And like, there's any apology like goes out the window. Cause these guys are like soaked in sweat and they'll just be like, and they're like, they're actually fighting each other. And so like stuff breaks all the time and I'll be like, you know,

trying to like, I don't know, like zip tie on like a piece of armor that flew off and i'm just like they're soaked and they're like this is so gross mary i'm so sorry and i'm just like whatever the job how far like how far does costuming go before it becomes props do you ever get to like hold lightsabers are they like hold this lightsaber for me for a minute mary and you're okay i've gotten to hold a lightsaber once um and that was a super special moment it's actually one of my favorite moments and that's because um my favorite character is this character named canan from the

cartoon so we've never seen in live action and the day that his light um so ezra um in the most recent season was okay he like built a lightsaber and it's sort of modeled off of canan's lightsaber yeah yes and um he like dave filoni was, they were looking at it with props and they were like, wow, this is beautiful. This looks great. And Dave saw me and he was like, Hey Mary, you want to hold onto this? And he handed it to me. And when he handed it to me, the like prop guys turned it on and it like lit up.

And I mean, I I've seen it a million times, but just the fact that I was holding it, like you can't help it. I just like freaked out. Um, so yeah, even though I'm there every day it's still magical um and but that's the only time i've held a lightsaber because typically like they're very like oh that's not you know don't touch those they're very you know they can be delicate but um i do like them off willy nilly do you know what i mean you don't want to cut you don't want to do that in the world that's an issue yeah i wish the jet packs were props because they are like a bane of my existence they're heavy and they it's crazy how they go on and

off and i'm quite short i'm only um like five feet tall and so i like there are photos of me like putting these like jetpacks on guys and i'm just like i'm just like looking up at them and uh but uh i think it's pretty funny for everybody an amazing amazing and fun job, that just must be so fun I couldn't do it because I'd just be like pocketing things I'd be like Vaughn I'd be like I don't have it Do it, you can see it under your shirt I'm like oh

Wow, you've absolutely made our day and Vaughn's most of all because the idea of him holding a lightsaber at all excites him to the point where he's tried to buy as many versions of them as possible. I buy them.

But they're not the real deal. No. So, yeah, thank you so much, Mary, for sharing your story with us. How fun. Thank you. I'm such a fan. So it's so exciting to get to talk to you guys. We're fans of yours.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm blown away by your job like i just look i just can't stop looking at these photos it's like there's a photo of you and you you look like you're doing something up on a soca's costume so rosario dulce and senna nitsha pedro pascal and it looks like ewan mcgregor yeah that was the we had like a vanity fair shoot yeah that we did so you're so you're such the expert in the costuming that they'll take you to you know vanity fair shoots not just you know on set filming um that was kind of that was

actually we did it like right off set so we were there i was just at work they were just like i don't know if they would have like taken me anywhere special they were just like oh mary's here pull her in and um so but yeah that that was pretty cool to have them all yeah we don't normally have them all there like on the same day yeah what was mark hamill like when he was on the skywalker thing okay so i actually got to costume mark hamill and um i i mean you don't sometimes they're like don't meet your heroes because they might disappoint you i mean they might let you down and he was just no he was amazing he's everything I wanted him to be. He's such a wonderful, wonderful man. It makes me genuinely happy.

Oh, yeah. I would have taken that to my grave if he were like a dick or something. I would have never told anybody because I wouldn't want to ruin it. But, no, he's amazing. And his daughter, like, I'm just like, you know, I don't ask for pictures. I don't ask for autographs. I'm doing my job. I'm being professional.

And his daughter happened to be there. And I think she could just see me like trying to not freak out and just keep it together and be professional. And she was just like, do you want a picture with my dad? And I was like, yes, absolutely. I actually have a photo with him. And it was so sweet of her. I love that. It's just so good.

Like everything I hoped to hear about, like that everybody is nice and that like Dave Filoni is the nice guy that I always hope he is. That these people are actually who you hope they are. Good people. It's good stuff. It's good stuff. Mary, thanks so much for joining us. Yeah, thank you. Thanks. I feel like Vaughn's just going to pester you now with questions for the rest of your existence. Oh yeah, I mean if you want to go for it, feel free.

You got my email. Can I come on set? Can I come on set? Can I come on set? What are you doing? Can I come on set? I'm just going to send you a reel of me auditioning for a role. Can you just make sure it gets to Dave Lange? I've never done any acting in my life, but I'm sure he'll put me in a huge production. It's easy.

It's easy. Thanks, Mary. Thank you.