Stitchdown Jeff Churchill Interview

interview with Jeff Churchill

Notes

• started as a theater tech as a teenager
• transitioned from costume design into shoes
• got involved with Cirque du Soleil
• led to some stage work in the US
• production brought him to London for a year
• got to know London theater people
• circus work held them over through the 2008 financial crisis
• went back to London in 2012 as started to reopen, but found introductions to film designers

• they just didn’t have a good shoemaker for that kind of work in London

• now a crew of 10 or 12
• took over studio next door and knocked down the wall
• relationships with designers, supervisors, stunt coordinators
• theater: see from 30 or 40 feet away, priority is movement, more technical, often building for a whole troupe
• film: very little time, often less than a week, might get a closeup, no break-in, demanding actors
• work 15-20 films at a time
• theater productions might recast every year, needing new shoes for new people
• Jeff drafts, team cuts and sews
• costume teams nearly always do measurements with actors
• publishes their fit sheet and measurement guide online
• film process
  • approached by designer
  • draw
  • send swatches
  • do a mock-up, send photos
  • can sometimes do “hammer-ready” first pair
• Zoom fittings
• works long days
• finding people

  • “Misfit shoemakers” is what I always call them because Toronto doesn’t have a shoemaking scene at all. We don’t find experienced shoemakers. I bring in people are just good at whatever.

  • “I tend to bring in people who are just good with their hands.”

  • Anson did custom body piercing jewelry
  • Shae did mold-making
  • cosplay experience helps with design, materials, and improvizing

  • “But honestly, when I bring in people with shoe experience, it rarely works out. Often they come in and they just can’t adapt to the way we work because they’re so set in the traditional ways that I’ve never known.”

  • “Like My Fair Lady…”

  • teach them my way

• his learning
  • never took a course
  • Fred Mike

  • My terminology is really bad because I’ve never learned the correct terminology.

• sometimes turn around in 48 hours
• carbon fiber shanks for structure, esp. in dance shoes and high heels
• shortcuts
  • adhesive-backed materials for toe caps
  • celastic or thermoplastic stiffeners
• use lots of reinforcements
• being unable to shoot can cost $200k a day
• McKay construction for everything
• motorcycle riding: Kevlar everywhere
• likes the unusual stuff
• actors may stand in shoes 14-16 hours a day
• triangular process: maker, designer, actor
• had lining material developed in Spain for stunt work support
• shoes don’t come back to them
  • big studios lock up everything
  • actors sometimes steel their shoes
  • often bought out by rental houses
  • put their logo inside
• story about making Tom Waits a personal pair as an extra over shoes for a production
• inspired by costume’s in Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• Eiko Ishioka, designer
• Jojo Rabbit featured their shoes in a scene
• Assassin’s Creed: not a great film, but really interesting shoes, parkour throughout

• Often we’re doing ten pairs of shoes that look all the same, that all have to have a different purpose.

• not interested in making shoes for the public
• wouldn’t mind ramping down the business, work more one-on-one with productions, but then COVID

• What I’ve said to the crew is, we’ll keep going until the wheels come off.