Capturing the raw emotion and toughness of our new reality, two actors engaged in a dynamic interaction model the bold winter collections available right now at ENTRANCE. Watch the incredibly charismatic duo having loads of fun with fashion and enjoy their witty answers to our exclusive Q&A bellow. Without further introduction, brace yourselves for the bold and the beautiful Ana Ularu and Marc Rissmann!
Ana. You are one of the beautiful people who aren’t afraid to show the raw, unretouched version of themselves. How do you do it?
First if all, cheers for that, mate! I’ve this ambiguous relationship to the idea of beauty and even more so to my own aesthetic perception. I’ve been raised with the concept that “not fitting in is a badge of honour”. In my family, “alien” was a compliment. I grew up adoring Grace Jones and David Bowie (I found him to be the most beautiful creature this side of Mars). When it comes to my existence as an artist I’m not vain at all — I find my body and face to be a great tool of expression and I think many a nuance would be lost had I been a slave to curating my appearance. The weirder the better. I am an eternal vassal to the idea of uniqueness, to the abstract, and most of all to my chosen profession, which requires change, versatility and raw emotion. So I guess that helps — I never care about being “pretty” on screen. However I do fall prey in real life sometimes to pangs of sadness with not conforming to standards of beauty. I abhor the Instagram “one size fits all”, reductive idea of what should inspire.
Outfit Junya Watanabe, available to shop at Entrance.
Outfit MM6 Maison Margiela, Noir Kei Ninomiya, Off-White. Available to shop at Entrance.
Outfit Off-White, available to shop at Entrance.
How do you express your fierce personality through fashion?
Ana: I express my fierce personality (again, cheers) through being opinionated, loud and as revolutionary as I can be while still maintaining some sort of social decency. Revolution means also silent help and care for others, by the by. As for fashion — I used to dress years back in a style I coined myself as “undertaker chic”. So imagine a Victorian undertaker, complete with top hat. I’ve always had my own thing with clothes, it’s a bit of leather jacket, white vests, some tulle, some rock t-shirts, some overalls. Not sure if I have a particular choice of fashion. It’s whatever I feel fits my mood. Lately I’ve been all into flowery feminine dresses, this French boutique designer kinda vibe, black velvet beret, ‘60s silhouetted bodies, silk scarves, I’ve moved away from my more Existentialist geometric shapes. Back in biz now with leather and cashmere.
Marc, we see you have just completed filming on a new production, Saturn. Please tell us more about the character you’re playing and the costumes in that movie!
The project was a very fine blend between realism and fantasy. My character is a supernatural being, old as time itself, in a human embodiment. But what the director and costume designer chose is to approach it realistically. The clothes were a vintage timeless blend- leather, corduroy, solid boots… Also very good in the harsh Seattle winter. The coat had a high neckline that gave it an imperial look, almost like a uniform, without crossing that boundary.
Outfit Rick Owens, available to shop at Entrance.
You both, Marc especially, interpreted many, shall we call them “period-piece characters” or characters with specific uniforms. How much do costumes help you shape a character you’re portraying?
Ana: Immensely. I have been long singing praises to well thought costumes. They can generate a walk, they are spotlights or screens for a character’s secrets and vectors. In my last two projects I went from highly geometric, monochromatic, exaggerated shapes for this sinister head-mistress character to a tribal armour and war paint for a futuristic general. The outlook definitely helped the inner beast come out. As did it when I portrayed a Sumerian goddess or a poor North Carolina villager wearing her late mother’s clothes.
Marc: A lot! When you go to a costume fitting for the first time, you’ve already thought a lot about the character and his inner life. So now you are collaborating with the costume designer to create the outer layer, the armour, that will influence how you feel and how you move. My character Nos in “Into the Badlands” built his uniform out of metal pieces, bike gears, animal pelts, chains, fur – so I was wearing 20 kilos of costume, which changed my body language and gave me a sense of power. In “Game of Thrones” I had a beautiful costume, portraying someone that is vain, but also a soldier. I usually like to walk around a bit in the costume before shooting, to adapt and get a sense of normalcy. I look in the mirror and try to think what he would see in himself and why he chose to dress like this.
Do you keep costume pieces as tokens, or even to wear later, in everyday life, from your movie sets?
Ana: I do try to. Some characters I leave behind lovingly, we part as they exit me and I them. For others I do like keeping them around. I’ve got the tattered old sweatshirt of Eve, my post-apocalyptic beloved character in “Index Zero”. Would’ve loved to keep Mistress West from “Emerald City”’s beetle dress – it had taken 124 hours to make, hand stitched sequins and beads mixed with real beautiful beetles, blue-green velvet and mesh. It was a jewel.
Marc: I would have loved to, but first of all, I wasn’t allowed to and second of all, let’s face it, the kind of characters I play might cause some eyebrow raising, calling the police or inviting me to Berghain.
Outfit Maison Margiela, Pleats Please Issey Miyake. Available to shop at Entrance.
Outfit R13, Barbara Bologna. Available to shop at Entrance.
Outfit MM6 Maison Margiela, available to shop at Entrance.
When were you first introduced to the world of fashion and what was the very first garment or accessory you fell in love with?
Ana: I’d say right at the moment I became aware of my general surroundings. My parents are production designers and I grew up surrounded by sketches for costumes, peacock feathers, things they were creating or restoring – old strings of pearls, damaged Elizabethan costumes, leather for prehistoric costumes, lace and silk, Stefan Iordache’s trench coats, all sorts of hats. I remember my dad’s face when I said I wanted pink lacquer shoes because that’s what little girls wear, I’d been told. He said “There’s never a rule about what you should wear and also…why? Do YOU like them?”. Honestly, no, I didn’t. Let’s just say I stayed with punk boots and the cool long sleeved sweaters my mum knitted. The very first clothes and accessories fell in love with – my mum’s long black trench coat with its pronounced shoulders and soft perfectly draping fabric and her wide brimmed gipsy hat – complete with dramatic dark eye make up and hanging earrings that she used to make herself out of silver bits and leather and I dunno whatever else.
What do your current style choices say about you and stand for?
Ana: I’d rather leave the mystery of that to be deciphered. Discovering my femininity never got in the way of wearing my Gurkha soldier hat, nor do these things fully tell my story.
Outfit Rick Owens, Junya Watanabe. Available to shop at Entrance.
How do you feel about current trends? You don’t strike me as someone who follows any trends, but even you must have some favourites.
Ana: Theeere you go. Unfortunately, no idea what is in trend now, nor would I go out of my way and out of my vintage suede boots to find out. What will peak my interest will reach me eventually.
Marc: I don’t think I am the guy that follows trends. I still like stuff that I bought 10 years ago, try to repair it when needed and I am always sad when I have to throw something away. I admire craftsmanship and I am happy to invest in garments that last and that have soul – be they vintage or new. I don’t buy into fast unsustainable fashion. I love Scottish tweed, wool, my bespoke suits, good denim and handmade leather shoes, which is more of a practical choice due to my shoe size 48.
Outfit Noir Kei Ninomiya, Pleats Please Issey Miyake. Available to shop at Entrance.
What are your key pieces this season and go-to designers right now?
Ana: My new leather jacket that my husband got me and some old Rag and Bone boots I cannot seem to step out of. And a bunch of special jeans :). And I’ve just bought these lavish cashmere sweaters, one of them in the world’s deepest most sensual blue. I don’t shop by designer, I shop by feeling.
What did you enjoy most wearing at our shooting for Entrance?
Ana: Literally EVERYTHING. I do believe Amir is a genius. He sees so theatrically, so beautifully, he makes black Saran wrap around one’s waist feel like a Gucci ensemble. Love Rick Owens forever.
Outfit Junya Watanabe. Available to shop at Entrance.
Outfit MM6 Maison Margiela, Off-White. Available to shop at Entrance.
What item from our fashion shooting… you felt skeptical about but in the end, you discovered you actually love wearing?
Marc: I think Amir is a genius, we worked together before and he brings styles I would never pick for myself at first sight. But he manages to surprise me every time and expand my sense of fashion and what is possible. He sculpts with clothes and makes me see myself in a new light.
You are travelling a lot, experiencing different places — i think it’s safe to say you are under a multicultural clash of influences. Has that changed or transformed your perspective on personal style and fashion in general?
Ana: I do guess I dress more New York when I’m there… I have a Harris Wharf oversized coat that screams “Manhattan in the fall”, and last year all of our pictures featured it. I have my London-feel Guidi boots. My French dresses in Berlin. All black in LA. However it is all home to me. It isn’t so much of an exterior transformation or influence, but more of an inner world that gets activated within me in these places.
Outfit MM6 Maison Margiela, Noir Kei Ninomiya, Off-White. Available to shop at Entrance.
Outfit Rick Owens, Junya Watanabe. Available to shop at Entrance.
In fashion, you seem very fond of the conclusive void offered by the colour black. Tell us how you use lights, shadows and negative spaces to portray emotions in acting.
Ana: Great question. It would have to be a case by case study. I do believe occulting things makes it all more interesting, or rather have started feeling this way the more I grow up. There is a tendency in all of us to throw all of our skill cards on the table, jumbled and undefined, I guess it’s one of the prerogatives of being new to the craft, and eager. Yet you come to see the value of obscuring your aces, of only releasing certain energies at peak points when you’ve done this job for a while. The fascination that comes with the territory. A character with mystery or deflection rather than “here I am and I can cry”. Don’t get me wrong though, I theorise this for myself and yet whenever I go on stage I become a tornado, I expose a lot…
Outfit Rick Owens, MM6 Maison Margiela, Maison Margiela. Available to shop at Entrance.
Is it fair to say that fashion is an emotion or an emotional act, much as acting as well?
Ana: They can both be frivolous and inextricably attached to shallow and ephemeral values, flitting ideas of beauty and perfection. And then in some blessed moments, they can both transcend their scope and vanity and speak of truths, depths, darkness and light. Alexander McQueen was a flash in that obscurity, he was larger than life and spoke with the tongues of poets.
What garment or accessory you owe has the most sentimental value to you and why?
Marc: My grandma’s wedding ring, that I wear on a chain around my neck and my own wedding ring for obvious reasons. One is a tie into my given family and the other to my chosen family.
What was the most thrilling fashion related experience you’ve had so far?
Ana: I do believe being fitted and seeing my 14 costumes in “Emerald City” come to life was a revelation. Trisha Biggar, the costume designer is an absolute legend. I’d have one dress come in from Paris, all blue velvet and detail, another one from Milan, all hips and bust, gold and purple, then my black crow armour dress, coming to life before me, one layer at the time… it was spectacular even to try on the see-through black silk kimono with gold embroidery and walk with it – I was wearing art.
Outfit Off-White, Pleats Please Issey Miyake. Available to shop at Entrance.
Outfit Maison Margiela, Pleats Please Issey Miyake, Off-White. Available to shop at Entrance
Describe yourself through… the vibe or vision of a designer you love.
Ana: I love McQueen and Westwood. I adore Vampire’s Wife and have collected two magical pieces so far. So I guess I’m a bit drawn to that little magical egotistical island that’s got the world in a twist now. Shall we say punk theatrical with goth drama sprinkles? I also love Murmur so more of a sensual burlesque feel there. Much like in my line of work, ain’t no way to pin me down as a type, both a blessing and a curse.
What was the best piece of fashion advise you’ve ever been given?
Ana: I guess it all comes from my childhood and it has to do with going my own way. What do I like versus what is said to be fashionable. Choosing to be an eccentric at times of smart-casual or demure when everyone dons feathers.
Outfit MM6 Maison Margiela, Noir Kei Ninomiya, Off-White. Available to shop at Entrance.
Finally, a question for the both of you, it is clear you share special energy when shooting together. Why not act together in a movie? Is this a possibility in the future?
Marc: Working on it 🙂
Ana: Hold my beer…
Interview by: Diana Colcer @dianacolcer
Photography: Vlad Andrei @vladandrei___
Styling: Amir Doboș @amirdobos
Make-up: Mihaela Cherciu @mihaelacherciu
Hairstyle: Alex Caraman @caramanalexe
