Step into the fantastical world of Molli and Max in the Future as we delve into the captivating universe of its costumes with renowned costume designer Hannah Kittell. In this exclusive behind-the-scenes journey, discover the intricate details and creative process behind bringing the characters to life through costume choices. From the dichotomy between Molli and Max’s aesthetics to the quirky space cult ensembles, explore how Kittell masterfully crafted each look to evoke retro-future vibes while maintaining a contemporary flair… all while utilizing a very small budget with and a team that consisted of Hannah’s ten month old newborn. Join us as we uncover the secrets and inspirations behind the Molli and Max in the Future costumes.
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Spencer Williams: Let’s talk about Molli and Max in the Future. This was such a fun film. I have to admit, when I was getting into it, I did not know what I was getting myself into. What is Molli and Max in the Future about?
Hannah Kittell: It’s a lot. I think the tagline that our director, Michael Lukk Litwak, came up with is it’s like When Harry Met Sally, but in space with robots.
Spencer Williams: That’s a good way to put it. So Molli and Max in the Future is set in this really fun, bizarre, campy, and aspirational universe, all at the same time as being kind of terrifying. Talk about your approach and what the research or preparation looked like for Molli and Max in the Future as the costume designer.
Hannah Kittell: The whole way we went about making this movie was a little unorthodox. We were working with a lot of incredible, creative talent and not a lot of financial resources for that talent. So, we made up for what we lacked in finances with a lot of prep time on the front end to have a clear view of our aesthetic as a team. We had a lot of incredible conversations with Michael, our director, and he had actually been working on this for years and years before. He had a whole lookbook created because, at a certain juncture, he thought that maybe he was going to have to do all the production design and costume design himself. I’m glad he steered away from that. I’m sure he could have done it, but it’s great to work as a team!
Spencer Williams: Sounds like a lot of hats!
Hannah Kittell: It was a lot of hats. He already has so many hats in this. I quickly grasped his sense of humor and perspective when we started talking. He placed a lot of trust in me early on, allowing me to run with it from there. As you can see, the script is filled with referencesโvery referential, with plenty of tongue-in-cheek nods to modern and pop culture. So, I based the design heavily on that, aiming to incorporate as many visual jokes as possible without coming across as cheap, all while constructing the world and envisioning a future setting.
The challenge was our limited budget. We weren’t undertaking a grand, elaborate production where we could build an entire world from scratch. Most of it unfolds within interiors. Knowing this, I understood I didn’t have ample screen time to flesh out the future fully. I relied heavily on recognizable references to instantly immerse the audience, allowing them to enjoy the film and grasp the context of this world.
I delved into films like Barbarella and Blade Runner, as well as 1940s screwball comedies and even NASCAR. My goal was to draw inspiration from various sources while ensuring the references were instantly recognizable, enabling people to dive right in and savor the humor.
Spencer Williams: You did a great job. Speaking of references, I wanted to talk about the space tennis scenes! It felt very referential to Tron, of course. It was so interesting how these costumes lit up on screen. What was it like creating those?
Hannah Kittell: It was a lot of research and development. This was a costume department of one. I didn’t have an assistant costume designer, and I didn’t have a wardrobe supervisor. I didn’t even have a production assistant. My PA was my 10-month-old daughter, whom I brought to set with me every day and tried to work with.
So the Tron suits, I mean, I shouldn’t call them the Tron suits. They were obviously heavily influenced by Tron, and that’s the whole visual joke. We tried to make them a little different. And I also tried to make them a little like everything else in this movie. I knew we didn’t have the budget or the manpower to make them incredibly seriously badass and really hyper-realistic. This is not The Fifth Element. So I knew everything had to be, if it was going to be janky, it better be funny about it. And it better be intentional.
I got all white athletic wear. The director, DP, and I did a lot of visual tests, so I tried a lot of different materials. I tried to paint, flocked decals, and reflective tape. In the end, we realized that the best thing for the camera was to just use blue. It’s actually flat blue. It’s just blue. And then it’s all done in post, all the glowing effects. So, I designed some graphics for Max’s suit.
The graphics are based on circuit boards and vintage circuit board patterns. For Molli’s suit, the pattern is based on crop circles because she’s the witchy one, and he’s the computer guy. I used regular black and blue Cricut iron-on vinyl. The headpieces are actually just LED headlamps; we covered the actual lamp part with more blue and then keyed that in the post. So those are the suits and the secret to the glow.
Spencer Williams: It’s great to learn a little about your process and how you make something look so cool and exciting on a zero budget. As you said, you were a team of one, no assistant costume designer, basically no budget, and you had your 10-month-old on set with you every day. Every costume on screen was either sourced or handmade by you. That’s a lot of work, Hannah. How did you manage it?
Hannah Kittell: Well, it was a combination of disassociation, delusion, and thinking I could do it. I came up in the indie world where the impossible is asked of us daily, and somehow, we pull it off. When I got the script for this and talked to Michael and the team, I felt we really could do it. Despite being a team of one, I powered through, thinking back to my favorite movies like Rocky Horror Picture Show and Pink Flamingos. They had limited budgets, yet they were iconic. So, I focused on smart solutions that gave us the most bang for our buck. The incredibly supportive crew made bringing my kid to the set easier. Even our stars would entertain her when needed.
After having a child, I realized the stigma around being a parent in the industry. It’s untenable, especially without adequate childcare options. So, I made it a point to bring my daughter to work, emphasizing the need for family-friendly workplaces. This approach has cost me some jobs but also served as a litmus test for toxic work environments. Both films I worked on during that time, Molli and Max in the Future and another feature, were supportive of having my daughter on set. They turned out beautifully and were well-received. It’s become a personal mission of mine. It’s tough, but the sheer force of will keeps me going.
Spencer Williams: Lack of resources and childcare is a recurring issue in the industry. Thank you for speaking on this. Let’s move on to our eccentric cast of characters. Molli is lots of fun and definitely the heart of this film. Through her adventures, she joins a space cult and becomes a level seven space witchโฆwhich is very rare for a human. Tell me about designing the costumes for Molli.
Hannah Kittell: Although they inhabit the same world, their aesthetic personas are strikingly different, almost polar opposites. Molli’s palette gravitates towards warm tones like orange, coral, and pink, whereas Max embodies cooler hues such as blue, gray, and cool green. His vision for Max leaned towards angularity, incorporating elements like stripes and geometric shapes. In contrast, Molli’s style exuded rounded shapes, evoking a sense of familiarity and ease.
As we delved deeper into the design process, I contemplated Molli’s portrayal in the retro-futuristic setting. Drawing inspiration from iconic sources like Barbarella and 1960s space-age aesthetics, I envisioned her wardrobe as characterized by bubbles, circles, and soft geometrics. While functional, even her space suit retained a soft appearance, epitomized by her signature jacket crafted from an unexpected sourceโan SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) LARPing jacket. By repurposing and distressing it, I infused a historical fencing jacket with a futuristic flair, aligning with Molli’s retro-futuristic vibe.
While Molli’s cult outfit held its own significance, her everyday attire focused on capturing the essence of the retro-future while ensuring relatability to contemporary audiences. Given time constraints, I opted for store-bought pieces, often from brands like Free People, which I transformed through deconstruction and customization to achieve the desired aesthetic.
Spencer Williams: So then Max, as you mentioned, embodies more cool tones. He’s a driven character who undergoes significant personal growth. He’s also part fish person. Tell me about your ideas when it comes to Max.
Hannah Kittell: Max’s concept started out more intense, but we softened it as we saw how the characters interacted and aimed for a more cohesive look as they grew closer throughout the movie. While the Barbarella space age heavily inspired Molli’s original mood board, it evolved into what you see in the film. Max’s theme was initially dubbed “space surf.” It involved a fusion of peasant clothing with a space twist, reflecting his origin from Oceanus. He’s depicted as working in his lab, creating robots, so his attire included mechanic jumpsuits with added quilting, buckles, and utility belts to give him a “space bumpkin” aesthetic. As he transitions to urban life, his style becomes more metropolitan. But that’s where we began with himโlots of gears, and tech, but with a rustic touch, sort of like a beat-up space country vibe.
Spencer Williams: One of the costumes I wanted to ask you about was Max’s Glorp racing jacket.
Hannah Kittell: Hell yeah. It’s my favorite costume in the whole movie.
Spencer Williams: It instantly drew me in. I just – I was like, I know this guy. It’s very recognizable but still holds onto the futuristic aspect. So tell me about the jacket.
Hannah Kittell: So that jacket was one of those things where I got the idea from reading the script and seeing how Max evolves from this country boy who loves robots to, you know, turning into a jerk and becoming all famous. I started thinking about him being an athlete, like a pro, but not really into exercising, more like a NASCAR racerโfamous for their image rather than their physical prowess. And since we deal with themes of commercialization and evil corporations, advertising came to mind.
I read the scene of him doing the Glorp commercial in the taxi, and I thought, yeah, what if he wore a NASCAR jacket? I love how outrageously capitalist those jackets are. It’s like buying pieces of the athlete’s body as a status symbol, and now people wear it as fashion, whatever. I don’t know if I emailed or just put it on the mood board. I was like, “Michael, can we make a Glorp NASCAR jacket?” And he’s like, “Yeah, sure, that’s awesome.” He let me roll with it. So I found the douchiest looking plain leather jacket I could find in blue and black since Max’s color is blue. Then I gathered assets for all the fake companies like Cheese Corp, Glorp, Diet Glorp, Glorp Jr. The Glorp Jr. baby you see in some commercials is actually my baby featured on billboards.
Spencer Williams: Wait, you are the mother of the Glorp Jr. baby?
Hannah Kittell: I know, crazy! I made her a little onesie. But yeah, so I got all the assets, some printed, some digitally printed on fabric, and used an embroidery machine for smaller logos. Then, I wanted him to have a matching bandana to amp up the jerkiness, so I created a repeat pattern similar to Fendi’s and had it printed on cotton for the bandana.
Spencer Williams: I’m never going to look at a NASCAR race the same, not that I’ve ever watched one, but if I were to, then, you know, I’ll definitely think of the Glorp jacket. I also loved the scene where we got to see Molli with her fun little space cult. Did you do any research into cults?
Hannah Kittell: I, unfortunately, listen to a lot of true crime and paranormal podcasts, so I already knew about a lot of cults. But also, in talking with Michael, I wondered if they were like the Mansons. Like, what are they? And he said, you know, it should also look like fantasy. So we had to balance between them being real witches doing real witch stuff and it being a cult. So what I did was I looked at a lot of sellers on Etsy who do Burning Man costumes, you know, like hippie festival wear, generically magical looking. I did a lot of that. So, I got different clothes, everything in white, anything that was dyeable like cotton, rayon, gauze, linen layers, hoods for no reason, and tunics. Then I dyed them all in the same dye bath, a combination of two Rit dyes and two different colors of pink. All the fabrics were different, so they came out in slightly different shades but were the same. On the day, we didn’t have fittings for any of the other cult members except Zosia Mamet, so I just threw it on them, gave them some crystals, and we were good to go.ย
Spencer Williams: I mean, that’s pretty culty when you think about it. I mean, there wouldn’t be fittings for a cult, so.
Hannah Kittell: No, it’s all flowy. They need space.
Spencer Williams: Right. Well, Hannah, this was so much fun. I really do love this movie, and I hope everyone reading goes and sees it immediately if you haven’t already. So what has Molli and Max in the Future meant to you, and what would you like to do next?
Hannah Kittell: Oh man, this has been such a treat. As someone who’s been in the indie circuit for years, I do many movies where costumes take a backseat because there’s no budget. And I think people, when they have no budget, tend to think, okay, what self-reflecting small drama can I make with this money? And I’m just so thankful that Michael was like, โNope, I don’t want to see that. I want to make a space movie, and I’m going to do it with this amount of money.โ It’s just such a dream to be able to create a world and characters that play in that world, to really make something fun, something I would want to watch and grew up watching, like sci-fi fantasy. It’s been awesome. So, I’m pretty spoiled now. I guess now I would want to do more campy stuff, anything sci-fi fantasy future fun. My dream is to design costumes that somebody else cosplays and that are fun enough for somebody to cosplay. That’s my dream.
Spencer Williams: Well, I can tell you that if I go to Comic Con, I will definitely be considering some space cult costumes.
Hannah Kittell: Hell yeah. Well, you know who to reach out to for research.
Spencer Williams: Costume designer Hannah Kittell, thank you so much. It was a joy talking with you.
Hannah Kittell: Thank you so much for having me!
