In this interview, Spencer Williams sits down with acclaimed costume designer Dayna Pink to delve into the Roadhouse costumes. Pink shares her excitement about collaborating with director Doug Liman and actor Jake Gyllenhaal to reimagine the classic movie in a fresh, contemporary setting. She reveals the unique challenges and joys of designing costumes for a film set in the colorful and tropical Florida Keys, emphasizing the importance of crafting detailed backstories for even the background characters. The conversation also highlights her inventive work with Conor McGregor and her long-standing collaboration with Jack Black, providing an inside look at her career and upcoming projects.
Spencer Williams: I am so excited to welcome my friend, costume designer Dayna Pink, for the first time in a long time. Dayna, it’s so good to see you.
Dayna Pink: It’s really good to see you, too. Thanks for having me.
Spencer Williams: Of course. It’s been a minute! I’m excited to talk about the Roadhouse costumes. It was such a fun film. I love anything with people beating each other up and fun, colorful clothing in a tropical location.
Dayna Pink: Yeah, that’s precisely what it was. It was just a really fun ride. One of the cool things about it was, even though it’s called Roadhouse and there’s obviously a very popular original Roadhouse film, when I met with the director, Doug Liman, I had read the script and asked, “Is this a throwback? Do we need to do an homage? Is it retro? What does it look like for you?” He said, “It’s whatever you want it to be. We’re creating a completely new world. It doesn’t have to be anything specific. This is a new movie; it’s not referential to anything.” That got me really excited because then we had the opportunity to create a world instead of going back to what someone else made.
Spencer Williams: It was almost like a reimagination in a new contemporary world, which, knowing you, gives you the ability to do all sorts of crazy things. You must’ve been so excited when you found out you get to really reimagine the Roadhouse costumes.
Dayna Pink: Yeah, that’s kind of what drew me to it—the combination of Doug, Jake, and the idea of creating something new. What’s cool about this kind of movie is I would not use the word “grounded.” It isn’t realistic or grounded.
Even though some of it is gritty, and there’s always aging, and he’s wearing old jeans, even though they’re not old jeans and you do it all in prep, I have to elevate it. I got to make all those shirts, find crazy vintage fabrics, and do the thing. So it’s the Keys, the water, the sunshine, the trees, and all that stuff. And then these fun patterns to make it all pop. We got to make something really fun.
Spencer Williams: The story takes place in the Florida Keys, which I thought was quite exciting. When I think of action films, even including the ’89 Roadhouse, they all seem to be in a gritty, motorcycle, biker bar, or crime-ridden city. But this is the Florida Keys which I consider to be colorful, loud, maybe a little Margaritaville-esque, if that’s a thing.
Aside from our principal cast, there are a lot of different characters. Your team created a vibe with the people in the background working at the bar. I’m assuming that was intentional.
Dayna Pink: The background is super important to me. I always look at every single background before they go on set, no matter what—contemporary, period, anything—I’m super into it. There’s a person in charge of dressing the background; we approve it all with pictures, boards, and everything. Doug was really into the idea of who was coming to this bar. So we actually made groups of people, like these are the spring breakers, these are the locals, these are the business guys, and these are the drug dealers. We had tables and groups of people. We dressed them in groups.
We pre-fit all the background. Someone walks in, and you go, “Oh, this guy would be a great beer drinker. This guy’s a spring breaker. These people look like a couple, let’s put them together.” So we got to have a great time creating this group of patrons going to the bar. We made groups of actual types of people.
Spencer Williams: That’s so fun. Do you ever create storylines for characters that the audience will never find out about?
Dayna Pink: Oh yes, we have complete backstories. I just did another show in New Mexico. There was this girl who had a tiny part, but she came into her fitting and said, “Oh, I’m having an affair with that guy.” She totally made it up herself. I was like, “Let’s go with it. Absolutely.” She got a little sexy, but it was super fun. That’s what we do. This is all an art. This is a collaborative art. We all get to tell these stories and create these stories. Sometimes they’re our own, and sometimes they belong to the audience.
Spencer Williams: It’s your own little secret sometimes. It’s all good fun.
We have to talk about Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays Dalton. Dalton is an ex-UFC fighter and is clearly trying to put that life and fame behind him. He becomes a bouncer, of course, but he’s still in a paradise environment. How do you approach designing the costumes for Dalton despite all the horrific things he goes through?
Dayna Pink: Yes to all that. First of all, Jake has been in so many beautiful, iconic films, and he’s such an incredible actor, but part of me felt like, what can we do that hasn’t been done? How have we not seen this guy? He’s done so many things, so what could be fun? What would work here and be different for him? I thought the idea of a little bit of a vintage throwback without looking like he’s all in vintage clothes could be fun. Some of the fabrics for those shirts you see were vintage, but everything moves. Everything has a little bit of flow; everything is soft, and nothing is stiff.
You have to remember he shows up with this tiny little bag, so his whole wardrobe has to fit in this tiny bag. He had maybe six shirts. Most of them we made, and a couple we purchased. It was about what would be iconic, interesting, different, flattering, what would move, what he could move in. It couldn’t be tight, it couldn’t rip. When you think of the Keys, and the heat, and the sweat, it’s much sexier if something is a little sticky and a little flowy, and that was what we tried to achieve.
Spencer Williams: That’s so interesting that you say that. That is such a vibe, which is sticky and flowy. I know what you mean when you say that.
Dayna Pink: It’s an oxymoron, but it was. If you look at the shirt he is wearing when he gets off the bus, it’s sticky and flowy. It sticks to his skin a little bit, but it moves when he’s running and doing everything.
Spencer Williams: Yeah, it looks quite warm there in the Florida Keys, so I can imagine. I was so stoked when I found out that Conor McGregor is playing Knox in Roadhouse. In real life, he’s such a character, so I knew this was going to be so much fun. Knox is quite a loud and obnoxious guy, but again, he has style. I have to say the magenta pants struck me. What was it like working with McGregor, especially since it was his first film? That must’ve been quite an interesting collaboration.
Dayna Pink: It was really fun. He is awesome. He just came out of the gate wanting to be in our world. He wasn’t trying to make us do it differently or lead me in what he wanted. He was completely open to what I wanted to do. Of course, he looks great in everything.
The moment I saw those pants, I knew they were the pants. There was no other option. I was like, “This is happening, nothing else.” Everybody stand down, nothing else. It was so right for him, and he loved them. We made the shirt, but those pants—we found them in Miami in the design district. With high-end pants like those, they don’t make them in large quantities. It’s not like you’re buying them at a chain store where you can find hundreds of them in every size. It’s a very limited quantity they make of these things.
Spencer Williams: I cannot think of a nice magenta pant section.
Dayna Pink: Exactly. And if you Google “magenta pants,” you’re not coming up with much. Besides, it was a very heavy silk. There was no way to dye something that would have the sheen of those pants. We were like, “How many of these pants did you make, and can we buy every pair?” We had them from all over the world. We had them from Italy, and every single country had them. We bought every pair in every size because he had to wear them, his stunt person had to wear them, and sometimes we had to gusset them and put some stretch fabric in when he was fighting. He was going to ruin a couple of them, but he got wet, and everything happened. So we had to buy every single pair of those pants that was made.
Spencer Williams: It’s so fun, but it works so well because he is very much a theatrical person and a theatrical character. Those pants work for the character, they work for the environment, and they draw attention to him at the same time in that colorful bar scene. It was perfect. Another costume I wasn’t going to ask you about, but since we have time, I might as well—his intro jacket. There’s a moment… Are you familiar with the term “Donald Ducking” when he’s not wearing pants, but he is wearing a top or jacket? *laughs*
Dayna Pink: Yes *laughs*. He jumps out wearing only his fake alligator boots. When he jumps out of the window and runs, he finds some guy and picks up this guy’s jacket. Obviously, it has to cover enough, so we made it a little longer than it would be. It was super fun.
Spencer Williams: It was perfect. You are no stranger to action movies, and before I watched this film, I just knew that you must have had quite a time with multiples and stunts. How did you and your team make that work? Every time, I thought, “Oh, something must have ripped. There’s blood on that. What a mess.”
Dayna Pink: Yes, to all of that. There were so many multiples. I should have taken pictures of the trailer. I don’t know why I didn’t, but there was a lineup of so many of the same things.
Spencer Williams: It goes without saying.
Dayna Pink: Yeah. It’s visual, though, because people don’t understand how much we actually need for something like this. On a regular fight scene, maybe you’re having four of everything. You get one to burn, one that you’re going to ruin, one that stays good, and another in case something happens or for a stunt person. But this film also had the elements of extreme heat and water, so those rules didn’t even apply. We just had to have so many – of everything.
I’m not a big fan of stretch jeans or anything. I prefer non-stretch things because I think they’re more flattering. But in this case, we had to use a lot of stretches because these guys were jumping, kicking, and running into each other. You’re either gusseting, meaning putting an extra piece inside, like in the upper leg of a pair of jeans or pants, or you need a little stretch because there is nowhere to go. These guys were wild. They were really doing it.
Spencer Williams: Well, Dayna, I’m such a fan of your work. You and your team did a great job with Roadhouse, and I hope everyone will see it. It’s such a fun film.
Before I let you go, there’s something else I want to bring up. I just want to give you your flowers for everything you’ve done with Jack Black and Tenacious D over the past year. It’s been so fun watching this journey. What was it like working with Jack Black on The Super Mario Bros. Movie, “Peaches” music video and Kung Fu Panda projects?
Dayna Pink: Oh my God. I love that, Spencer. That’s so cool. I’ve been with Jack since… I don’t even know, like fifteen or twenty years, something like that. I’ve been with Jack and have had such a blessed time and journey with him. I sincerely mean it. He’s been such a gift to me. He’s so fun and such a wonderful person, and he’s so fun to work with. But I can’t take credit for this. He comes up with these ideas, and then we go, “Okay, well then, if it’s this, then it’s that,” and then we make these crazy, fun, amazing things. It has been an amazing ride that I’ve been so lucky to take with Jack and all of his work, which is amazing.
Spencer Williams: Every time I see him do anything, I’m immediately looking at your Instagram like, did Dayna have anything to do with this? Congratulations. Can we see your work in any other films or shows soon?
Dayna Pink: I just finished this HBO project with J.J. Abrams. It is a 1970s crime drama called Duster. It’s an amazing, gritty, wonderful project, but I’m not sure when it’s coming out. It was such a fun, creative ride. It was really one for the books, for sure. The actors were incredible. I had a lot of room to create, and we stuck to the seventies’ spirit, but we really made everything. There were a lot of multiples in that one, too. There are stunts, multiples—I can’t give anything away, but I will say there’s blood.
Spencer Williams: I’m signed up, costume designer Dayna Pink. Thank you so much for joining me. It’s always lovely to talk to you. Congratulations. This is all good fun, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Dayna Pink: Thanks. So good to see you.
