12/03/2026

LYFE THURSDAY | MAR 12, 2026

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Malaysian Paper

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How closely did you and costume designer Antionette Messam work together to create Ercell’s look in a way that enabled you to fight and move? Messam was an angel in disguise. Not only is she a wonderful human being as well as her team, but she is a hard worker. The detailing that went not just into my costume but all the costumes in the film – the authenticity in making sure anything from buckles to buttons, to stitching were all from the time of the 1800s. She really brought me into the fold. I loved watching her work. She made sure that with all my stunt scenes that I had multiple versions of my outfits, so I would be very comfortable and be able to do my job. She was on set every single day and gave not only her 100% – but also brought in her expertise of the region. I was grateful to have someone like her overseeing how authentic my character and this movie could look. If you could steal one item or costume from set (like a true pirate) to take home with you, what would it be? I tried to take the treasure – the gold – and then I realised it was not real. Haha, I’m joking. The one thing that I would like to take is the bust that was created for Bloody Mary. It took so many people and

so much work to be able to custom make it specifically to the contours of my body. I think it is something that I would want to keep in my home, just to remember this wonderful time with these incredible collaborators, just creating and immersing ourselves in time travelling to the 1800s and making that our truth. You also perform the haunting vocals on Ercell’s Lullaby at the end of the film – how did you and the team come to this creative collaboration? This is a Flowers question but when I heard the lullaby for the first time and Flowers played it for me, I wanted to sing it live in the scene just like a mother would sing to her child. After we did that scene, it was Flowers’s idea to re record it to be able to use it as Ercell’s theme in the movie and it is so haunting. The composition and the melody are so honest to the fear and the anticipation that Ercell feels in that moment. It is a homage not just to her past, but her present and her hope for the future. If you listen to the lyrics really carefully, it moves you and it moved me tremendously, so I was grateful to get the opportunity to sing that lullaby. From page 25

Racetrack to big screen From left: Nelson, John, Whittle and Peralta at the 98th Oscars Nominees Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California. – AFPPIC

Apple, raking in more than US$630 million (RM2.4 billion) worldwide, and surprised industry watchers with a nomination in the prestigious best picture category, to sit alongside those in sound, editing and visual effects. John, who won an Oscar last year for his work on Dune: Part Two , said it had been “fantastic” to see the reaction to the film, which features cameos from real-life drivers including seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, as well as Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris. The sound team had to quickly immerse themselves in the sport when work started, heading straight to the racetrack to study the sounds of the circuits. “We had so much fun making it just being thrown into the world of Formula One,” John said. For Peralta, the sound mixer who is a first-time nominee, combining his profession with a long-time passion added an extra layer of complexity. “I’ve been a Formula One fan for a long time and I was very nervous to try to represent Formula One the best way I could, and also put it in the theater, which is something we’re not used to. “That environment was a challenge, but I accepted it, and I had a lot of fun,” he said.

(Damson Idris) resents the older man, with their difficult relationship forming the emotional backbone of a movie whose plot shares similarities with director Joseph Kosinski’s previous hit Top Gun: Maverick . Whittle – who is nominated alongside Gareth John, Juan Peralta, Al Nelson and Gary A. Rizzo – said the sound designers wanted viewers to feel as if they were inside the cars. The team wanted “to try to recreate for someone who’s never been in an F1 car, what it feels like to be an F1 car, what it feels like to be in the stands if you’ve never been to an F1 race.” Whittle, whose resume features more than 120 credits, said the devil was in the details, ensuring the movie’s rapid cuts interspersed the sounds of engines, tires, brakes and radio communications – and that all were “crystal clear” for audiences. “It was a challenge, but a good one,” she said with a smile. The end result has so far earned the team a Bafta and a Critics Choice Award. At the Academy Awards on March 15, they will compete against engineers for Frankenstein , Sinners , One Battle After Another and the Spanish film Sirat . Veteran vs rookie F1: The Movie has been a hit for

H OW do you transport a movie audience to a racetrack, recreating the visceral experience of roaring engines, the ear-splitting squeal of tires on pavement and the screeching of brakes? That was the challenge faced by the sound team behind the edge-of your-seat Oscar-nominated Formula One blockbuster F1: The Movie . “It was important to keep the energy of an actual Formula 1 race alive,” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, a sound engineer who has worked on dozens of productions including Titanic and all three Avatar films, told AFP. Yates Whittle confesses she was not exactly a fan of motorsports when she took on the film. Brad Pitt stars as a grizzled veteran brought in to shore up a foundering F1 squad run by his one time teammate, played by Javier Bardem. The team’s talented rookie driver o Oscar-nominated F1 sound engineers recreate roar of iconic engine

The Bluff is now available for streaming on Prime Video worldwide.