Salma Hayek as Esmeralda, 1997 Hunchback of Notre Dame, picture image

Salma Hayek as Esmeralda, 1997 Hunchback of Notre Dame

The costumes in the 1997 version of the Hunchback were done by John Bloomfield. Bloomfield’s credits include Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Waterworld, two movies not known for their costumes. Of the two movies, Robin Hood is more similar in style and design to Hunchback’s costume and two costumes show this more than others.

Edward Atterton as Gringoire, 1997 The Hunchback picture image

Edward Atterton as Gringoire

Speaking in favor of costumes as a whole they do look old. So many times in film and TV, the costumes look new and pristine. For a film like Hunchback this should not be the case, the clothes should look old and worn. This is something that was seen in Robin Hood. But are the costumes good? Meh, they’re average. Nothing is wrong but nothing is really is amazing.

Mandy Patinkin as Quasimodo, 1997 The Hunchback picture image

Mandy Patinkin as Quasimodo

Let’s just get Quasimodo and Frollo out the way. Quasimodo’s look is pretty much stolen from 1939 version. It’s a good Quasimodo look compared to the 1956 version but the Chaney version set a standard for how Quasimodo should look and the 1939 version exceed it, so most versions try to match the 1939 version. This version did and didn’t add anything.

Richard Harris as Frollo, 1997 The Hunchback picture image

Richard Harris as Frollo

Frollo’s costume……..well…………it’s probably the most interesting costume in the whole adaptation. I don’t mean interesting as good thing though. Frollo’s look in the novel was meant to be severe and austere but this version’s Frollo amps it up. He wears a black cowl robe which is what he wears in the novel but the total baldness just makes him look silly. In my 1997 Frollo post I said he looks like Nosferatu from the 1922 movie and he does. It’s too austere of look to take it seriously.

Salma Hayek as Esmeralda, 1997 Hunchback of Notre Dame

Salma Hayek as Esmeralda, 1997 Hunchback of Notre Dame

Then we come to Esmeralda’s main costume. It’s a conventional medieval get-up. She wears a chemise with ties at the sleeves to reveal more arms, a corset and a skirt. The color is mostly shades of red tones however their is multiple colors mixed in the skirt and corset. The skirt itself looks like multiple scarfs that were fused to form a skirt. However the skirt is dyed in a vertical pattern and it seems to be a very light fabric. Though this costume is very inauthentic the different colors does help make it not as boring as it could have been.

 Salma Hayek as Esmeralda and Edward Atterton as Gringoire, 1997 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Salma Hayek as Esmeralda and Edward Atterton as Gringoire

 

Unfortunately, this costume is made a little silly by the slave bracelet and the shoes. The shoes are forgivable on a practical sense but Esmeralda should be barefoot and somehow I think this costume would have been better sans the footwear. The Slave bracelet however is just silly. Slave Bracelets are bracelets that attract to a ring by a chain. They are based on Indian jewelry. My guess is the idea of her wearing one was to help push her an exotic beauty but the addition of it looks cheap.

Lady Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves picture image

Lady Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Esmeraldas’ costume and the one wore by the Phoebus-like guard are very reminiscent of Robin Hood costumes. Esmeralda’s costume with it scarf like skirt is similar to costume wore by Lady Marian. Once I learned that Bloomfeild did both movie my head link these two costumes together. Phoebus-like guard has the same heavy layered and studded armor that was used in Robin Hood and it’s black so you know he bad. However the loose layers in very similar in both films.

Salma Hayek as Esmeralda and Edward Atterton as Gringoire, 1997 The Hunchback picture image

Salma Hayek as Esmeralda and Edward Atterton as Gringoire

The costumes could have been boring but some decisions there were made either made them look good or silly. at best these costume are average to ok nothing more or less.

I just want to say, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is like a guilty pleasure of mine, I loved this movie as kid.

Next time; Sets

Sets 1997 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Notre Dame Set in teh 1997 version of Hunchback

Alan Rickman picture image

Alan Rickman

A popular casting choice for Frollo is Alan Rickman. Rickman is best known for playing Professor Snape in theHarry Potter Movies . He has also played Colonel Brandon in the 1995 version of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, The Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 version of Robin Hood (Prince of Thieves) and Rasputin in Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny.

Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape from Harry Potter picture image

Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape from Harry Potter

Rickman would make a great Frollo. He has the right level of threat and tenderness about him. He also tends to play elegant characters that may seem calm but are concealing something within and he is good at communicating that dichotomy on film. This duality is essential to Frollo’s character. Also Rickman tends to play character that have a dark streak, which a Frollo really should have.

 

Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility picture image

Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility

Many ladies find Rickman attractive but he is not unconventional attractive. The aspects that people find attentive are his voice and with over-all manner. In that way Rickman has the right look and the right level of sex appeal that Frollo seems to have with fans. I mean could you imagined Rickman reciting the monologue in the jail scene (where he confesses his “love” to Esmeralda). I bet a lot fans of both Frollo and Rickman would love that.

Alan Rickman as The Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood; Prince of Thieves picture image

Alan Rickman as The Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood; Prince of Theives

I would just hope that if Rickman does play Frollo he is allowed to bring a dark tonality to the role and maybe recite some of Frollo’s dialogue from book largely intact.

Alan Rickman as Rasputin from Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny picture image

Alan Rickman as Rasputin from Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny

But what do you think? Would Alan Rickman make a good Frollo? Or do you think he would make a terrible Frollo and how dare I even suggesting it?