From Sean Penn and Al Pacino in Carlito’s Way to the cast of Turn: Washington’s Spies and Wonder Woman 1984, costumer Anne Gorman outfits the stars.
By Joan Tupponce
New York City is familiar territory for costumer Anne Gorman, a Falls Church resident who has been in the Big Apple recently serving as costume supervisor on a new film with Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor/comedian Billy Crystal and actress/comedian Tiffany Haddish.
As a freelancer, Gorman is used to moving from job to job. “In one week I may have three different jobs,” says Gorman. “I could be shopping for an assignment, working with the costume designer, or doing backstage fast-change work at a theater like the Kennedy Center.”
Gorman started in the industry in the early 1980s and has worked on everything from regional theater and Broadway productions to television shows and major films. She has worked with some of the top costume designers in the world, including Cynthia Flynt, a veteran of more than 20 films who tapped Gorman for her latest assignment, and Tony Award winner William Ivey Long.
Fascinated by theater, Gorman set her sights on becoming a Broadway star in fourth grade. One of eight siblings, she majored in theater at Western Kentucky University. After graduation she moved to Washington, D.C., to live with her sister and discovered she could find more jobs working with costumes and fabrics than acting. That’s when “costuming took over” her life, she says.
Her first professional job was with Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., where she was a draper making costumes. “Regional theaters like Arena have wonderful opportunities,” she says. “They often bring in guest designers, so you get to meet more people.”
Tony Award-winning costume designer Ann Hould-Ward met Gorman at Arena and immediately thought she was “smart, fun, and attentive,” Hould-Ward says. “She came up with great solutions and worked very hard. I loved her from the moment I met her.” She now sees Gorman as “a consummate professional in the theater and film worlds.”
Gorman listened to Hould-Ward talk to the actors about “who they thought their character was and how your clothes reflect that” and sees that now as one of the most important lessons she has learned.
Her favorite part of each job is the process. “For me it’s all about the journey, not about where it ends,” she says. “Designers that are willing to share the process, they are gifts.”
Gorman’s jobs over the years have served as stepping-stones to larger endeavors. After moving to New York City in 1990, for example, she began doing fittings and alterations for the original production of Assassins by Stephen Sondheim, working with costume designer William Ivey Long. “It was wonderful,” she says. “We were positive that show would go to Broadway and we would go to Broadway. The show was sold out before we opened, but then the Gulf War broke out, so it wasn’t the right time for Broadway. It did eventually go to Broadway, but I wasn’t with the show.”
Gorman also worked at the legendary costume shop Barbara Matera Ltd. in New York, which created costumes for more than 100 Broadway shows, including Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. It also made costumes for the New York City Ballet. “I am proud I was hired there,” Gorman says. “It was a springboard to so many other things.”
Gorman’s first foray into the movies was Carlito’s Way starring Sean Penn and Al Pacino and filmed in New York; she worked with background players. “It’s different to do film and television,” she says. “They shoot sections at different times, so you have to be aware of continuity. When you’re covering background players you may be responsible for 10 to 15 people.”
Closer to home, Gorman traveled to Richmond in 2015 to work on the television series Turn: Washington’s Spies. While there, she lectured at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland; she returned as an adjunct professor in 2017. In 2018 she worked on the film Wonder Woman 1984. “I set up the costume shop and did the fittings,” she says. “We were based out of Landmark Mall in Alexandria, headquartered in an empty Macy’s. The movie was set in 1984, so we had to pre-fit everybody. We had 26 people working on the costume crew.”
Her most recent work includes the HBO mini-series The Plot Against America and sewing for the Ariana Grande tour at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. She has also worked on Hello Dolly at the Kennedy Center and for the PBS presentation A Capitol Fourth. “I covered the host, John Stamos. He’s a lovely human being,” says Gorman, who was responsible for any type of clothing issues—including keeping sweat at bay on a 96-degree day.
Other memorable moments include the time Gorman yelled out to director Ron Howard during filming to let him know that a shirt had fallen out of her hand and was on the floor in the scene. “He put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Thank you so much for catching that,’” she recalls. “That was a great moment for me to learn.”
There are times when Gorman says she can’t believe all of this is happening in her life. “It’s the crazy moments that are great fun. I love what I do.”