Go Behind The Scenes Of Rodarte And Todd Cole's This Must Be The Only Fantasy

Turning the modern suburban setting of Los Angeles into a magical land populated with a unicorn, a mysterious rider, and a fairy is no easy feat, but this is what Rodarte and Todd Cole decided to do for their third film collaboration This Must Be The Only Fantasy. The film features Rodarte's stunning clothes and stars Elijah Wood, Sidney Williams, and Guinevere Van Seenus with VFX by a52.

The film transforms Rodarte's S/S13 collection into a full-fledged tale about a girl on a mystical, heroic quest set amongst the residential streets of LA. "I think the exciting thing about fashion, for designers, is that you have a story you're trying to tell, but then it's fun to take it outside of that and develop the story further." Laura Mulleavy, one half of Rodarte, notes in the video above which goes behind the scenes of the film to explore how it came to be.

Sidney Williams and the Red Rider

The collaborations between the trio, both Aanteni (2010), The Curve of Forgotten Things (2011) and this new effort, have always centered around ideas and concepts that intrigue them, from horror to 70s cinema and now fantasy. But while their previous films were meditative and abstract, for This Must Be The Only Fantasy they wanted to take a more narrative-driven approach. "I feel like the thing that we hadn't done was a proper narrative film with dialogue and all these things we love about film, so we wanted to do that with this one." explains Cole.

Sidney Williams and Todd Cole

In a fantasy film the visual effects are an intergal part in immersing you in the imaginary world and also, with this, in bringing the role-playing elements to life. "With the idea of magical realism we're able to bring more showy FX into the mix." notes Andrew Romatz from a52. "To me I think it really helps to take you out of your real world and open yourself up to unexpected things happening."

For more on the VFX and to hear Rodarte and Todd Cole discuss their working relationship, watch the video above.

Elijah Wood

Photos: Jake Michaels

And check out the short film "This Must Be The Only Fantasy" below…

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