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April 28th, 2013 
Peter Nolan 
Academy Award winning costume and production designer Catherine Martin and husband Baz Luhrman talk up The Great Gatsby in New York earlier this month.
Source: Getty Images
Catherine Martin collaborated with Miuccia Prada to create the stunning costumes for The Great Gatsby, which opens on May 30.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
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CATHERINE Martin, The Great Gatsby’s production and costume designer, spills on working with her husband.
Sunday Style: We’re counting sleeps until The Great Gatsby is released (May 30). How are the nerves in the Martin-Luhrmann household?
We’re totally hysterical. It’s like sending your baby off to college. We’re packing the bags. We’ve got the list. Once it premieres we might start to feel distance.
Let’s free-associate! I say “Hollywood power couple”. You…
… burst out laughing! I feel like Baz and I should come into work one day wearing that slogan on our T-shirts. We’re more “squabbling Hollywood couple”.
You’ve collaborated on dozens of films together. Do you bring work home?
Well, it’s not considered kosher in our household to do a sort of ninja-stalk and present material you need signed off at times when the other person appears to be genuinely relaxing – but I’m constantly guilty of it. My husband less so.
How about in the office? Any husband-wife drama over the desk-divider?
Baz is the boss at work – there’s no confusion about that. That’s not to say I don’t have strong opinions, like any feisty executive in a company. I’m no ‘yes-woman’, but ultimately he’s in charge. At home, we have a pretty traditional relationship in the sense that he’s nominally the head of the household. We discuss everything and 100 per cent of decisions are joint, but the hierarchy works and I’m fine with that.
You also collaborated on two children. What do they make of the family business?
I think they like the idea we’re involved with movies, but they’re seven and nine and only just starting to make connections. They play with Tobey Maguire’s children but it took my son six months to say, “Is that Spider-Man?”
Do they enjoy being on set?
They’re most excited about the catering table. To stop them from yelling, “Cut!” I’ll let them have cordial and biscuits, which they never get at home, so that’s exciting. My daughter Lilly will be next to Leonardo DiCaprio at the table, thinking, “Oh my god, Arnott’s Family Assorted!”
Will they follow in your footsteps?
My son thinks he has some good ideas for movies and he’d prefer it if Baz made comedies. William is actually very down on the fact that his father makes movies where people die at the end.
You worked with Miuccia Prada for the Gatsby costumes. Do you get starstruck?
Absolutely! Having lunch with her and pitching ideas I was thinking, “Is this really happening? Am I really doing this?” It was one of the most incredible moments. Mrs Prada is so fast and funny and fantastic, but very human.
Is there such a thing as designers’ block? Does it happen to you?
All the time. All the time. Some days I think, “Well, I have no idea how to do that!” I have terribly frustrating days of just sitting at the computer and nothing happens. But I’ve learnt that if you apply yourself and keep doing it, it will happen. Nothing replaces hard work and considering the problem. And sleeping on it.
It’s nice to imagine you toiling over every single prop, since the finished product is always so crazy-perfect.
I’m very OCD about details. I can barely watch a scene back sometimes because I’ll be thinking, “Ugh, the fricking wallpaper doesn’t match up behind her head! How could I have missed that?”
Can you enjoy your old movies, or is that like looking at photos from the ’80s?
I can, and it’s fun. Certain lines from movies have become part of our story and our culture. If anyone at work ever says, “Oh, that’s going to be hard,” we shout, “Hard? Hard! How hard do you think it’s been for me? Frangipani de la squeegee mop!” [from Strictly Ballroom]
And now you’re working on Strictly Ballroom, the musical! Where do you find the time?
I’ve learnt to do what’s on the schedule. It sounds stupid, but I just do what’s written down. If you keep focused and stop panicking, you get a lot more done. I’ve also learnt that it’s about trying and not becoming despondent or using failure as an excuse not to try. I fail about 50 times a day. It’s like water off a duck’s back now. Acknowledge it and move on. You can’t be devastated by it.
We need to write this down! What else?
I’m the centre of so many things in our domestic existence that I can’t afford not to be as happy as I can be. And the only person I can count on to make me happy is me. That’s not a lesson I learnt at 21 – I’m learning it at nearly 50 and I still feel like I’m only getting 72 per cent… in my trials.
Follow Meg on Twitter @meg_mason
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