Alexandra Byrne

Costume designer, Guardians Of The Galaxy

There are so many planets and cultures in this film. Is there a single aesthetic that binds them all together? James’s overall vision. He’s got a very clear vision for it all, and that’s quite liberating because you know that there’s a stronger throughline than your own taste or style. It almost means that you can be braver because of your belief in the glue that’s holding us all together. James is very clear on all the planets we’re doing – his brief is that it can’t be earthbound, it can’t be ’ 60s, it can’t be Star Trek… it doesn’t give you a lot of ground to stand on!

Are you a comic book reader? I have become one. I like that because it means I see the comics in a fresh way. I don’t have any baggage or history

with them. When I did Thor I became obsessed with how the cloak was used as a graphic device. I thought that was incredible in terms of the composition of the page and as a device for movement and intensity of story.

Karen Gillan has a very striking look as Nebula… We started her fittings before she’d had her head shaved, and the difference was astounding. We actually changed the way we were going with the costume. She became a more menacing character once her head was shaved and not in the way you would think – it wasn’t butcher, it was more of a scary femininity. She became so much stronger but not in a masculine, testosterone

based way. Nick Setchfield