Suits you, Sir! Actor Mark Rylance swotted up for his latest role by training as a Savile Row tailor.
The Oscar-winning screen legend learned how to hand-stitch men’s clobber for his part in new gangster flick, The Outfit.
He plays a Chicago suit maker called Leonard in the film, which will be in cinemas next month.
Sir Mark, 62, who is renowned for the intense preparation he does for his roles, was put through his paces at gentlemen’s outfitter Huntsman.
Director Graham Moore said: “Mark is such a consummate researcher. He spent time learning to make clothes himself on Savile Row.
“He apprenticed at Huntsman, learning to cut, learning to sew.
“If he’s doing it on screen, then he’s really doing it.”
In The Outfit, Sir Mark’s character is an English tailor whose main customers are vicious gangsters.
He used to work in London’s Savile Row before moving to Chicago to make beautiful suits – but the only people who can afford them are criminals.
Every scene takes place in his tailor’s shop and the action unfolds as Leonard measures up and makes suits.
Speaking in the April edition of Total Film magazine, Moore added: “It’s a character study into this very interesting and mysterious man.
“We pull back the layers on Leonard in the way one would remove layers of clothing.”
Sir Mark, 62, won an Oscar for his portrayal of Newcastle-born Russian spy Rudolph Abel in Bridge of Spies.
He is not the only actor who likes going to extreme lengths to research their roles.
Demi Moore underwent tough Navy Seal training to play G.I. Jane and Halle Berry didn’t wash for ten days when playing a drug addict in Jungle Fever.
Robert De Niro worked as a cabbie for his role in Taxi Driver and Val Kilmer became so immersed in playing The Doors frontman Jim Morrison that he needed therapy to get back to normal.
