Meet Ernest Camilleri: EMMY-Nominated Costume Designer
Malta’s designers have been making waves, particularly Ernest Camilleri, the EMMY-nominated local who shared some of his ups, downs, and everything in between with regards to his career as a costume designer with Lovin Malta.
“From a young age I was always interested in clothes and costumes. Both my sister and my mother used to sew, and we would all get involved in making costumes for the local carnival dance company and theatre. I loved getting involved in design and used to help in sewing and decorating the costumes,” stated Camilleri.
When he was 17, Ernest started working with Air Malta, so he moved to Malta from Gozo. He then got into The Manoel Theatre Academy of Dramatic Art (MTADA), also having attended a course in fashion and tailoring. This led to his first job after finishing MTADA, whereby he designed the costumes for the MADC pantomime, Little Red Riding Hood. He later designed costumes for all major theatre companies and dance schools in Malta.
“After a number of years working locally in theatre, I got an offer from PCP film company to design a big beer commercial which was to be shot at water tanks of the film studios. This involved travelling abroad and sourcing costumes from major costume houses in the UK. From then on I was always involved in movies and big events,” he said.
Camilleri’s work revolved around major sport events around 2014, having worked on the flag handover of the London Olympics, supervised and made costumes for the Olympic and Paralympics ceremonies of Russia and Rio de Janeiro, as well as the ceremonies for the Peru PanAmerican Games and the Asian Games in Baku.
He also worked as a costume supervisor for well-known films and TV series, such as Game of Thrones, Risen, Ben Hur, Equaliser 3, Captain Phillips, Fast & Furious 10, and the most recent series Those about to Die.
“All projects are interesting because each one is exciting in its own way. Working on Fast & Furious 10 had its own challenges as it was all about action, stunts, fast cars, and explosions, but I think the most recent show, a 10 episode TV series called Those about to Die proved to be the most fascinating one. Not only is it about Ancient Rome, meaning it’s full of gladiators, soldiers, and emperors amongst others, but all costumes had to be created from scratch.”
We were particularly curious about the series which got him the EMMY nomination, and how all this made him feel.
The director’s vision was clear, stated Camilleri, and was one which both designers Maurizio Millenotti and Gianni Casalnuovo had to work towards.
“At the start of the show the network had not yet decided if the series was to be aired in black and white or in colour. The director wanted a very clean look, so to achieve that effect the designers were asked to eliminate all colour from costumes and use only black, white and various shades of grey. This way we had to source and make costumes using textures which were limited to these colours. It was a very challenging experience but we all felt that we learned a lot.”
The costume supervisor also added that moving huge amounts of costumes to and from various locations was quite demanding, especially when they were doing so around three to four times per week.
The recognition of all their work, though, paid off through their 13 EMMY nominations, one in particular which Ernest was nominated for. He said he is overjoyed at the fact that their work, which lasted almost a year and a half, was appreciated.
We obviously had to ask what this means to him knowing Malta and Gozo’s small size and their lack of opportunities in creative sectors.
“Although Malta is a small island, I believe that in the creative sector we have very high standards and compete well with other countries. Malta also gives us the opportunity to mix with a lot of cultures and immerse ourselves in different ideas, which in turn feed the creative streak of any artist,” answered Ernest.
It isn’t everyday that you hear of Maltese people being nominated for an EMMY, either, so we had to ask, if you had to pick a Maltese person you think deserves to be EMMY nominated (or nominated for any other prestigious award for that matter), who would you pick and why?
“The list is endless as I have worked with so many talented people that it is hard to just pick one person, unfortunately. I would give an Emmy to all the directors, producers, actors and creatives, as everyone deserves to be recognised for the work they do.”
Lastly, Ernest addressed Maltese youth – “if you want something, take the plunge and work for it, and if it’s meant to happen, it will happen.”