In her long career as a costume designer, Aggie Guerard Rodgers has worked with some of Hollywood’s greatest filmmakers, many of whom only need a last name: Spielberg, Lucas (twice), Coppola (three times), and Coogler. She’s also outfitted actors in movies by Tim Burton, Lawrence Kasdan, Ron Howard, Spike Lee, Miloš Forman, and others and received an Academy Award nomination for her work on Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple (1985).
On April 18th, the Balboa Theatre will honor Rodgers as part of its 100th birthday celebration. The party is the centerpiece of a weeklong retrospective of her work and a major acknowledgement of a significant below-the-line movie worker who lived and thrived in San Francisco for decades.
We spoke with Rodgers on the eve of the Balboa’s celebration and learned about her wild youth, how she treats the set like a cocktail party, and if Spielberg thinks she curses too much.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Your long career as a costume designer kicked off in a pretty amazing way in terms of meeting with George Lucas and working on American Graffiti as your first film. How did that meeting come about?
I grew up in Fresno, California. I was born in 1943 and I had a sister who was three years older. Believe it or not, she was even naughtier than I was. Because she was older, she had her driver’s license. My mom and dad bought her a ’54 Ford four-door to get to school with, so she knew how to drive. My parents had an old Chrysler — a family car — that we took on car trips. I knew I couldn’t fix a car, and I couldn't drive a car, but I could sure get into one and go someplace. My sister would go to sleep, I would go to sleep, and then she would wake up in the late evening and steal my mother’s car. We would go down to Stan’s drive-in and get a hamburger and a Coke, come back, and go back to bed. For us, that was pretty bad because my dad was an Army man. He never caught us but I’m sure he knew.
That’s incredible.
At Fresno State, I took a costume class taught by a Japanese woman who taught us all about Noh theater, and I would go in and help with the student productions. After I finished at Fresno State, I came to San Francisco to live at my grandmother’s house and, somehow, I got a job typing for a casting company called Brebner Agency. [Ann Brebner] has since passed away but was very famous for casting local productions and day players for films that were shooting in SF. I got my first job as a dresser at the San Francisco Opera. My dad loved the opera, so I just was in heaven. I used to type at the Brebner Agency during the day and go work as a dresser at night at the opera. I still think back on all of it and getting to watch Mr. [Luciano] Pavarotti sing. As a dresser, you could stand behind the curtain and listen. My mind was blown. I kind of grew up there.
Then I got a job on a commercial and made a complete mess of it but I wasn’t fired and they paid me. A few months went by and I got a call asking if I wanted to go in to interview for American Graffiti and I said, ‘Oh my goodness! Yes!’ I went in and the unit manager, James Hogan, came out, took me in his office, and asked me if I knew anything about ‘dragging the main.’ I told him about my sister’s car and he says, ‘Excuse me, I’ll be right back.’ Then he left the room only to come back with George and that's how I got that job. I think I’d actually done Graffiti by the time I got to the opera.
And The Conversation with Francis Ford Coppola was your next project?
Yes, that was through George because Francis was our producer on Graffiti and he saw that I didn’t make a mess of that.
What was it like to work with personalities like Lucas, Coppola, and Miloš Forman back-to-back-to-back?
Miloš thought I was crazy, but that was okay. It worked out. I only got that job because of Michael Douglas. I met Michael through Streets of San Francisco. Michael was our producer on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Michael connected me to Saul [Zaentz] and I got along really well with Saul. That’s how that job came together and how many jobs tended to happen.
‘You may have noticed that I’ve not worked for Mr. Spielberg again. He doesn’t like people who swear and I have a hard time not swearing because I like to be bad.’
Aggie Guerard Rodgers
In terms of memorable outfits, Princess Leia’s costume at the beginning of Return of the Jedi when she's Jabba’s prisoner is seriously iconic. Tell me about the concept and execution behind that look.
Do you know the cartoonist/illustrator [Frank] Frazetta? I had a book of his and he inspired me. We hired a local guy from outside of ILM [Industrial Light & Magic, Lucas’ visual effects company] and we just talked to him about what we wanted: what she had to do, how it had to be wired, etc. Of course, we made several copies because there was a stunt girl and so forth.
Any memories about working on The Color Purple?
You may have noticed that I’ve not worked for Mr. Spielberg again. He doesn’t like people who swear and I have a hard time not swearing because I like to be bad. I got along really well with him: he was never mean to me, never yelled at me, never questioned anything I did. Many designers do their work on paper and put everything up on the walls of the office to be seen by people but for The Color Purple, I was working with two costume supervisors and telling them what to do.
Whoopi alone had 80 changes because of all the different time periods. As a result, I would just stay on the set all the time and change her clothes when the time came. I managed to click with her. She was so wonderful and charming. We did all of the clothes in the trailer: she would just step out of the trailer and go work. I don't think there were any mistakes, really.
You also worked with Ryan Coogler on Fruitvale Station.
He is the sweetest man. I didn’t get close to him because I think I’m a little scary. When I’m at work, I tend to walk around like I’m at a cocktail party. For me, that’s the best choice, because then I have some armor, but the end result is I didn’t get to know him as well as I wish I had. Somehow, I talked him into hiring me and I don’t think he regretted it. Let’s just put it that way. But his brother did have to come in and help me a little bit.
Your son James Laxton is Barry Jenkins’ go-to cinematographer. What’s it like to see one of your children establish their own legacy in film?
I think he came to all of our sets at some point. He’s really a fabulous young man. I just love him. And we have another son, Thomas, who is a fireman in San Francisco.
When my husband and I went to Florida State to see James graduate, we met Barry Jenkins and I fell in love. He told me he was coming to Los Angeles the following week and I gave him my number and told him to call me. He did and I got him a little job as a PA. Then he got himself the next job, and the next job, and then the next job. And James was able to see that happen and they've stuck together like glue ever since.
