How the Australian Gothic Costumes of ‘Leviticus’ Deliver Yearning as Vast as the Outback

Costume designer Zohie Castellano is into supernatural experiences. Not necessarily the kind in “Leviticus” that befalls Aussie teens Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen), both cursed by a Deliverance Healer (Nicholas Hope) — i.e., religious conversion-therapy leader — to suppress their gay longing for each other lest they be torn apart by a monster that looks like the thing they most desire. Which is each other. 

But Castellano sees horror as the genre space wherein we can actually come face to face with the monstrous forces making the world so unsafe for queer people, and come out the other side — costumes, especially specifically chosen contemporary clothing, help visually mark the characters’  journeys.

Castellano identified a few key pieces that help hold the harrowing journey of “Leviticus” together — Ryan’s outfit the day he’s “saved,” which becomes the look of the monster that hunts Naim. Also Naim’s layers that become more form-fitting as he comes closer to embracing who he is, and the suit of the Deliverance Healer. In each case, Castellano was inspired by writer/director Adrian Chiarella’s script. 

‘Leviticus’ Courtesy Everett Collection

“There were certain script images we pulled out that really informed our choices, texturally,” Castellano told IndieWire. “Frogs and snakes and spiders — so we were working with leather and lace and evoking kind of a demon texture with knotty knits in the Church community. The Deliverance Healer’s suit is pressed incorrectly, so it’s shiny, like frog skin.” 

A certain hostility in textures, a just-off wrongness, were important parts of how costume contributes to the sense of decaying beauty — a world that’s almost right but isn’t. Castellano relished putting Clausen in a white shirt that’s almost sheer and tempting and ethereal for the guise of the monster, although it was equally rewarding to chart how Naim comes into his own. 

“Naim is very hidden at the beginning. He’s wearing a size up, and he’s trying to hide himself. Ryan’s a bit more confident or daring, and as the film unfolds, we play with how they’re reflecting each other subconsciously — the light and the dark — as the story unfolds,” Castellano said. “Naim moves into clothes that are more fitting, but he’s also in darker colors as the film progresses; he’s wrestling with this perceived darkness inside of him.” 

‘Leviticus’ Courtesy Everett Collection

Costume reflects both the characters’ inner lives and the broader world around them. Castellano collaborated heavily with production designer Bethany Ryan to make the characters subtly look as alienated from their community as they feel. 

“Bethany and I talked about how there was more color in the set than in the costumes, which is quite an unusual choice, and I think it created some really distinct imagery,” Castellano said. “It was a choice from the beginning to have a restrained color palette to evoke that yearning and that longing [the boys have]. We understood the environment the boys were in was a quite toxic one, but there was this industrial almost-beauty that [DP Tyson Perkins] captured.” 

‘Leviticus’ Courtesy Everett Collection

“Leviticus” balances on a knife’s point between the toxic and the beautiful, between longing and loathing, and which side the balance tips for Naim and Ryan comes truly a matter of life and death. It’s that sense of enticement and danger that is core to its visual world. That’s why the key pieces needed to be – pun not intended — tailored, and Castellano could thrift and shop and add to the characters’ wardrobes around those key ideas. 

“ We wanted a sort of an Australian Gothic kind of feeling to it,” Castellano said. “It’s a good use of resources to decide to make things early. We made the monster tops early. Arlene’s [Mia Wasikowska] cardigan was knitted as well. And then we keep building out the story. I’ll go thrifting. We’ll go buying. We chart everything with mood boards, but it’s a process of work intellectually and also intuitively. Of what feels right.” 

The characters may not necessarily trust what feels right to them, but the costumes of “Leviticus” teach them that, perhaps, they should. 

“Leviticus” is now in theaters courtesy of Neon.