Why does the Edna character (the costume designer) from The Incredibles seem so familiar? I felt like I was seeing a charicature of a real person, but I couldn’t pin down who that might have been.
Reportedly based on that famous Paramount costume designer whose name escapes me right this second… Edith Head, I think. Yeah.
Not that you’re likely to have seen her specifically, though - I’d chalk the familiarity up to Edna being a ‘broadly-drawn stereotype’.
Easy one, your thinking of Mindy Sterling from Austin Powers (2002) in Goldmember.
That aughta do it.
CandidGamera is right about Edith Head and about the stereotype.
Interestingly, the director Brad Bird did her voice.
Actually, Edna reminded me of a combination of Linda Hunt and Gooch from “Mame”, lookswise.
There was that fashion designer on some Old Navy ads a while back. She had these huge glasses and said “Fabulous” a lot.
That’s exactly who she reminded me of when I watched the movie.
Q: Was the character you voiced, Edna Mode, inspired by Edith Head?
Bird: Well, we certainly looked at Edith Head, but there are actually a lot of female fashion designers, if you research it, that have giant glasses… [snip]
No, she’s not it. Mindy Sterling is of the Rosa Klebb school.
I found this interview with Bird:
He says she’s an amalgamation, but, I don’t know, I get a much more specific vibe. I get the feeling I’ve seen this exact character somewhere.
I thought it was hilarious that during the design and writing process, Bird did all her lines; they went on to hold auditions for the part and had Lily Tomlin in to read for it. Bird did some of her lines so she could hear what they were looking for, and she said, “Well, what do you need me for???”
We always have to rewind and watch the “No capes!” scene a second time when we watch this, btw…
:eek:
I’d never seen TYoLD and I have to say that if all I’d seen were a snippet of her as Kwan, I’d never ever ever be able to figure out who the actor was.
Hunt’s the only person to win a performing Oscar for portraying a person of the opposite sex.
Isn’t she more accurately the only person to win for a portrayal of the opposite sex that wasn’t a gender-bending role?
Well, Hillary Swank’s character in Boys Don’t Cry may have been impersonating a man, but the character itself was a woman. Hunt’s character was a man. I think the statement’s completely accurate as is.
After Bird won the Oscar for Best Animated Movie, one of the post-Oscar press questions was for what Edna’s reaction to the starlets’ outfits. Suffice it to say that E gave a nicely scathing comment… 
…and also mentioned that she was the original Bond girl. :eek: 
quotes?
cite?
link?
I’d love to read/see this! 
