Cameron Diaz - The Holiday Production Notes 6

“Say a man and a woman both need something to sleep in and both go to the same men's pajama department. The man says to the salesman, `I just need bottoms,' and the woman says, `I just need a top.' They look at each other and that's the `meet cute.'” - Arthur

Meyers has always savored the process of building character through costume. “The fittings are a great time to talk about character with the actor,” she observes. “As you go through each scene and put on the clothes, you get to discuss what the scene is about. Through that give and take you start to build your collaboration and the movie begins to take shape. I remember the first costume fitting with Jack Nicholson on Something's Gotta Give took six hours and he only tried on one pair of pants.”

Costume designer Marlene Stewart had long admired the director's commitment to what her characters wear. “Nancy uses clothes to tell the story, and the attention she gives the costumes shows on the screen,” says Stewart. “Her films have a classic feeling that gives them visual staying power.”

Stewart found an excellent collaborator in Diaz. “Cameron loves to experiment with clothes and try a lot of things on,” says Stewart. “Her character typifies the confident working woman of today, so her look is feminine, self-assured, sexy. Clothing in contemporary movies set in L.A. can be very youth-oriented, but we went with a more classic feeling. We used quite a few fabulous pieces - Dior, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Narciso Rodriguez and Dolce & Gabbana.”

The simplest character to dress was Ethan, played by Edward Burns, who spends most of his screen time in a pair of blue boxers and a t-shirt. “It was role reversal at its best,” laughs Stewart. “The guy was in his underwear instead of the girl.”