Moving Pictures

NETFLIX’ HALSTON IS THE FIRST FABULOUS STREAMING SERIES OF THE YEAR

BY JOE NOLAN, FILM CRITIC

When Roy Halston Ferwick was born on April 23, 1932, in Des Moines, Iowa, there was probably no reason to believe he’d revolutionize American fashion and achieve world-wide celebrity.

But by the end of the 1970s Roy Ferwick became one of those rare mononymous American icons who transcend their personal histories and careers to assume a legendary place: Dolly, Elvis, Madonna, Halston. An eponymous new biopic series about the designer just started streaming on Netflix. Halston is a masterful examination of the three Es that defined this eccentric American’s extraordinary life: elegance, extravagance and excess. Halston crackles with sharply cut dialog and shimmers with electric performances, and it’s here to kick off 2021’s best-of-television race in style.

Director Daniel Minahan is no stranger to Halston’s Manhattan in the 1960s-1980s period setting. Minahan wrote the screenplay for the strong 1996 film I Shot Andy Warhol, which dramatized the real-life psychotic spiral of feminist activist and would-be-Andy-Warhol-assassin, Valerie Solanas. That film demonstrated Minahan’s ear for dialogue and his ability to deliver extreme but believable characters into the capable hands of talented actors — the great Lili Taylor had one of her best turns in her role as Solanas.

Here Minahan teams up with playwright Sharr White to direct another true tale about another extreme character. Minahan’s insightful storytelling and White’s tailored scripting give Ewan McGregor all the runway he needs to take the spotlight in the title role — one of the best performances of his career. McGregor’s Halston is paranoid and proud, driven and destructive. He’s also hilarious and McGregor’s disdainful disses and regal retorts find him stealing countless scenes. But Halston is always likable and McGregor also gets credit for making sure viewers never lose sight of the true artist behind the designer’s questionable choices and bad behaviors. Halston’s cast also includes a gutsy but off-target take on Liza Minnelli from Krysta Rodriguez, and a perfectly plodding Bill Pullman as one of Halston’s profit-hungry investors.

Halston’s other big stars are the behind-the-scenes experts who bring this New York period piece to life with the same kind of effortless style that Halston evoked with his best designs. Halston’s hair, makeup and costume teams give us highrise hairdos and hoop earrings, turtlenecks and trenchcoats as well as reproductions of Halston’s own iconic designs for couture caftans, perfume bottles, airplane upholstery and even Jacqueline Kennedy’s unforgettable pillbox hat. Period movies like Halston often lean into their extravagant production designs as if every penny spent on vintage signage and contemporaneous automobiles and interior décor must get as much screen time as the principle players. Minahan’s camera and his cast are allowed to simply exist in these masterfully crafted spaces and costumes and make-up. This allows viewers to let their guards down and simply believe every line of dialogue, every drape of fabric, every all-nighter at Studio 54. Halston’s story seems custom made for an American legend, and White’s adaptation of Steven Gaines’ Simply Halston biography reads like American drama 101: an anonymous boy from the middle of nowhere follows his dreams to New York where he takes the world by storm before the same ambitions and exuberance that fueled his climb become his undoing. Halston took on the world of fashion and won, but by the 1980s, Halston was suffering both from a cocaine addiction and an AIDS diagnosis. Minahan shows us Halston’s dark side, but ultimately gives us a celebration of a true American original in one of the top television events of 2021.

Halston is currently streaming on Netflix.

Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.