Winterfest Interview with Wayne Kelley
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| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Winterfest Interview with Wayne Kelley |
| Interviewer: | Winterfest |
| Interviewee: | Wayne Kelley |
| Date(s): | 2007 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Beauty and the Beast |
| External Links: | Vincent Impersonators, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
In 2007, Wayne Kelley was interviewed for Winterfest. Its focus was Costuming and Beauty and the Beast.
See Winterfest Interview Series.
Some Excerpts
I had no background or experience in costuming or makeup when I first entered fandom, but I did have a long-standing interest in both. It was the kind of thing that I dreamed of doing, but never thought I would have the chance. Anna studied some theater classes when she was in college, and had been designing and creating costuming for other people and fandoms for many years when we met.
"When" actually requires two answers. After seeing the pilot episode, while I was still just a wishful thinker, I said that if I ever got the chance to do a character costume for myself, that I would like to do Vincent. It was in 1991, however, that Anna and I met; she already had some experience in recreating the character (see question 5). After our trip to Tunnelcon I together, we decided to find a way to allow me to portray Vincent.
Why? We could write volumes about that! Boiled down, though, for me personally - I wanted to get inside of the character, and experience things from that place. I wanted to take Vincent everywhere I could, into as many different situations and environments as possible, and experience them through his perceptions. I enjoy role-playing, of any kind, because I enjoy the spontaneous interactions with other people. What I enjoyed most, and still do, is to become that character, and have others interact with him, rather than coming up and saying, "Hi, Wayne, nice costume..."
All of my costuming was designed and created by Anna, my wife. When we first met, Anna and her friends in Cleveland had already created a full-sized soft sculpture version of Vincent, complete with costuming. The first couple of outfits that I wore were actually made for him; fortunately, we were about the same size.
The hardest of the costumes from the show to replicate were the party costumes Vincent and Catherine wore in "Masques". We poured over photos for months, and Catherine's dress was actually harder to build than Vincent's outfit. Anna built the entire dress by hand, starting with corseted brassier and working outward, fitting each section to her measurements by hand. She also recreated the sequined owl on the front, and the owl mask to go with the dress. Vincent's outfit was about four weeks worth of work, but the dress took three months. But, they did come out looking as much like the pieces from the episode as we could manage.
When we began attempting to make me up as Vincent, we had no access to anyone who could do prosthetics. For my first few appearances and photos, we purchased and modified the slush-mold latex masks that were sold through Starlog Magazine at the time. A few months later, we met a gentleman at a regional sci-fi convention who had designed a prosthetic for someone else that was no longer interested in it. We went to his home, where he took a casting of my face and adapted his design to fit me. We used his design for several conventions, and later Anna created one of her own that we used only a couple of times before we stopped going to conventions regularly.
Being a fan of the show, and being a role-player for many years, and being an aspiring writer who has written stories and poems based on the show and characters, all make it very easy for me to step into the character of Vincent. I can empathize with him on many personal levels, and as I came to know him during the series, I could imagine his childhood, and his actions and reactions to things outside of what we were shown. He became one of my all-time favorite characters very quickly, and remains so to this day. Vincent is within me everyday, as a personification of many wonderful things, and I can call upon him anytime I wish. Being transformed into him physically, through the costume and makeup, just makes his presence stronger. When I portray Vincent, I become him, as much as is possible for anyone to do so.