Bojana Nikitović Reveals the Secrets Behind the Costumes of Movie Blockbusters

When the lights go out and the colors awaken the film screen, every sound, shot, image, and word – even silence – harmoniously creates new worlds. From a fleeting glance that lasts “too long” to a lavish landscape wrapped in a rhapsody of unreal shades, everything in a film tells a story – an irreplaceable piece of the puzzle in the narrative line. In this wondrous symphony of cinematic creation, costume design is a story that weaves itself without words. Like a veil that cloaks the heroes in their own destinies, becoming the cloak of their soul, the costume is much more than clothing. As the silent protagonist of every film story, costume design is the visual code that builds character identities, depicting their fears, aspirations, hopes, relationships, and emotional turmoil, guiding the viewer on a silent journey through eras, social layers, and inner worlds. As an ally to direction and set design, it creates visual worlds with colors, textures, and silhouettes, contributing to the narrative in a way that music, camera work, and dialogue cannot. Subtle and almost invisible, or wonderfully lavish in the meticulous harmony of thousands of details, good costume design is a signpost of fate, a mirror of the characters’ personalities, and a brush that paints the story with shades that could not be told with words.

One such lavish and impressively meticulous costume design is that of the science fiction TV series Dune: Prophecy, the first of its six episodes premiered on November 17, 2024. Dune: Prophecy is set in the universe of the novel Dune, published in 1965 by the celebrated American author Frank Herbert. One of the best-selling sci-fi stories of all time, which consists of the main novel and five sequels, it inspired David Lynch’s 1984 film, two miniseries, and two parts of a film trilogy directed by Denis Villeneuve. However, The Prophecy, set 10,000 years before the noble Atreides family finds itself in a war for the desert planet Arrakis, is not based on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi work, but on the 2012 novel Sisterhood of Dune, co-written by Frank’s son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. For this adaptation, costume design plays a key role, with Serbian world-renowned costume designer Bojana Nikitović tasked with building a visual identity for the characters inhabiting this entirely new world. But beyond the stylistic element, costume design in The Prophecy is an integral part of the story, subtly guiding us through the power games, fate, relationships between characters, plot dynamics, and their internal struggles.

Photo: Penomedia, Moda: Anja Knežević

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