She dove deep into the research and studied London in the ’60s with great interest. “Compared to a lot of much older periods it’s very well documented. There’s a lot of photos of that period. There’s a fair amount of photos of the brothers themselves, a handful of photos of the wife. There’s also movies that were made of the time. It’s a period, I think, that we revisit in the U.K. quite a lot which was an interesting challenge because there’s so many ways of looking at it,” Harris said. She set her own focus on the early ’60s where people dressed very formally, instead of the swinging ’60s era, which came much later.
The major challenge on the film was making things work that shouldn’t have worked, especially in the area of finding enough clothes. Harris preferred buying to renting, so there was plenty of going around hunting things down. Being up for the difficulties and being enthusiastic and passionate is an attitude that helped Harris create magic and have a good time. “There’s never quite enough time. There’s never quite enough money. No matter how much you really have. So it’s a fun challenge,” she said.
It also helped that Harris had a wonderful existing relationship with the director and was working from her home base of London with a team she had collaborated with before. “It’s a great thing to work in my city that I know so well,” she said. Her experience working on this film was as lovely as could be. “My favorite memories are when it all comes together and the momentum’s going and my team is familiar with everything and we’re recreating a world together, feeling like it’s a real world.”