The 96th Academy Awards took place on Sunday, March 10, and it was a big night for Montana, as Treasure State native Lily Gladstone was nominated for Best Actress for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” becoming the first Native American to be nominated in her category.
It was a historical evening for Gladstone, and for all Native Americans, and a special moment for Montana, which is more and more becoming a large part of the film industry, be it movies or television. Stillwater County also has its connection to Hollywood. Many already know that Academy Award-winning director Mel Gibson previously owned the Beartooth Ranch between Columbus and Absarokee. But did you know retired film and television costumer Joe McCloskey lives just outside of Columbus?
McCloskey, a Tampa, Florida native, started his Hollywood career in 1972, finding his way onto the Western Costume Co. film crew. His first film? Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown,” one many consider an all-time great.
“That script was so damn good we all knew that whoever got the role of Jake Gittes was going to become a huge actor,” McCloskey said. That assessment was correct. Jack Nicholson was already a star, but Robert Towne’s Oscar-winning script catapulted him to an iconic stature that includes three Academy Awards.
“Chinatown” was also a huge breakthrough for McCloskey, who would do 20-plus more productions with Western Costume Co. in the next four years. This illustrious introduction to the industry included working on two John Wayne films, the “Julie Andrews Hour,” the “Carol Burnette Show,” “Gunsmoke” and two legendary Francis Ford Coppola films: “The Godfather, Part II” and “Apocalypse Now!”
McCloskey’s prolific four-decade career in Hollywood took him all over the world and gave him the opportunity to work with such names as Tom Hanks (“Apollo 13”), Bruce Willis (“Live Free of Die Hard”), Harrison Ford (“Patriot Games,” “Clear and Present Danger”), Demi Moore (“G.I. Jane,” “A Few Good Men”), Arnold Schwarzenegger (“Collateral Damage”), Kevin Costner (“13 Days”), Henry Fonda (“Last of the Cowboys”) character actor Slim Pickens (“The White Buffalo”), Eddie Murphy (“Life”), Danny DeVito (“Hoffa”),
Andy Griffith (“For Lovers Only”), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (“The Scorpion King”), Nicolas Cage (“Wings of the Apache,” “World Trade Center”), Sandra Bullock (“A Thing Called Love”) Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Mulholland Falls”), Jane Wyman (“Charlie Angels”) and many more. Of these actors, McCloskey said Hanks, Willis, Moore, Pickens and Bullock were among the most pleasant to work with, as was James Brolin, who he worked with on “Hotel” for five years.
“[Brolin] called my mom when she was dying in the hospital in Tampa in January of 1985,” McCloskey said. “She’d met him at a Christmas party the year before. He didn’t even tell me he’d called her. That’s how much of a terrific guy he is.”
One of the actors McCloskey spent a lot of time with is Tommy Lee Jones, who he dressed in “U.S. Marshals,” “Volcano,” “Wings of the Apache” and “Blown Away.”
“He’s a friendly guy,” McCloskey said. “He was particularly friendly with me because he wanted to buy my mule, Sonny. He wasn’t too happy when I said ‘no.’”
McCloskey said he was impressed with Jones, and had some funny moments working with him. One time while filming “The Wings of the Apache,” McCloskey said he was in such a rush to fix Jones’ shoulder patch that somehow he accidentally sewed Jones’ sleeve shut. Jones was a good sport about it, McCloskey said. It all happened so fast that they were able to fix the situation and carry on with the shoot. The last thing you want to do on a film set, McCloskey said, is hold anything up.
“Don’t hold up the camera,” McCloskey said. “You hold it up five minutes and you’re gone.”
Of all the films McCloskey worked with Jones on, McCloskey said he was most impressed with his performance in “Blown Away,” as nearly all of his scenes were by himself (McCloskey said Jones’ wife told him he was more nervous about this role than any other movie he’d worked on). “Blown Away” was particularly memorable for McCloskey, who said he received VIP treatment after rescuing Jones’ co-star Jeff Bridges’ mother from a treadmill accident in the gym. Bridges treated him to dinner and “rolled out the read carpet” for him the rest of the time on set.
What brought him to the Big Sky
It was Ron Howard’s “Far and Away,” starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman — then husband and wife — that brought McCloskey out to Montana. The movie — about a young Irish couple who flee to the United States — was filmed outside of Hardin. When he got out here, McCloskey fell in love. In the following years, he returned to Montana between projects, exploring more parts of the state. In 1996 he bought land in Stillwater County, off of Sheep Dip Road, where he built a home that was ready for him in 1999. He retired in December of 2008 and moved out here full-time in May of 2009.
“I look out the window and all I see is the Beartooths, the Crazies and the Pryors,” McCloskey said.
The landscape is just one of the many wonders of Montana McCloskey loves. He also appreciates the clean air and how few people there are compared to Los Angeles, a place that can so often be overwhelming. When he was filming “Hoffa,” in 1992 (directed by Devito, starring Nicholson), the L.A. riots broke out and they had to evacuate the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard. At that time, McCloskey said, retreating to Montana sounded “pretty damn good.”
Working as a costumer — primarily as a supervisor — is taxing work. There are long hours involved and immaculate attention to detail (“it’s intricate as hell,” McCloskey said), especially for films based on true stories. So, a few weeks after his 60th birthday, McCloskey was ready to retire — and that’s exactly what he did. Now he looks back with pride on his many achievements, which include two Emmy nominations for the 1978 TV movie “To Kill a Cop” and the 2005 Steven Spielberg TNT production “Into the West,” which included a scene depicting the Battle of Wounded Knee, that made McCloskey “stop and collect himself.”
“It was an honor to be nominated,” McCloskey said of both nominations. Regarding “Into the West,” he said he was up against “Elizabeth,” and the period costumes involved in that production made him feel like he had no shot. As for “To Kill a Cop,” he received a great compliment on that film, as he had real New York Police Department officers tell him they’d “never seen cops [on the screen] look so much like cops.”
But the work McCloskey said he’s most proud of is the costumes he and his crew made for Randall Wallace’s 2002 Vietnam film “We Were Soldiers,” which starred aforementioned previous Stillwater County resident Mel Gibson as U.S. Army Lieutenant General Hal Moore and Sam Elliott as Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley. Elliott, McCloskey said, was one of his favorites to work with, as he regularly ate with the crew. But there wasn’t much time to talk, as McCloskey said he and his crew averaged around 118 hours of work per week on that job. One of the most challenging aspects of costuming, McCloskey added, is the continuity involved. You need to have several outfits that are alike because you shoot out of sequence.
“For example, when we were shooting ‘Live Free or Die Hard,’ Bruce Willis had close to 70 of the same outfit because of all the distress states of costume,” McCloskey said. “It was hard, but [Willis] made it fun. He was always joking around with the crew.”
Enjoying retirement
As much as McCloskey enjoyed his career, he said he’s even more grateful for being able to retire at age 60 and live a quiet life in Montana, where he enjoys getting out and exploring all Stillwater and surrounding counties have to offer. He regularly rides a horse and mule up Meyers Creek, Lake Fork and Sioux Charley Lake, among others. He also enjoys riding a 200 Suzuki on the 2,000 miles of gravel roads around the area.
McCloskey said he has a real affinity for this place, and the kindness of the people. That’s why he donated one of Gibson’s Hal Moore uniforms from “We Were Soldiers” to the Museum of the Beartooths. He’s proud of that film and proud to be here in Stillwater County. And he knows how lucky he is to be here, and to have had the career he had, starting with the break he got with a spot on “Chinatown” sizing clothes and putting stock away.
“I stopped in and talked to the receptionist at Paramount studios, telling them I’d just graduated from the University of South Florida and needed a job. I’d just moved to L.A. and had $100 in my pocket. I didn’t know anybody and had never been there before,” McCloskey said. “He told me to talk with another guy, who told me, ‘I need a man. Can you start tomorrow?’”
And from there it was one project after another, and one lucky break after another, impressing the right people, be it television producer Aaron Spelling, the NYPD or decorated war veterans. It was a great ride, McCloskey said, one he cherishes more and more as he looks out into the Montana stars. Although he misses the symphony and misses the theater, McCloskey doesn’t miss the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles, and prefers the quality of life here in a more remote area. It’s the Big Sky, he said, that brings him gratitude.
Although he’s been coming out to Montana for the past 25 years, McCloskey still feels connected to the film industry. However, keeping up with the films can pose a challenge.
“It’s hard for me to watch a movie now,” he admits. “I’m always watching the technical stuff.”
(As published in the March 14, 2024 issue of the Stillwater County News)
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