The Story of That Badass Scorpion Jacket From DRIVE

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Many of you caught DRIVE over the weekend.  Actually, let me rephrase that.  Since the film only came in at number three at the box office, not enough of you saw the thrilling neo-noir last weekend.  For those of you awesome folk who did, you were treated to seeing not only some amazing acting, stunts, and sound design, but also some genius costume design. 

Ryan Gosling’s character of little words, shows more of personality and panache through his clothing choices.  As many of cinephiles know, costume design is an integral part of character expression- especially in this layered film.  Throughout most of the movie, Driver wears an iconic satin scorpion jacket – a jacket whose metaphor is not lost on the viewer.  He can be both soft and quite paralyzing if crossed the wrong way.  The logo itself is a reference to one of the first music videos ever made by Kenneth Anger called Scorpio Rising. We even asked Gosling about the jacket when we sat down to talk to him about the film.  Turns out, Gosling wasn’t just joking around with us when he said he “made the jacket.”

According to Gosling – who was on Conan O’Brien’s show the other night promoting the film- there was always a reason the jacket had to be iconic.

“I always wanted to make a character that people would go out for on Halloween and so I’m really crossing my fingers on this one,” revealed the actor before he gifted O’Brien with his own, brown version.

DRIVE’s costume designer, Erin Benach, recently revealed that the actor was very involved in the jacket’s design.

“Ryan had been really inspired by these 1950s Korean souvenir jackets,” Benach told Grantland. “He had bought one on his own and was wearing it around. … So we built it piece by piece. We knew the collar had to be able to pop up, we wanted the knit around the wrists and waist to be 100 percent wool as opposed to stretchy nylon. We wanted every element to be perfect. We went through 15 or 20 iterations until we got it right. Which was down to the wire — about an hour before shooting!”

Benach also revealed that when all was said and done, there were 13 versions of the fashion piece made for the star during filming. And, fans of the jacket may not have to wait very long to own their own version.

“You just might be able to find them online soon,” teased Benach.

Hey, Girl. We can only dream.  If you haven’t yet, go see DRIVE – now playing at a theater near you.

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