Man's love of fashion leads to star-studded life

"Terminator 3" begins much like "Terminator 2," with a naked Arnold Schwarzenegger searching for clothes.

Discerning viewers of the film, set to open around the country today, will note that the hero's trademark black leathers, at once hip and menacing, are ever so slightly updated to reflect the latest in fashion design.

"A tuck here, a seam there," said Greg Hall, a former Edmonds resident turned Hollywood costumer who has worked on Schwarzenegger's past 10 films.

Hall's work shows up in the details of clothing. There's a scene in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" in which a young John Connor, who goes on to become the rebel leader, holds the Terminator's bullet-spattered jacket up to an abandoned garage's dusty light. Each bullet hole, and there are at least a dozen, is pierced by other-worldly beams.

It's a Hollywood effect that Hall created by taking a drill-like tool to dozens of jackets. He stabbed and sliced some with a butcher knife. He took a torch to others.

"Arnold only wears one outfit, but it goes through 50 stages of annihilation," he said.

As an Edmonds high-school student, Hall seemed more likely to be an action hero than to design clothes for one. He lettered in football and wrestling, and like the other young men pumping iron in the weight room, idolized a young Austrian by the name of Arnold Schwarzenegger who, at 20, was the youngest Mr. Universe ever and went on to win 13 world bodybuilding records.

Hall's mother, Laura Hall, a former mayor of Edmonds, said one incident in high school did provide a glimpse of the costumer that her son was to become. After being invited to a formal dance, Greg Hall, with no prior sewing experience, decided to make his own white tux.

"He cut up a pair of jeans to make a pattern and designed an Eisenhower jacket," his mother recalled. "He got Mary Pat Hanchett (the sister of another wrestler) to show him how to use a sewing machine."

Hall, 49, went to Washington State University intending to major in forestry. But as he crossed campus one day during his sophomore year, he had an epiphany: He wasn't excited about trees, and he liked big cities and clothes.

"I thought: 'Maybe I'd like to design. Maybe there's a design school here!' " he said.

After graduating with a home-economics degree in 1976, Hall applied to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, and was accepted to its Los Angeles school. In his first year, he responded to a bulletin-board notice for gofer work with Jean-Pierre Dorleac, a costume designer whom Hall still considers one of the most creative in Hollywood.

Their costumes for "Somewhere in Time," a Victorian period piece starring Christopher Reeve, were nominated for an Academy Award. Since that first film in 1979, Hall has worked on 36 Hollywood films and several television series.

Hall works as an independent contractor who is hired for one film at a time. New projects come to him through contacts from previous films, his résumé and word of mouth. After working with Schwarzenegger on three films, including "Kindergarten Cop," the actor told Hall he'd like him to work on all of his films.

April Ferry, the costume designer for "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," said Hall is a talented artist with a gift for working with sometimes-temperamental stars.

"What he does best is take care of actors," she said.

Hall said that can mean fitting costumes, reassuring cast members that they've got the right look and making sure they wear the same clothes they wore in a previous scene. On any one film, Hall's job is to take the vision of the designer and translate it into the clothes for upward of 100 actors.

In "Somewhere in Time," Hall said, he had to change Reeve's wingtip collar about 10 times a day to ensure it was crisp and clean.

For a "Terminator" film, he said, Schwarzenegger's "one" costume covered the entire inside wall of a semi, each variously destroyed change of leather numbered and keyed to a script.

"Terminator 3" could be the last in which Hall works with his one-time idol. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is considering a run for California governor. The film opens just two weeks before a scheduled recall vote against Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.

And though the 55-year-old Schwarzenegger retains his impressive physique, Hall said the actor is questioning whether a man who is AARP-eligible can continue to play an invincible, never-aging cyborg.

Hall can see ahead to the end of his own career. In five more years, he'll be able to retire with 30 years in the costumers union. Besides, he notes, Hollywood is a youth- obsessed town.

But, he said philosophically: "I had a job before I knew Arnold. I'll have a job afterwards."

During the long days of shooting a film, when Hall rises at 3 a.m. to be ready for the actors and the beginning of shooting two hours later, his work fitting costumes, preparing for scene changes and dealing with Hollywood egos can make the job seem far from glamorous.

But sometimes, the boy who says he always knew he'd leave Edmonds pinches himself and smiles. "At 25 years, I still love it," he said.

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com