I’m pleased to again present a guest post contributed by my friend Ken Stauffer, who has written several pieces for BAMF Style previously and chronicles the style of the Ocean’s film series (and beyond!) on his excellent Instagram account, @oceansographer. Ken visited the set of Wolfs for three weeks of filming in early 2023 and attended its premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month.
Brad Pitt and George Clooney in Wolfs (2024)
Vitals
George Clooney as Jack, a.k.a. Margaret’s Man, professional underworld fixer
Brad Pitt as Nick a.k.a. Pam’s Man, professional underworld fixer
New York, December 2024
Film: Wolfs
Release Date: September 20, 2024
Director: Jon Watts
Costume Designer: Amy Westcott
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
It’s been 16 years since the dynamic duo of George Clooney and Brad Pitt made a film together, but the wait is finally over! The pair star in Wolfs, written and directed by Jon Watts (Cop Car, Spider-Man: No Way Home), which is now streaming on Apple TV+ worldwide.
For over a year, the only description of the film was that it concerned “two lone wolf fixers who are unexpectedly assigned to the same job.” Unlike their Ocean’s characters who had years of history together, the aging duo of criminal cleaners played by Clooney and Pitt here have never met before the events of the movie. As Watts wrote in his Director’s Statement for the Venice Film Festival, “Le Samouraï, Blast of Silence, Ghost Dog, Collateral—I love films about solitary professionals dedicated to their craft and always wanted to see what would happen if two of those guys were forced to work together.”
Set entirely in New York City over the course of one long winter night, the film feels like a true throwback to crime films of the ’70s. The plot cleverly plays with well-trodden crime film tropes, while the dialogue recalls the buddy comedy rhythm of Midnight Run, 48 Hours, and Lethal Weapon. The difference here is that rather than being opposites who must find common ground, these characters are so alike that they can’t help but resent and insult one another. To quote Watts again, “It can be hard to make new friends as an adult, even if you have a lot in common.”
One quick note–while Clooney and Pitt are referred to as “Margaret’s Man” and “Pam’s Man” respectively in the film’s closing credits, the characters are referred to as Jack and Nick by production company Apple TV, just as they were on set. To keep things simple, those names will be used throughout this article.
What’d He Wear?
Yeah, you got, like, basically the same clothes, kinda talk the same, you know. You’re, like, basically the same guy.
Black Leather Jackets
As their characters share a shady occupation, Jack and Nick dress in outfits that have a common aesthetic but differ in the details to reflect their individual personalities. A prerequisite for an underworld fixer in their world appears to be a black leather jacket, and here we’re treated to a couple of standouts.
Jack and Nick each demonstrate their respective techniques for questioning their subject in the Safari Room, a critter-infested cheap motel room where Nick feels like “I’m getting syphilis just standing here.”
Clooney’s character Jack opts for an unstructured blouson from Emporio Armani made of a very smooth and supple black nappa lambskin. It has a funnel neck that closes with a two-way gunmetal zipper, with twin pulls that are shaped like empty rectangular frames. Leaving the jacket open, the character folds down the back of the collar, allowing the front points to splay out across his collarbone.
The jacket has horizontal yokes across the front of the chest and the back, achieved with a simple seam, and 1″-wide elasticized bottom hem and cuffs. There’s a gently slanted, welted pocket on each side that closes with a hidden metal snap button, as does an interior pocket on the left side. Normally, this jacket has an external locker loop on the back with a gunmetal brand tag, but the film’s wardrobe department removed that from the jackets used during production.
Jack beams with pride after completing the final act of his luggage cart trick.
Meanwhile, Pitt’s character Nick wears the slim-fitting “Lark” model from All Saints, made from a slightly glossy black goat leather with all matte black hardware. The waist-length piece shares the general profile of a trucker jacket with a relatively small shirt-style collar that’s 2½” tall with stitching a quarter inch from the outer edge. The front closes with a symmetrical two-way zipper, and there’s a 2”-wide waistband and cuffs, each of which close with a single snap button. The cuff openings have tongues stitched in, each made of a single piece of leather, with the sueded texture facing the wrist, and an unfinished edge facing out to the wrist.
There’s a zippered pocket on each side of the chest, aligning with the front yoke, and the rectangular outer edges of these pockets are framed in two rows of stitching for some added detail. Further down, there are a pair of slanted handwarmer side pockets, with thin welts, that are left open. To ensure the garment’s longevity, there are flat-fell seams used for the rear yoke, the back of the sleeves, and down the length of the jacket’s chest (an inch on either side of the center zipper).
The Lark was a popular style for the brand—at least on screen—that has also been seen on Pierce Brosnan in The Out-Laws, Donnie Yen in John Wick 4, and Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent in Ted Lasso. Though discontinued for over a year now, it has been replaced with the similarly named “Luck” model. Also made of black goatskin, it’s nearly identical to the Lark, only missing the stitched outline of the chest pockets and making the side pockets completely vertical.
Intermediate Layers
As the film is set on a snowy December night, both characters layer up for the elements. Just below his light jacket, Jack wears the Reiss “William” gilet in navy. It’s made of all synthetic fibers and has a quilted front, consisting of twelve horizontally stiched 2″ padded sections, vertical pockets with thin welts set forward on the side seams, and a knit back and waistband. It looks like the wardrobe department switched out the bright silver-toned zipper for a less obvious gunmetal one that better blends in with the dark aesthetic of the elder Wolf’s wardrobe.
Beneath the vest, the fixer keeps warm with a simple black cashmere turtleneck (or rollneck) sweater with a ribbed collar, cuffs, and waistband. Based on the texture of the material and the height of the neck, it appears to be the Mayfair model from N.Peal. Given its high quality and cost, it makes sense why there’s so much concern about Jack getting blood on it.
Nick also chooses cashmere to stay insulated, wearing the N.Peal “Hyde Fine Gauge Full-Zip Sweater” in a dark charcoal-gray blend of 70% cashmere and 30% silk. It has a two-way zip-in front with pentagon-shaped pulls made from brown leather, plus elbow patches made out of the same fabric.
Beneath the sweater, the blonde Wolf wears a simple white poplin shirt with white mother of pearl buttons and no placket. It has a point collar with 3 ¼” points and a very tall collar band, with round corners. The sleeves end with long, rounded barrel cuffs that each close with a single button. Despite the low temps, the fixer maintains his cool by perpetually keeping the top two buttons undone.
The Trousers
Moving down, Jack wears a simple pair of dark-gray medium-rise trousers, which may be a wool and cashmere blend. They have a flat front, tapered legs, belt loops, angled side pockets, and welted back pockets lacking a button closure. The waistband closes with an exposed center button made of shiny gray plastic. Given those last two features–which aren’t common on dressier trousers–and the placement of the belt loops, it’s a safe bet that they were made by Clooney’s personal go-to brand, Giorgio Armani, which commonly uses this layout.
At the start of the film, Jack wears these trousers with a black belt with a simple rounded gunmetal buckle and an undyed suede interior, but that accessory quickly gets repurposed.
By the end of the night, Jack has lost his belt and his vest. I mean, could this day get any worse?
Nick’s trousers are made from a heavier weight mid-gray flannel. The pants were cut classically in the legs and have a high rise, but with Pitt often letting them sag lower on the waist, they can appear oversized in the hips, thighs, and crotch. The pants have a pointed extended waistband that closes with a single button, off-seam side pockets, and button-through rear pockets on each side. They don’t appear to have any belt loops, so there likely side adjusters that we simply can’t see since the character never removes his jacket and sweater.
“So you’re just gonna sit there and slurp your soda,” Jack asks of Nick, who responds that he’s going “to… supervise.”
The Boots
While the general motif of the duo’s outfits is that they’re variations on the same theme, the characters do coincidentally share some identical items. In addition to always carrying the same standard blue latex surgical gloves, they both wear the exact same model of boot–specifically the “Lincoln Center” model from a small brand called Marc Joseph New York.
Jack slams the brakes in his BMW.
These rubber-soled, cap-toed boots are made from black pebbled leather with six derby-laced sets of brass eyelets and a single pair of brass hooks at the top. As a trademark of the brand, small red fabric tabs are usually sewn between the quarter and the vamp on the outer side of each piece of their footwear, but—in this case—those were once again removed by the wardrobe department to make them look more generic. While they both start out tying their laces in the standard fashion, just to be different, Nick later circles the top of his boots with his laces just above his ankle, tying them into a smaller knot on the front.
Watches and Jewelry
As a lot of “fixing” requires exact timing, both characters rock some luxury timepieces, each with a different secondary function. It should come as no surprise that Jack’s choice is the current Omega Speedmaster Professional (ref. 310.30.42.50.01.001) with Hesalite crystal on the recently introduced fully brushed five-link “bullet” bracelet.
Known as the “Moonwatch” for its ongoing use by NASA, the 42mm chronograph houses the brand’s Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 3861, accurate from 0 to +5 seconds per day, behind a solid caseback. This is the fourth time Clooney has sported a Speedie in a major film, previously wearing them in The American, Gravity, and Money Monster.
Nick opts for the Breitling Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 (ref. A32398101B1A1) in stainless steel with a black dial, another watch that recalls the history of its brand. Featuring the signature “onion” shaped crown and a distinctive polished steel, rotating diving bezel, the watch boasts 200 meters of water resistance. Mounted on a polished steel rouleaux bracelet with thin but solid cylinder-shaped links, there’s a red 24 hour hand for tracking a second timezone, and a date window at 6 o’clock.
Introduced in late 2022, right around the time the costume and prop decisions would have been made for the film’s January 2023 production start date, this choice aligned with Pitt’s then-status as an ambassador for the brand.
In addition to the Breitling, Pitt appears to be wearing several pieces of his personal jewelry throughout the film. On his right wrist, he has two bracelets, one made up of gold links, and the other what looks like a thin bit of black leather. Hanging from Brad’s neck are (at least) three thin gold chains–one short, ball bead chain with a small emerald, another longer and thinner chain with a circular coin-like medallion with an engraved design, and a box chain with a large, light blue gemstone hanging from it. The actor also wears his usual gold signet ring with an engraved design on his right ring finger.
The Car
With more screen time than most of the supporting cast, Jack’s BMW 550i is practically another character in the story. Designed by Chris Bangle and known by the production code E60, this iteration of the venerable 5 series was produced from 2004 to 2010. The 550i was equipped with a 360-horsepower 4.8 liter V8, capable of taking the car from 0 to 60 in 4.8 seconds or finishing the quarter mile in 13.3 at 105.1 mph.
The car’s New York state license plate of 3AB M582 is a subtle reference to Pulp Fiction, in which cleaner Winston Wolf drove a silver 1992 Nissan NSX with California tags of 3ABM581.
Jack’s 550i is finished in Carbon Black, which despite the name, is actually a shade of Midnight Blue, with a black leather interior. The staggered 19-inch “Spider” wheels on the car were available from BMW with the optional M Sport Package, but they came from the factory in a satiny silver color, and have been refinished here in black. The (fake) New York registration sticker on the car’s windshield denotes it as a 2009 model, and the car’s exterior has all the hallmarks of the LCI (post “Life Cycle Impulse” revisions) model, available in the U.S. from 2008 to 2010. That said, on closer inspection, the car’s exact vintage is a little harder to determine.
In insert shots, the BMW’s electronic gear shifter and i-Drive controls match those of the 2008 model year, while the distinctive front-seat headrests were only used on the pre-LCI 550i from 2004-2007. Even odder, the rearview mirror is inexplicably off a 2000s Chevy (as revealed by the OnStar buttons). Bottomline, several cars were used for different shots during the course of production, all of which were modified in some way, so the final vehicle seen on screen is a bit of a hodgepodge.
The Guns
To hide their allegiance from the Croatian gangster Dimitri (Zlatko Burić), Nick and Jack each draw their respective sidearm and aim at each other, revealing that not only do both men wear generally the same clothes, they each carry a Glock 26.
“Guns are only for the wedding party,” Dimitri jokes after disarming Nick and Jack of their respective Glocks.
The subcompact Glock 26 was introduced in 1995, intended for the concealed carry market and as a backup pistol for law enforcement. Though considerably smaller than the full-size Glock 17 and the compact Glock 19 with its 6.5-inch length, it can interchangably feed 9x19mm Parabellum rounds from the same factory double-stack magazines, though both wolfs load their pistols with the standard ten-round magazines that maintain the Glock 26’s signature small profile that weighs just under 26 ounces when fully loaded.
“You are not wolves! You’re buddies!”
Having left their Glocks with Dimitri, our wolfs are initially unarmed when cornered by Dimitri’s henchmen until they dash to the BMW’s trunk, where Jack keeps a small arsenal stashed under the wheel well. Nick initially uses the suppressed Kel-Tec R50 Defender semi-automatic carbine before switching to a standard 9mm Beretta 92FS service pistol for the duration of the movie, while Jack arms himself with a Glock 19 that has been customized by Taran Tactical Innovations.
The distinctive R50 is a relatively new series of personal defense weapons that debuted in 2021, mechanically similar to the FN P90 to the degree that it feeds from the same 5.7x28mm fifty-round magazines. “This side-folding tack driver gives you maximum speed, accuracy and power downrange with its 16 inch, threaded barrel and optic mounting option,” describes the Kel-Tec website of the stock R50. The Defender model is distinguished with the addition of a stock.
How to Get the Look
While both Wolfs were trained to maneuver the same shadowy corners of New York’s underworld, living in isolation have left them with similar, but divergent approaches. When one decides to drive, the other chooses to run. These differences subtly extend to their wardrobe choices–while Jack prefers lighter, less structured pieces for comfort, Nick values the resilient properties of thicker materials and hardier construction.
Jack a.k.a. Margaret’s Man
George Clooney in Wolfs (2024). Photo by T. Jackson/Backgrid.
- Black lambskin blouson with funnel neck, elasticised hem and cuffs, front and rear horizontal yokes, welted side pockets with hidden button closure, and two-way gunmetal zipper
- Emporio Armani
- Navy polyurethane/PVC/polyester gilet with horizontally quilted front, welted, on-seam vertical side pockets, and knit back and waistband
- Reiss “William”
- Black cashmere turtleneck with ribbed collar, cuffs, and waistband
- N.Peal “Mayfair”
- Gray wool-and-cashmere flat-front, slim-fitting trousers with plain hems, off seam side pockets, welted back pockets, belt loops, and center button closure on the waistband
- Black calf leather belt with undyed suede interior and a rounded gunmetal buckle
- Black pebbled leather cap-toe derby boots with rubber soles, 6 pairs of brass eyelets, and 1 pair of brass lace hooks
- Marc Joseph NY “Lincoln Center”
- Omega Speedmaster Professional chronograph in stainless steel with black dial,hesalite crystal, solid caseback, and 5 link brushed bracelet (ref 310.30.42.50.01.001)
- Blue latex surgical gloves
Nick a.k.a. Pam’s Man
Brad Pitt in Wolfs (2024)
- Black goat leather jacket with welted side pockets, zippered chest pockets, two-way zipper, and extended tab snap-button cuffs and waistband (all in matte black metal)
- All Saints “Lark”
- Charcoal-gray 70% cashmere/30% silk sweater with full two-way zipper and self-fabric elbow patches
- N.Peal “Hyde”
- White poplin shirt with tall, point collar, tall, rounded collar band, no placket, and rounded button cuffs
- Mid-gray flannel flat front trousers with high-rise, extended buttoning tab waist closure, side adjusters, and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Black pebbled leather cap-toe derby boots with rubber soles, 6 pairs of brass eyelets, and 1 pair of brass lace hooks
- Marc Joseph NY “Lincoln Center”
- Breitling Chronomat Automatic GMT 40 in stainless steel with black dial, polished steel rotating bezel, red 24 hour GMT hand, “onion” crown, and date window at 6 o’clock, on a stainless steel rouleaux bracelet
- Gold link bracelet
- Thin black leather bracelet
- Gold signet ring with engraved design
- Emerald pendant on gold ball bead chain
- Gold medallion pendant with engraved design on a thin gold chain
- Light blue gemstone pendant on a gold box chain
- Blue latex surgical gloves
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Always check for a pulse, then check out the movie.
The Quote
You take a job, you give your word, and that word’s the measure of a man.
The post George Clooney and Brad Pitt as Wolfs in Leather and Cashmere appeared first on BAMF Style.