RB: In the ballroom scene Knightley is in a black gown in a sea of pastel dresses. Was this something in the book, and how closely did you and Joe Wright follow the novel in terms of costumes?

JD: We didn't follow the book. Tolstoy describes the costumes, but we didn't concern ourselves with it too much because we weren’t doing an accurate version of the 1870s. We were thinking about that time, but also about 1950s couture and how those two things might mix together—concentrating on the silhouette.

The one scene in which Joe was concerned about whether we should follow the book was the ball, because it is so significant in the story of Anna Karenina. In the book, she wears black, so we decided to as well. But the difference is that we framed her with 25 dancers all wearing the identical dress in shades of sour pastels. The black dress stands out against that background, we planned that very specifically. In fact, all of the times the society is around her, we re-use those same dresses intentionally, in hoping people notice. That is the color of society, and Anna is always in contrast, standing out from it.