Gozitan Ernest Camilleri has just been nominated for an Emmy for his design of period costumes for the series Ripley, which is streaming on Netflix.

Camilleri expressed his excitement with Times of Malta ahead of the ceremony in September, saying that bagging the award would be a "plus".

"I am very happy about the nomination as it is a recognition of all the work that has been done.

"We worked on this series for almost a year and a half," he said about news that he is one of the nominees vying for the Outstanding Period Costumes for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie award.

Ripley, directed by Stephen Zaillan, follows the story of a grifter living in New York during the 1960s, who is hired by a wealthy man to bring his vagabond son home from Italy.

Camilleri, born in Sannat, secured the job of wardrobe supervisor thanks to his long-standing relationship with costume designers Maurizio Millenotti and Gianni Casalnuovo, with whom he has worked for years.

Working on Ripley presented Camilleri with unique challenges, particularly in creating costumes for a black-and-white production.

"The director wanted a very clean look, so to achieve that effect, the designers were asked to eliminate all colours from costumes and use only black, white, and shades of grey.

"This meant sourcing and making costumes with texture while limiting ourselves to these colours," Camilleri told Times of Malta.

The poster of Ripley Photo: IMDB

Camilleri's interest in costumes started at a young age when, alongside his mother and sister, he used to help create costumes for his local carnival dance company and theatre.

This early experience laid the foundation for his later work in major film and television productions, including Game of Thrones, Ben Hur and Captain Phillips.

He has also contributed to the London Olympics flag handover and helped coordinate costume workshops for the Russian Winter Olympics and Paralympics ceremonies, and the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and Paralympics ceremonies. 

Camilleri however emphasised that working in the film industry was not as glamorous as it seems.

"In truth, it is a lot of hard work, involving 12 to 15-hour days for long periods. We all put our personal lives on hold to make a project happen," he said.

He acknowledged the rewards of his efforts, saying he was "already very happy to be nominated as it is a recognition for all the hard work.

"Winning would be a plus."