Daily Inspiration Quote by Colleen Atwood

Atwood’s sentence is a masterclass in the polite dodge: generous to her predecessors, fiercely protective of her own authorship. She name-checks the “current stage production” and the “1975 production” of Chicago like a conscientious student doing the reading, then slips the knife in with “but” and the carefully placed “necessarily.” It’s not a denial of influence so much as a refusal to be trapped by it.

The intent is practical and political. As a designer, Atwood is expected to honor an iconic visual legacy while also delivering something that feels inevitable for a new medium, a new cast, a new camera. Saying she “liked them both very much” signals respect for the canon (and calms any devotees ready to litigate authenticity). Saying she didn’t use them as inspiration is a claim to jurisdiction: her work is not an act of imitation, and it won’t be judged as a replica.

The subtext is about adaptation anxiety. Chicago comes pre-loaded with recognizable silhouettes and an audience primed to compare. Atwood sidesteps the purity test by implying her reference point isn’t theatrical nostalgia but character, story, and the demands of film language: how fabric reads under light, how movement sells attitude, how a costume can carry satire without turning into museum display.

Context matters: in Hollywood, design is both craft and branding. This line protects her from the charge of being derivative, while also marketing the production as freshly authored rather than reverently staged. It’s diplomacy with a spine.