Death by Lightning (2025)

I knew I wanted to watch Death by Lightning (2025), the assassination of President James Garfield bioseries on Netflix, from a historical nerd perspective. But I didn’t expect to enjoy it quite so much, nor did I expect to find the costumes to be spot-on historically accurate!

Michael Shannon (who I’ve only recently discovered and will soon feature in an MCM because That Voice) plays a noble Garfield, Matthew Macfadyen plays the mentally-ill assassin Charles Guiteau, and I thoroughly enjoyed Bradley Whitford doing his subtle sarcasm thing as Garfield’s secretary of state, as well as Nick Offerman being hilariously self-aware about his limitations as Vice President Chester Arthur. The script and editing was tight — it’s only four episodes, so it feels punchy and things move along at a good pace. The performances were great. And the entire thing made me nostalgic for a return to politicians who are actually in it for the greater good, not for personal aggrandizement and gain.

The costume designer is Michael Wilkinson (300, Jonah Hex, American Hustle, Noah, The Current War), while the hair and makeup designer was Csilla Blake-Horváth (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Shardlake). Sadly I can’t find any press with either of them (yet? Reach out designers if you’d be willing to do an interview!), so here’s my thoughts. The film primarily spans 1880-81, so we have a tight time window, and I was THRILLED that the design went for Actual Historical Accuracy. Granted, there’s a reverence paid to some of the real-life people being depicted, and those two usually go together. But I’m so sick of seeing real history designed as The Tudors or Game of Thrones (i.e., the costumes having nothing, or very little, to do with the actual period), so massive kudos to all involved!

The nice thing is that these characters were all real people, so it’s pretty easy to compare what they’re wearing with the real deal! For the men, it’s a lot of very nice suits, except when Garfield is back home on the farm. Here’s an engraving of Garfield’s assassination, which gives us a good look at the general look of menswear of the era:

And of course the real Garfield from this specific era:

Compare to the actors in their double-breasted, long jacket suits and top hats:

Here’s Garfield giving a speech with Frederick Douglass:

Macfadyen told Collider, “We had a lovely costume designer, Michael Wilkinson, and we decided to make Charles’ clothes a little bit either too big or too tight, so he felt like a kid that was wearing slightly too big or slightly ill-fitting clothes, which was helpful. That’s part of the fun” (‘Death by Lightning’ Stars Explain the Wild True Story of a U.S. President’s Fan-Turned-Assassin: “He Thought He Was a Hero”). I admit, I don’t know if I see that, but I agree with the commenter I saw somewhere online that Macfadyen is SO good at playing total losers. Here he is wearing a somewhat country-preacher hat, which makes sense given the real Guiteau spent several years in the Oneida (religious) Community. He’s with Whitford as James Blaine, showing the long jacket and top hat look seen in the engraving above. I was super impressed with the rest of the beards, as they did that pointed-forward late Victorian thing that is NOT today’s beard look.

The real Guiteau was indeed beardy too:

Sen. Roscoe Conkling is the baddie of the story, and so he gets slightly more opulent clothes and HIS HAIR. WAS PERFECT.

Of course, I totally tuned in to what the female characters were wearing, and we’re in luck because in particular, Garfield’s wife Lucretia (“Crete”) is featured prominently:

The real Lucretia doesn’t seem to have been quite as fashion-forward:

On-screen Lucretia is more up-to-date, wearing late “natural form” bustle gowns with long “cuirass” bodices, lots of horizontal draping, and trains — without much if any bustle bump:

This green dress looks straight out of that fashion plate, particularly with the gathered back panel:

As Americans know, the Smithsonian keeps a collection of first ladies’ inauguration gown, so we’re in luck that Lucretia’s survives:

What they put on screen isn’t an exact copy, which kind of surprises me given how close to historically accurate everything else is. They’ve lowered the neckline, shortened the sleeve, changed the fabric from satin to moire, and of course changed the color to lavender! But I do think it captures the era well and is decently close to the original.

Here’s a few of her other looks:

Daughter Mollie also has a nice wardrobe, although she seems awfully old to be wearing that much hair down:

When they move to DC, she starts wearing it in a long braid which is slightly better, but come on! Okay, having checked, the character is supposed to be 15ish here — I think my problem may be the actress being or just appearing older (I can’t find an age):

Tuppence Middleton plays a governor’s wife who’s a bad bad girl (she seems to specialize in bad girls), so she gets a fabulous, Trystan-approved wardrobe:

Guiteau has a sister, Franny, and she’s also well dressed:

And, color me shocked because there is a flashback to Guiteau’s time in the Oneida commune, which appears to be mid-1860s based on what they’re wearing … and I’m shocked because so many productions these days cheap out on changing the clothes to suit flashbacks or flash-forwards.

AND there’s a flashforward to the 1890s, and again, they got it right!

So, if you’ve been unsure about watching Death by Lightning, definitely do! It’s entertaining and the costumes will make you happy.

 

Have you seen Death by Lightning? Did you love the costumes too?

 

 

 

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