BEVERLY — Optimo Hats will be back on the big screen this weekend as Ben Affleck's "Live by Night" opens in theaters nationwide.
The Beverly hat shop at 1700 W. 95th St. made some 15 hats for the Prohibition-era gangster film, owner Graham Thompson said late Thursday. His company frequently enjoys working with Hollywood costume designers.
"It's not a huge part of our business, but it's good for publicity," he said.
Optimo opened in 1991 at 10215 S. Western Ave. in Beverly. The company shifted its production facility to a retired firehouse over the summer. The retail operations moved Downtown to 51 W. Jackson Blvd. in the Monadnock Building in September.
Thompson was trained to make hats by Johnny Tyus, who operated a hat shop at 79th Street and Racine Avenue in Auburn Gresham. Tyus died in 2002, but Thompson still makes hats using equipment and techniques that date to the turn of the century.
Optimo Hats in Beverly made 15 hats for "Live by Night," a Prohibition-era gangster film. The movie starring Ben Affleck opens nationwide this weekend. [Photo by Claire Folger, 2016 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.]
This authentic technique is what attracts costume designers, as the hats made by Optimo are true to the period, said Thompson, who added that his hats are also featured in Ewan McGregor's "American Pastoral."
The hats used in making this film about the turmoil of 1960s America actually turned the movie star into a customer, Thompson said.
McGregor "really became an Optimo fan after that movie. He wears them on and off screen," he said.
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