David Pittu On the Platonic Love Between Joe Eula and Halston

Netflix’s Halston is a detailed look at the rise and fall of the prolific American fashion designer, Roy Halston, but I think the most riveting thing about Dan Minahan’s limited series contender is the curated relationships between Halston and the rest of his team. This is a group of creative forces who found each other at the right time and helped one another become the absolute best they could be. David Pittu’s Joe Eula, a legend in his own right, and Ewan McGregor’s Halston have one of the best on screen relationships all year as two queer men not romantically involved. It’s the kind of rat-a-tat bitchiness that we need more of as they wordlessly depend on each other.

Pittu’s first line to Halston is, “I know you love yes people. And I got a lot more syllables up my sleeve than just yes.” It’s a casual, seemingly throwaway line, but it’s the starting point of a relationship that has an incredibly emotional payoff at the end of the series. At this point in history, Eula was well know and Halston is looking for those to make the best brand possible. Throughout their time together, the notion of being a yes man to each other is something I thought about the entire time I watched Halston.

“Joe wasn’t a yes man in real life. He and Elsa [Peretti] really influenced how Halston created and thought about his work. Joe may not have been able to influence him too much in the business side of things. Maybe he was left out of some of that. Joe Eula had this modern approach and it was very much less is more. He was obstinate about that and he didn’t back down from his point of view very often. They honestly had a great collaboration in the group. From the research I did, they fed off each other in a way that was new. Joe thought Halston was a genius. He needed someone to hold his hand.

He later went on to reveal a personal connection that no doubt was on his mind throughout this project.

“It is the most sacred relationship in the show. There is something so pure about having this bond that feeds on mutual respect. These two gay guys, who are both creative, aren’t out to get married and have children. It reminds me a lot of my older brother who was almost 10 years older than me. As far as I was concerned, he was a genius and I looked up to him in every way. He died of AIDS in March of 1990–the same month that Halston died. I felt like I was going back to my brother’s world.”

Most shows that feature queer characters eventually feature a dalliance or encounter that shades an element to their relationship. The respect between Eula and Halston exists almost because that element isn’t there.

“It’s the best kind of partnership when it’s not a romantic one. I found that in my research and I found that with Ewan too. It’s one of the most moving things I find about the craft of acting when you honor someone who truly lived and bring them to life, especially someone like Joe who people aren’t that aware of.”

Pittu is an actor who revels in the deep dive (“I love doing research. I can’t get enough of it,” he told me at the top of our chat), but something that we don’t see much of Eula doing is sketching. In the script, Halston excitedly says, “Chic is hard to capture. It’s elusive, but he can do it.” Drawing and painting is something that comes naturally to Pittu and it was just another building block for him to create this character.

“It’s funny because I was comfortable with that. I have been a visual artist since I was a kid and sketching and drawing and painting was really second nature to me. I don’t think they knew that when they gave me the part, but once I was on set they could see that I could do that. I am no where near the realm of Joe Eula’ talent. If it was playing a musical instrument I might not be as confident, but with drawing in Halston, I felt very much at home.”

There is a amusing and recurring reference to how much Halston loved orchids and how much money he spent on them, but we never truly learn what inspired Joe Eula. Does Pittu have an answer?

“Some sense of modernity. He was very forward looking. Less is more–that was the motif that kept coming through tot me loud and clear the more I looked at his stuff. Naturally, when you look at his work, it’s so fast and he didn’t believe in going back and revising things. He had an ability to hone things very quickly, and I think he was able to do that by going to the old fashion shows where he was expected to sketch at. You didn’t have an iPhone or a camera. He did work with Milton Greene that he did with Marilyn Monroe where it was all black and she has fishnets on and she is sometimes holding a black derby. It’s so minimal. Of course, Joe was the stylist on this.”

In their brotherly relationship, Eula is the one to reign Halston in. Early on Halston vocalizes his disappointment at Joel Schumacher’s designs, and Eula is a makeshift buffer between Halston’s frustration and Schumacher’s uneasiness. The first one to pip defend fellow artists in the room is Eula and Pittu felt like he was a dependable presence (despite his own vices) for the creative team. One can’t help but wonder what if Halston’s difficulty would’ve become more toxic to the group if Eula wasn’t there.

“It’s funny because I think it was something Joe was navigating. He was a stabilizing force, but you have remember that there were some things that were out of control for Joe too. In his case, he was always able to behave and he put the work first. He was a little older than Halston to maybe he had more of a maturity when it came to booze and drugs. Joe was really a toast of the town before his involvement with Halston and he was known for giving fantastic parties. There is a flamboyant side to his character but it was important to show that he was more of an adult.”

We could all use a friend like Joe Eula. One that loves us and comes back to us when the dust has settled. The fight between Halston and Eula is the hardest fight to watch because you know there is real love there. Minahan brilliantly directed the scene with McGregor sitting in a chair with his back to Eula the entire time. Their reconciliation in episode five is very earned. Just don’t expect to see Pittu in a revival of the short-lived disco Broadway musical that Eula designed the costumed for.

“I never got my hands on a script of it. There is a guy named Jim Caruso who got in touch with me because he knew Joe Eula. At one point, I think, he was one of Liza’s backup boys. He sent me a picture of a Eula that he did on a napkin or a piece of cardboard. He told me that I nailed him. The last thing you want to hear from people who knew him and they tell you you are nothing like him. I don’t believe there is any footage of the musical. I think it was very much like Can’t Stop the Music, but I imagine it was like that. A big, disco orgy.”

Halston is streaming on Netflix.