American Cinematographer - March 2007 - 68

True Grit
The movie tells the tale of

a

strug¬

gling itinerant farmer. Morgan
recounts,

"We shot all of the

in the fields in the

the

sun was

scenes

morning when

low, and all of the close-

and indoor stuff when the sun
high and too flat and harsh.
That approach scared the hell out of
ups

was

the executives, but
time and

we

finished

on

budget." (Morgan has
pictures with
Sargent, including the new CBS
remake of the telefilm Sybil)
Morgan also turned heads
on

since made nine other

with the 1979 telefilm Elvis, John

Carpenter's dynamic biopic about
King of Rock 'n' Roll, starring
Kurt Russell. The project brought
Morgan his first Emmy nomination,
the

and later led

his collaboration

to

with

Carpenter on his back-to-back
anamorphic features Christine and
Starman, both of which offered

Top: Filming
Starman

Morgan opportunities to solve diffi¬
cult production dilemmas.
Based on the Stephen King

on

location at the
scenic Meteor

Crater in Arizona

novel of the

(from left) 2nd
AC Margulies, 1st
are

Morgan,
Panaglide
operator Joe
Valentine, and

operator
Schwiebert.

Right: Still
looking for
adventure at the
age of 47, Morgan
took a shot at this

-

on

the

right track."
In 1979,

Morgan landed his

first assignment with

director Joseph
Sargent. "He hired me to shoot a TV

movie called Amber

Waves]' the cin¬

ematographer recalls. "I didn't meet
him

or even

talk

to

him until

we

location up in Canada. I
didn't even know if he'd like my per¬

were

on

sonality, let alone my way of work¬
ing! But there are a few directors I've
worked with over the years, includ¬
ing Joe, who have the courage to hire
someone just based on a feeling.
They don't endlessly interview or
66 March 2007

plow through thousands of reels,
they just make a decision based on
your work. Those are the best direc¬
tors

to

collaborate with, because

they know what they want.
"When we finally met, Joe
said, 'Don, filmmaking is a series of
risks, and I've been guilty of not tak¬
ing enough of them, so let's really go
for it

the

on

this. You let

me

know when

light is right to shoot, I'll direct,

name,

Christine

explores America's love affair with
more
specifically,
a
teenage outcast's twisted obsession
with a possessed 1958 Plymouth
Fury. Gradually it's revealed that the
ornate Fury is not being restored by
our hero, but is somehow
restoring
itself. This plot point required
Morgan to make extensive use of
reverse
photography to render vari¬
ous scenes of the vehicle literally
pulling itself back together after
being wrecked.
Starman, a story about an
alien who arrives on Earth to explore
the automobile

AC Rivetti,

bucking bronco
and paid
dearly for it.

same

the

essence

-

of humankind,

was a

departure for Carpenter, whose
career had been
largely built on
thrills and chills. Morgan's lighting,
alternately realistic and expressionistic, lent layers of emotion to the
uplifting story. "I learned an impor¬
tant lesson while we were shooting

and we'll get a great picture.' Amber
Waves is still one of the most beauti¬

Starman, but not from the actual

making of the film,"

Morgan.

ful

"We

town

things I've

with, and I

ever

owe a

been involved

lot of that to Joe."

were

Texas, and

in

some

one

says
small

day I

was

in

eating
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