American Cinematographer - October/November 2020 - 36

Otherworldly Talent
A gi from Panavision to Daviau in 2007, now
part of the ASC Museum collection.

Dedication to Optics and Engineers
For Empire of the Sun, "Daviau wanted a clean, sharp look without
flares, and also color matched," recalls ASC associate Iain Neil,
who was vice president of optics at Panavision at the time. "He
knew about the Panavision Primo lenses being still in development
and had heard about their imaging characteristics, including resistance to flares. I believe that as a cinematographer he was eager to
be an early user of the lenses, and he wanted to use a set of them.

moving a light, by moving the source
of the key from half-light to top-light,
E.T.'s 40 expressions were suddenly
80. E.T. could not only look sad, but
he could look curiously sad. Not by the
way we controlled E.T. mechanically,
but by the way Allen shifted light."
"In describing what he wants in
a shot, Steven will sometimes say two
things that may appear contradictory,"
Daviau told AC. "That means he wants
you to work toward incorporating
both. For example, he'd say, 'I don't
want to see E.T.'s face, but I want to see
him just enough.' Challenges like that
make for distinctive photography. For
a scene in the bedroom where Elliot

36 October/November 2020

But the Primos were still in preproduction and Panavision only had
prototypes." Neil, who has won 12 Scientific and Technical Academy Awards for his work in optics and lens design, shares that
Daviau took a keen interest in the development of these lenses.
"He wanted to know what they looked like and understand their
characteristics, as he did with most lenses he used, and liked to
provide his input and feedback on their design."
By the time the lenses needed to be sent to China, they still
weren't ready. "It was myself and [ASC associate] Takuo Miyagishima," Neil says. "I was the optical guru and he was the mechanical
guru. We were working on these lenses with technicians - literally
in the back of the truck on the way to the airport, like screwing
them together. It was desperation to get the lenses finished
because they had to work perfectly. Since Daviau wanted them so
much, we had to complete them and get them out to him on time
for the movie.
"I think Daviau did exactly what he wanted to do with the
lenses, and in the end, to me, the movie Empire of the Sun looked
really sharp, with a very nice, velvety look. The skin tones of the
actors' faces were smooth and not too warm or cold looking, and
the bright shots were not blown out with flares. I think he got the
look he was a er, and I know that Daviau definitely used the lenses
again in his later movies.
"Tak passed away in 2011, and there was a remembrance
event for him at the Academy, showing Empire of the Sun, which
was one of Tak's favorite movies. It was quite an emotional event; I
think there were over several hundred people there - and one of
them was Allen Daviau. Allen took a real interest in the equipment
and development, but also the people behind it.
"He was never an ego-type guy, and he wasn't the big Hollywood-DP-type. He was a quiet type, a gentle guy. Allen was just
one of those guys - he knew exactly what he wanted to do and
produced the goods. He was a standout director of photography."

entices E.T. out of the closet, I had to
make E.T. as near a silhouette as possible and still show his eyes!"
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial became an
instant phenomenon and surpassed
Star Wars as the highest-grossing
movie of all time - a record it held for
11 years. It also earned Daviau the first
of his five Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography, an
impressive accomplishment on his first
theatrical feature.
The cinematographer collaborated
again with Spielberg on the "Kick the
Can" segment of Twilight Zone: The
Movie, and with director George Miller
on the "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"

American Cinematographer // 100 Years

segment. He then photographed the
acclaimed Cold War thriller The Falcon
and the Snowman, directed by John
Schlesinger.
Daviau was invited into the ASC
on July 1, 1985 after being proposed for
membership by Stephen H. Burum, Caleb Deschanel and Howard Schwartz.
After teaming with Spielberg
again on the "Ghost Train" episode of
Amazing Stories and shooting 2nd unit
on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,
the duo embarked on the high-profile
coming-of-age period drama The Color
Purple (AC Feb. '86), based on the
Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice
Walker. "It was an enormous story to

American Cinematographer - October/November 2020

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