American Cinematographer - November 2008 - 8

Editor’s Note ames Bond renewed his license to kill with the 2006 blockbuster “reboot” Casino Royale, which introduced Daniel Craig as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, rock-ribbed version of Ian Fleming’s superspy. For 007’s latest adventure — his 22nd overall — the franchise was entrusted to director Marc Forster and cinematographer Roberto Schaefer, ASC, neither of whom had ever tackled action-adventure on such a scale. Neither was daunted by the prospect, however. “When Marc told me he had been offered this movie, my response was, ‘How could you not do a Bond film?’” Schaefer tells London correspondent Mark Hope-Jones (“Forging a Bond,” page 28). Schaefer, who has shot all eight of the features Forster has directed, did his utmost to showcase the elaborate sets created by production designer Dennis Gassner and his crew, environments that hark back to the stylistic daring of Ken Adam’s spectacular Sixties and Seventies sets. As Forster notes, “Those movies were so much about style, design and clothing. I wanted to go back to that and yet still make a modern Bond.” To ensure the action would meet fans’ expectations, the first unit paired with a second unit led by two alums from The Bourne Ultimatum: director Dan Bradley and cinematographer Shaun O’Dell. They also benefited from the input of other crack teammates, including visual-effects cinematographer David Stump, ASC (see sidebar on page 32); visual-effects supervisor Kevin Tod Haug; aerial experts David B. Nowell, ASC, and Ron Goodman; and camera operators George Richmond and Mark Milsome. Oedipal rivalry and White House politics are the focal points of W., an intriguing biopic that examines the life of U.S. President George W. Bush. Phedon Papamichael, ASC shot the project for director Oliver Stone, who infuses the film with liberal doses of satire and sympathy (pun intended). “Working with Oliver is a very intense but super-creative process,” Papamichael tells Patricia Thomson (“The Making of a President,” page 42). “This was probably the most demanding picture I’ve ever done, [but] I’d definitely jump in and do it again.” Mandy Walker, ACS also faced creative wrangling on Baz Luhrmann’s sweeping, scenic Australia, which shows the filmmakers’ native land in its very best light. As Walker explains to Aussie correspondent Simon Gray (“Thunder Down Under,” page 54), “Baz’s trademark camera flourishes are still evident, but the camerawork is also very much in the spirit of epic movies.” Many readers have been eager to see production-oriented coverage of the Red One in our pages, and Douglas Bankston’s piece on the TV series Sanctuary (“Habitat for Inhumanity,” page 64), delivers first-hand observations from cinematographer David Geddes, CSC and visual-effects supervisor Lee Wilson. “I had been following the One’s development but had never put the camera through its paces,” notes Geddes, who has also lent his eye to the series Men in Trees, Dark Angel and 21 Jump Street. “Sanctuary offered a chance to make a virtual-reality series with new camera technology that had never been used in this situation before. The challenge was impossible to resist.” Other examples of must-see TV are lauded in our annual recap of the year’s Emmynominated cinematographers (“Saluting Television’s Top Talents,” page 74), which includes snapshots from Eastman Kodak’s annual dinner at the Bistro Garden restaurant. As the saying goes, what happens at the Bistro stays at the Bistro — until the photos appear in AC. J Stephen Pizzello Executive Editor 8 Photo by Douglas Kirkland.

American Cinematographer - November 2008

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