American Cinematographer - December 2015 - 10

The glories of the Ultra Panavision 70 film format -
65mm anamorphic projected in 70mm for a super-wide
aspect ratio of 2.76:1 - were last seen in the 1966 feature
Khartoum. Fans of widescreen cinema were stoked to hear
that Quentin Tarantino and cinematographer Robert
Richardson, ASC planned to revive this classic roadshow
format for their Western drama The Hateful Eight, and the
saga of how they managed the feat is truly epic.
The seeds were sown when Richardson and his
longtime 1st AC, Gregor Tavenner, met with ASC associate
Dan Sasaki, Panavision's vice president of optical engineering and lens strategy, at the company's headquarters.
There, they discovered a shelf of what Richardson
describes as "some very unusual-looking lenses" - original, long-forgotten Ultra Panavision 70s that hadn't been
used in decades. "That's when the avalanche started," Sasaki recalls in Michael Goldman's
comprehensive coverage ("Wide Wide West," page 36).
Saddling up for a modern project shot in Ultra Panavision 70 required an extraordinary
collaborative effort between the filmmakers and the companies servicing the show. In addition
to Panavision, key contributors included Kodak and FotoKem. "None of it could have been
done without these great partners," says producer Shannon McIntosh.
Viewers eager to experience the full 70mm spectacle should seek out the roadshow
screenings - complete with a program, musical overture and intermission - that Tarantino will
present as a special two-week engagement limited to approximately 100 theaters. (A slightly
shorter digital-cinema version will then be released worldwide.)
Ed Lachman, ASC also sought a vintage look for Carol, his latest pairing with director
Todd Haynes. Based on Patricia Highsmith's novel The Price of Salt, this elegantly shot drama
takes place in 1940s New York - a backdrop Lachman uses to enhance the story's themes.
"Carol's form of melodrama observes people from the outside, but situated in a world of naturalism," the cinematographer tells Iain Stasukevich ("A Mid-Century Affair," page 52). "The
camera moves with them, and even when it's objective, we're still trying to evoke their emotions
by shooting them through doors and windows and reflections, so that by seeing the characters
partially obscured, we're expressing their dislocated and fragmented identities."
In The 33, ASC member Checco Varese and director Patricia Riggen dramatize an event
that was broadcast to the entire world: the rescue of 33 miners trapped underground after a
cave-in at the San José copper and gold mine outside Copiapó, Chile. "It's similar to the moon
landing in that everybody knows what the actual rescue effort looked like," Varese notes in a
piece by Jean Oppenheimer ("Darkest Days," page 64). "We had to be as accurate as possible
in every detail."
Jo Willems, ASC, SBC could take a bit more license with the apocalyptic sci-fi imagery
he created for the The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, but he and director Francis
Lawrence also decided to let the movie's heroine drive the drama. "It's Katniss' story, so we told
it from her perspective," Willems tells Mark Dillon ("Endgame," page 78). "There are some big
establishing shots, but on the whole the idea was to always stay with her. We just pared it down
to the essentials of her story."

Stephen Pizzello
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher

Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

Editor's Note

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2015