American Cinematographer - February 1984 - 56

No

filtration
One

was

of these

flights

to Washington where
she meets with union administra¬
tors and with some representatives

brings Karen

of the A EC. Ondricek lit these of¬
fice scenes as he did the plutonium

factory interiors, relying on fluo¬
rescents for glare and harshness.
The crew needed a location
actual public buildings and

near

this
provided by now headquar¬
ters. The production designer
added a wPA-style mural to one
wall and the preparations were
was

then made to film the first scene.
In the final cut of the film, Karen
and her friends take a break to
watch a parade pass by. This, how¬
ever, was not

Car interiors
filmed both

mere

on

location and in the
studio.

in the script. It

was a

real parade which just happened to
be coming down the road while
the crew was setting up.
The union management
outlines a plan to steal evidence of

shady goings-on and safety vio¬
lations at the factory. Karen de¬

used for the factory fluorescents.
cides

embark on this very risky
of action. After a few
weeks of amateur cloak-and-dag¬

"We didn't have any
wind machines because the
weather was wonderful for our

ger

activities, the company be¬
suspicious and puts the
pressure on her. Friends and co¬

purposes," he

comes

very, very strong

to

course

workers wonder about her pecu¬
liar behavior. She shows the effects
of too much stress, alcohol, cigarettes
and
radioactive
contamination.
"It

was

mainly

a

question

of the make-up," Ondricek re¬
members. "We tested the make-up
so that in the fluorescent
light it
would show the illness of the peo¬

ple, the bad

state

of their health."

The situation deteriorates
further and Karen makes

even

desperate late-night calls

some

from isolated phone booths to
friends for comfort and to the dis¬
tant union
headquarters for ad¬
vice. These tiny interiors were also
lit by fluorescent bulbs which

Ondricek secreted in

a

space at

the

were

of the booth.

top

Automobiles

frames

Drew tells Karen that she
the union nothing but she
decides to go ahead with the final
owes

phase of the scheme, anyway. The
reporter has been called and every¬
thing has been set in motion. She
drives off and we hear Karen softly
singing "Amazing Grace." Head¬
lights creep up behind her and we
one of the smashed
and another of Karen Silkwood's tombstone. Then the 80
frame per second farewell is
see two cuts

-

car

us,

meet¬

car scenes were

location

were

near

done

"The

on a

soundstage.

sequences shot
the special wish of
the director," says Ondricek. "It's
because of the sound; we wanted
original sound. It wasn't to be dis¬
turbed by the noise in the streets

and

car

stage were

forth. The last

so

Karen

as two

behind her
stage as

-

headlights

this

was

of

creep up

all shot

At the end of

the

scenes

on a

well."

11

Silkwood,

feeling of cold isolation is at its

worst.

Karen has collected her in¬

formation and arranges to meet
with a reporter. She leaves a union
meeting at the Crescent Cafe and
drives to the house to see Drew. It
is the last time he sees her alive.
Ondricek had stormy weather for
this scene and couldn't have been
more

Cinematographer

at nor¬

final credits. No

the occasional union

to

on a

American

shot

at 80

scene was

speed and again
second."

and

rain)

54

per

The

Karen and Drew.
The film ends here and a
brief paragraph rolls up before the

filmed
Bay City and
Sherman, Texas, while others (par¬
ticularly when the script called for

u

mal

shown, the slow-motion parting of

ing. Some

r j

stance.

an¬

on

L'SJC i

ferent takes when Karen says

good-bye to Drew. To get the
right atmosphere we had to play
with our light. We couldn't just
take it from the sky in this in¬

tight spot for cameras and
some
key dialogue is spoken while
Drew, Karen and Dolly drive to
Texas, to and from work each day

other

iM

We used

"The wind was
and quite cold.
different lighting for dif¬
says.

pleased by it.

February 1984

one, the text tells
knows exactly how she was
killed on the highway or whether

she had Kerr-McGee documents
in her car. None were found. It's

interesting

to note that the affair
become rather an old is¬
sue. A multi-million dollar settle¬
ment was won based on
charges of

has

now

negligence, but the case has been
in litigation for almost a decade
and is still under appeal.
Content, however, is not
the province of the director of
photography; his job is form.
Miroslav Ondricek's main goal
was to light in a natural and realis¬
tic way, hoping to make the char¬
and their situations
believable. He did this and he did
it well. His technique of "lighting
the inside from the outside"
makes the cinematography of Silkwood worth studying and remem¬
acters

bering.

■
American Cinematographer - February 1984

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