American Cinematographer - February 1985 - 74

Stanton

as

much. I think it's very

bad for the
you're telling, because what
are you filming, the
story or the
location? I hate seeing films where
they make typical, picturesque
shots so you can feel that they are
proud they found the location and
are going to show it off whether
you want it or not. That's where
you should have control over the

Travis

with Hunter Carson
as

his

son

story

Hunter.

mechanisms at work." He doesn't
want the audience to be visually
led into accepting a film as a kind
of travelogue of familiar views, so
that someone's first reaction might
be to poke their neighbor and say,
"That's beautiful have you seen
that?"
Muller credits Peter Bog¬
danovich with teaching him some¬
-

missing
reaching

take

plateau in their wary rela¬
tionship, the space of the film
frame is carved up by angled con¬

otic,

search for the boy's
mother. As the two talk,
a

new

crete

that

veers

off into the dis¬

giving father and son alike
the vulnerable air of children in a
tance,

landscape made for aliens.
Muller cites his awe, as a

European, at the vast strangeness
of the

western

American land¬

liability that had to be
turned to his advantage in shoot¬
ing Paris, Texas. "At first," he
says, "you just do a double¬
scape as a

Hastassia Kinski

too

-

what

big,
so

cerned

too

I doing? This is
beautiful; it is so ex¬

am

strong." He
that

the

was con¬

American

uniqueness of the locations in
the Texas
desert, or on the astonishing net¬
work of highways, could over¬
power the story, and he and
downtown Houston,

Wenders discussed how to avoid
what Muller calls "showing off"
with locations while not avoiding
the striking images the landscape

provided. He says, "What I hate in
images is when people find a nice
location and they celebrate it too

thing valuable regarding working
with colorful locations when he
was

shooting Saint Jack. He

"That

also

says,

exotic back¬
ground - Singapore, Asia, extreme
colors, extreme heat, rain, the ex¬
treme clothing of the people in the
street. Of course, in that situation
you are very proud when you man¬
age to light things well. Peter
taught me about throw-aways:
'OK Robby, very nice - throw it
away." According to Muller,
was

a

very

throwing something away means,
"Be proud of the lighting but
don't celebrate it and

turn

it into

something extra. The moment you
start celebrating what you did you
stand still, you are not going one
step forward. It becomes a man¬
nerism
there is no development
anymore."
Muller works at striking
that balance between throwing
something away in the picturesque
sense and keeping the spirit of it.
One small example of his handling
of the problem was in lighting one

as

Jane, Travis's

estranged wife.

-

of the desert motel room locations
for Paris, Texas. The almost cata¬
tonic Travis has been brought
there by his brother Walt (Dean

Stockwell), who has
him back

come to

take

Los

Angeles after
being summoned by a doctor from
to

the Texas border

town

where

Travis was found wandering. In
this scene, Travis is oblivious of
his surroundings and Walt is dis¬

tinctly

72

American

Cinematographer

March 1985

out

of his element in this
American Cinematographer - February 1985

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