American Cinematographer - January 1987 - 53

With a few scenes excepted, The
Golden Child is a Hollywood
movie created from fantasy and
filmed likewise. As in the "golden"

Opposite page:
painting

Matte

shows false

perspective in
temple composite

days of Hollywood, this appropri¬
ately titled adventure/comedy
was dreamed into reality with all
the artifice the production could

shot. Above: The

temple built

on¬

stage. Left: 20 ft.
idol towers above

the Golden Child.

command beneath the vaulted

ceilings of Paramount Studios
sound stages.
There

are a

few Los An¬

geles

street scenes and a re-crea¬
tion of the Himalayas at Mam¬
moth Mountain ski area - but the
rest of the picture was photo¬

graphed

on stage.

Donald Thorin, ASC, di¬
of photography on Golden
Child was faced with his first full
rector

fledged special effects movie and
found it quite different from most
of his other credits: An Officer and
a Gentleman, Thief, Against All
Odds, Bad Boys, and Mischief. He
was also previously associated
with director Michael Ritchie on
Wildcats. Ritchie's more memora¬
ble films include Semi-Tough, The
Survivors and Fletch.
Thorin's
lighting

throughout is stylized and fanci¬
ful, giving the picture its myste¬
rious ambience with enough
comedic allusions to keep it hon¬
est. "My biggest problem was
lighting a black face with all the
white faces," Thorin says can¬
didly. "There's a balance between
the dark skins and the light, which
is often difficult

to

maintain. The

girl (Charlotte Lewis) has to look
very attractive - she's a beautiful
girl - and has to appear so.
"The bad guys - the de¬
mons
have some very unique
makeup. One is a monkey-man
and one sports a big growth on his
forehead. The makeup on these
characters has to be delicately
photographed so that it looks real.
Even though they are unrealistic
they need to be believable and that
challenges the photography."
The picture was shot
using Eastman 5294 inside and
Eastman 5247 outside. "I like
Eastman 94 a lot. For me it works
quite well. I rate it a little faster
-

than

most

and I've had very

good

c

o

E
H



American Cinematographer - January 1987

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