American Cinematographer - November 1992 - 57

minute moving camera shots in
real locations."
The success of that improvisational approach hinged on the

pair's nascent but increasingly

symbiotic relationship. While
Goldblatt noted that he had long
admired Pakula's previous work

(which includes the highly praised
films All the President's Men, The
Parallax View, Klute, Sophie's Choice
and Presumed Innocent), the two had
met until

they both partici¬
pated in a series of 1991 seminars at
never

about film," said Pakula. "I do my
best work with people who love the

work. That's my attitude, and it
energizes me to be around others
who feel the same way. Stephen is
very flexible, and he thinks concep¬

tually, which is
me.

very important to
I don't just go in and say, 'How

do you see this picture?' I have to
say, 'This is the role I see the cin¬
ematographer playing on this film.
This is the kind of style I have in
mind.' At that point you find out if

you're in agreement on the concep¬

the Sundance
Institute. "At
the end of the
directors' work¬

tor

direc¬

thinks, if they're just craftsmen,

then it doesn't work for me. It's not

just about making pretty pictures."
Both Pakula and Goldblatt
feel that the thriller offers unique
and exciting visual opportunities.

Although the director pointed out
that he has a sensibility different
from that of the genre's acknowl¬
edged master, Alfred Hitchcock
(who generally hewed religiously
to his storyboards), Pakula invoked

down,"

said Goldblatt.
"I met him so¬

and director
Pakula
commiserate.

one of Hitchcock's favored laws of
the cinema on Consenting Adults.
"The thriller is a favorite genre of

cially there, and

the viewer would still have, with

got on very

just the abstract elements of

well. He had
this new film,
and he called

the camerawork and the music, a

me up. I inter¬
viewed along
with other cinematographers, and
wound up getting the job. He's a

great director, and I really wanted
to work with him."

Pakula was equally ex¬
cited to be teaming with Goldblatt,
whose cinematographic resume
reveals an ability to attack any
- science fiction ((Jutland),
postmodern Gothic (The Hunger),
full-bore action (Lethal Weapon 1
and 2), sports (Everybody's AllAmerican), comedy (Joe Versus the
Volcano), fantasy (Young Sherlock
Holmes), musical drama (Breaking
Glass, The Cotton Club, For the Boys)
and straight melodrama (The Prince
of Tides, for which he received an

genre

Oscar nomination).
"I found it very easy to
communicate with Stephen; I loved
his passion and the way he thought

by

Alan J. Pakula and David Permut
Directed by Alan J. Pakula

Director of

of marital

infidelity. This
page: Cinema¬
tographer
Goldblatt (left)

experiment with visual
storytelling more," the director
maintained. "Thrillers really free
you to play with film. From a craft
point of view it's a big turn-on.
With this story, I tried to do create
a
strong visual approach, so that
if you turned off the dialogue track

shop, and Alan
amongst others

Produced

Kline considers
the implications

mine, and one of the reasons is that

a
writers' work¬

we

Opposite:
Clinging to his
neighbor's wife
(Rebecca
Miller), Kevin

you can

shop there's

came

don't understand the way a

photography,
Stephen Goldblatt, ASC

very strong sense of the emotional
power of the story. Hitchcock
didn't invent that theory, but he
tion. Gordon Willis

[ASCI

first mentor in that regard;

was

my

he said,

'Trust your initial conception.'
Within that framework, you leave
room

for surprises.
"One of the most difficult

things about this business is that it7 s
damned collaborative, but one of
the most exciting things about it is
that it's so collaborative," Pakula
admitted. "Once I feel that the
so

people I'm working with, espe¬
cially the cinematographer, know
what I'm trying to achieve, if they
have a better idea than mine that's
terrific! I welcome the input. You
don't want to feel so locked in and

certainly perfected it; if you want to
learn your ABCs about visual story¬

telling, there's no better teacher."
The plot of Consenting
Adults is
also
distinctly
Hitchcockian in nature. Kevin
Kline portrays a Yuppie suburban¬
ite whose cushy existence is jeopar¬
dized by his friendship with a

neighbor (Kevin Spacey) who en¬
courages a kinky foray into wife¬
swapping. Kline proceeds to se¬
duce Spacey's spouse (Rebecca
Miller) while offering his own wife
(Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) to
his co-conspirator. "I seem to be
attracted to stories about decent,

good people who get involved in
very dark, complicated situations,"

rigid that you let spontaneous cre¬
ativity go out the window; that
would be death to me. Very often
it would happen that Stephen
would consider something I
wanted to do and say, 'Well that's
not really practical, but you could
do it this way.' And that7s great. But
if s essential that the people around
you know what film you're trying
to make. If I work with people who

pable of. There's also a lot of com¬
mentary about the hollow Yuppie
lifestyle. There's an emptiness
within these people which leaves
them open to seduction of various

November 1992

American

Pakula mused. "It's

a theme I've
dealt with before: a man who thinks
he knows himself suddenly finds
himself tempted into dark adven¬
tures he didn't think himself ca¬

Cinematographer

55
American Cinematographer - November 1992

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