American Cinematographer - June 1995 - 37

He

scraped together enough
outfit a small van with
a camera, some lenses and
light¬
ing equipment and rented it to
low-budget film producers; he
was
usually part of the package.
At first he worked as a gaffer or
technician, but he finally got a
money to

chance to shoot when

a

cinema¬

tographer scheduled to work
a

film canceled at the last

on

mo¬

ment.

Initially, Cundey worked
horror genre flicks with mi¬
nuscule budgets. His break¬
on

through film was Halloween, di¬
by John Carpenter. That
early slasher effort led to Escape
from New York, Romancing the
Stone and others. Cundey earned
an Oscar nomination for
Roger
rected

Rabbit, the film that established
him

as a director of
photogra¬
phy who could handle films
with complicated, high-tech ef¬

fects.

how to deal with the fact that

look like a documentary, they did
a realistic feel, and the in¬
side of the capsule, in which
about a third of the movie takes

people have specific

place, was meticulously authen¬

During their first talks,
Howard and Cundey focused on
so

many

want

"We decided to keep the
moving, if only slightly.
lighting inside the capsule

camera

The

came

from realistic

The

sources.

capsule was always moving and
rotating - they called it the bar¬
becue roll. The rotation

was

de¬

signed to keep the skin of the cap¬
sule evenly heated. The sunlight
coming through the windows
would dance

across

the faces and

bodies of the astronauts, light the
back wall, and then go dark. We
emulated that look."

Apollo 13 astronaut Jim
Lovell served
sor

to the

as

the official advi¬

filmmakers and

was

Above: In the
lunar module

mockup

on

weightlessness
was

simulated

with the

help of
(top)

harnesses

and "teeter-

totters" (center
and right). Part
of the trick,

according to
Cundey, was
careful framing
to hide the rigs.
Right: From left
to right, Paxton,
Bacon and
Hanks

they
for the

as

present in that capacity during

prepare
launch

most of

sequence.

preproduction and the
early shooting. His insights and
precise memories helped the
filmmakers understand how the
astronauts felt. According to
memories of the space program,

tic: many

and studied hours of

als, buttons and similar com¬
ponents came from Apollo

vintage TV
TV trans¬
missions
were
very low-resolution video
seen
through the eye of a wideprograms. The original
missions from Apollo

angle lens, the

cameras

either

positioned in the corners of the
capsules or handheld. Although
Howard and Cundey decided
that they didn't want Apollo 13 to

of the switches, di¬

capsules.
"It

was a
very small and
space," Cundey points
out, "and we agreed that it was
important not to violate the
fourth wall. The camera always

confined

had to feel

if it

exactly what happened. Every
detail of each procedure was
etched in his memory. He de¬

capsule.

June1995

American

was

inside the

Cundey, Lovell provided more
than background.
"One day we were get¬
ting ready to shoot a scene in a
mockup capsule," Cundey re¬
calls. "I can picture Jim explain¬
ing to the actors, Ron and myself

scribed how they got on and off
the couches, and into the tunnel

as

Cinematographer

the

stage,

39
American Cinematographer - June 1995

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