American Cinematographer - December 1996 - 36

deal. It should look

pretty good

anyway, but the backgrounds are
hotter than I would like. Then we

got into the airport and things went
pretty slow. My part was fast, a few
fluorescents for most of it. But it all
seems

to take

should,

even

more

time than it

with the amount of

extras and all. We

have extra takes

because of focus, and that is an area
of concern I wish I didn't have. We
didn't "make the day" because
there

was a move

terior to shoot. I

ond

camera

camera crew

and another

ex¬

using the sec¬
quite a bit, and the

is

a

am

bit overextended

with

magazines, slates, and all.
They want more help, and they
should have it. I will have to go to
bat tomorrow on that one.
The electrical crew is learn¬

ing the methods Alan and I use, and
their boss, Jorge is first-rate. He
speaks very little English, but
somehow understands seemingly
everything. Alan is having a ball
with the language and his job.
What a joy it is to have him. Speak¬
ing of joys, Guy "Bulldog" Skinner
is

great operator, and he takes
much of the drudgery out of my
job. Our Argentine support is gen¬
a

young and enthusiastic.
they lack in experience is
pretty much made up for in charm
and willingness to learn.
♦
Today we had a se¬
quence to shoot in the rain. It in¬
volved our team practicing the cap¬
ture of Eichmann out in a muddy
field, and dragging him into an old

cars

the

parked in front, but they share
neighborhood with tin shacks

outfitted with cardboard and old
lumber to keep the winter winds
out. In the Sixties this must not

have seemed to be

part of Buenos
Aires, but just another small agri¬
cultural town.

Today it has a small
running though it,
stinking of pollution, both human
and industrial, its banks cascading
garbage into the greenish water.
This is a rough place.
Fernando, our A.D., got hit in the
river

or

back with

rock, lobbed from a
great distance. The perpetrator es¬

Mercedes. We had the water truck

ready, the manifolds were hooked
up and there were a half a dozen
"rain birds" standing by. However,
Mother Nature did the trick for
When

us.

finally shot the scene, a
through and it
was raining the proverbial cats and
dogs with wind and lightning to
boot. It looked great, but it was a
good thing we only had to do one
shot, as the weather quickly got the
we

stormfront blew

best of

♦

Last

first of three

night we did the
days at Garibaldi

Street. Eichmann moved around

I shot it with

a 50mm lens with the
silhouetted train wheels going by
in the foreground. This element is
to be matted over the 300mm shot
of Eichmann, giving the illusion
that this is the Mossad's view from
under the train.

One of the neighborhood
kids told us that his father knew

Eichmann, the old German. Of
course, they thought he was just a
bit crazy, but when they found out
that he was a mass murderer they
were

all amazed.
♦ After three

days of rain

effects, mud, trains and night light¬

ing, we have fallen a day behind.
Three days have become four at
Garibaldi Street. It is a climactic
scene in the film, so Stan
Margoulies

that Eichmann arrives at, and his
an area of
several acres. We had two 60' Con¬
dors fitted with 4K and 12K HMIs,

is not

ing

and I

being dragged to the waiting

put some Molette streetlights

conveniently placed tele¬
phone poles.

up on

The scenario is this: the
Israelis survey

going crazy about it, believ¬
have to get this part right.
We were getting ready to

we

shoot

a

handheld shot of Eichmann

the

camera to undercrank was not
the truck. I went berserk for a

the house from the
vantage of the elevated road. From
this vantage point we can see the

on

Eichmann house and the route that

munications screw-up,

he takes from the bus
where

stop. This is

they snatch him.
The real house is

a

block

farther from the rail bed. You can't
see it from there
any more, as there
is now a small warehouse blocking
the view.

(Billy's old Mercedes
parked in front of

motor home is

car.

At the last moment, we discovered
that the speed control that allows

minute, and there

were

from the miscreants. It

apologies

was a com¬

but we will
tonight.
♦ It is midnight, and I am
back in my warm, dry hotel room.
Disaster has befallen our intrepid
recover

little band of filmmakers. The
we were

the real house.) We took a closer
house and built some setpieces to

and the real rain came in. This time
it had disastrous results. We got
four shots, and the wind and real

give us windows and doors where

rain added to ours,

we

wanted them.

Though our Eichmann
house is closer to the railroad, it is
still too far away to get a close shot
of Eichmann at the window. The
was

from which

to erect

we

a

parallel

could shoot at half

the distance. However, this is sup¬

posed to be the point of view of the
as they watch from
the underside of a passing train.

which looked

terrific. But when the front came in
it damn near drowned us. We did
drown most of the electrical gear,

including a flooded generator. This
put us out of business for tomor¬
row, which becomes a down day.
The poor electricians are still out
there in the mud, winning back
their cable and soggy ballasts. We

Mossad team

will be back at Garibaldi Street

him. St. Fernando, as the area is

We wanted to have the train wheels

Monday night.
Billy has

called, is just one notch up from a
brick homes, and even some with

going by in the foreground. The
solution was quite simple. We did
the Eichmann shot clean, then went

American

December 1996

are

Cinematographer

modest

re¬

be. Once again,
shooting a rain sequence

covery was not to

every few years, and it was here
that he lived when the Israelis got

shantytown. There

34

foreground train wheels as they
went by. I took a white Griffolyn
and placed it on the opposite side
of the tracks. After lighting it evenly,

house. All of this is in

solution

us.

a

caped in the darkness. Of course,
we were
objects of intense curios¬
ity, and the crowds of onlookers
didn't abate seriously until well
into the early hours of the morning.
We had trains, were making rain,
and had logistics to worry about.
The set comprised an elevated rail
bed with an overpass, the bus stop

erally
What

creek

back to the roadbed to shoot the

a

bad

case

on

of

bronchitis, and he feels lousy. He
shouldn't be out all

in the rain, so

night tramping
this three-day week-
American Cinematographer - December 1996

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