American Cinematographer - December 1996 - 42

Above: Dr.

(Pierce
Brosnan) pleads
Kessler

for peace

with

the ruthless
Martian
Ambassador.
Interactive

and red
lighting
heightened the

green

scenes

of

annihilation,

simulating the

//T> eing

the English gentlemen

LJ that he is, Peter Suschitzky

has

tremendous

a

Washington

cameramen

are

visceral and technical and
exactly what they want, but
Peter is a quiet, soft-spoken artist,"
observes Mars Attacks! gaffer Ian

very

know

Kincaid

ert

Suschitzky (left)
and key grip

Richardson, ASC. "He's not the
who says, 'I want a 20K there.'
Instead, he inspires his crew and is
open to suggestions. He'd often

Michael Coo

say,

(right). "They

With humor, Suschitzky
responds to these descriptions of
his on-set style by saying, "Of

happen,
but next thing
we

knew,

we

guy

'Well, show me.'"

course

I know where I'd like the

were

20K, but I if I spell everything out

the White

are

driving
tanks right up to
House."

40

make of The

Vanishing (George

projects with Canadian director
David Cronenberg: Dead Ringers,
Naked Lunch, M. Butterfly and, most
recently, Crash, based on the novel
by J.G. Ballard (to be covered in an
upcoming issue of AC).

Kincaid, whose credits include Ca¬

never

Russell), The Empire Strikes Back
(Irvin Kershner), the American re¬

have to have a lot of
experience. Otherwise,
you're in a lot of trouble."
talent and

sino and Heaven & Earth with Rob¬

said it would

by John Boorman),

Lisztomania and Valentino (Ken

nard Rose). Suschitzky has also
shot a quartet of provocative

movie, you

gaffer Ian

Peter

(directed

exactly what I want, but at
to involve
my key crew members. The trick is
to allow enough space for people to
feel that they really can be, and are,
part of a creative process. That

Sluizer), and Immortal Beloved (Ber¬

D.C.," says

(center), with

Leo the Last and Where the Heart Is

other times, I manage

ASC includes Batman Forever and
the upcoming Batman and Robin.
"To do this kind of high-end

"Some

to shoot in

of humil¬

ity about his work," remarks op¬
erator Ray de la Motte, whose re¬
cent work with Stephen Goldblatt,

effects of

death-rays.
Right: "It was
pretty amazing

sense

say

then

key people such

as

the gaffer

going to feel uninvolved and
uncreative, not feeling that they
can contribute.
Naturally one can¬
not have a discussion group about
every lamp placement, so I'll often

American

Cinematographer

When asked what attracts
him to such projects, the cinema¬

way, everybody functions better
and we all have more fun."
The son of noted camera¬

Wolfgang Suschitzky, who
emigrated from Vienna to Britain
in the mid-1930s to escape Fascism,
Peter Suschitzky perhaps elicits
such admiration in part because his
man

career

reflects

an

attraction to the

unusual. After his education at

Parisian film

a

school, Suschitzky

shot the 1966 feature It

Happened
Here, a semi-documentary fantasy
detailing life in England had the
Germans

won

World War II. Since

then, the cinematographer's eclec¬
tic filmography has been marked
by strong collaborations, including

December 1996

tographer replies, "They are mov¬
ies with a strong personality, un¬
like the majority of pictures, which
are like fast food
having no par¬
ticular flavor, needing no chewing
and leaving no trace."
This disposition brought
Suschitzky to the attention of direc¬
-

tor Tim Burton (Batman, Ed Wood),
who was seeking a cinemato¬

graphic collaborator for Mars At¬
tacks!, a sardonic sci-fi spoof based
on a set of 55
bubblegum trading
cards of the

first

same name.

The cards

appeared in 1962, thrilling
children and shocking their par¬
ents. Originally entitled "Attack
from Space," the cards sold for a

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byPhots
American Cinematographer - December 1996

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