American Cinematographer - November 1999 - 57

Opposite: The
vengeful Wilson
(Terence Stamp)

AIC and

Robby Muller, NSC.
City for the
early part of his career, Lachman
compiled a diverse list of feature
credits, including The Lords of
Flathush, Union City, Desperately
Seeking Susan (see AC July 1985),
Based in New York

True Stories

(which earned him

takes aim. The

careful

placement of
hot spots and
highlights
throughout The
Limey succinctly
punctuates the

an

Independent Spirit Award nomina¬
tion), Less Than Zero, Making Mr.
Right, Mississippi Masala, Light
Sleeper (another Spirit Award nomi¬
nation), London Kills Me, My New

emotional tenor
of each scene.
This page:
Valentine (Peter

Fonda) cradles

a

young victim of
his crimes, as

Gun, Touch, Mi Familia, Selena (AC
May '97) and Why Do Fools Fall in

the

lighting

turns his face

into

Love?. The

cinematographer recently
completed the Universal Pictures

a

mask of

grief.

drama Erin Brockovich, also directed

by Soderbergh, which stars Albert
Finney and Julia Roberts.
Introducing The Limey for a
packed cast-and-crew screening held
at

the DGA Theater last March,

Soderbergh described the picture

as
"one of the fastest films I've made,

and

of my

best experiences."
speed of the produc¬
tion impacted his contribution to the
film, Lachman replies, "Principal
photography took about 32 days.
Again, when you're forced into
certain shooting situations - such
as sometimes using just available
light - you have to cover the action
in a more expedient way. We often
shot with two cameras, shooting in
one
direction and then quickly
moving into another. I'd done that
one

Asked how the

before, on London Kills Me and parts
of Selena, and I think it helps the

the

editing

especially when
any improvisation.
"The hardest part of shooting
that way is keeping focus, so I had the
there

process,

was

camera

assistant

use a

marks around the

gave

actors

with

mances

dictated what the

cameras

doing, instead of the other way
Working that way also gave
the actors much more of a feeling of
performing in real time and with

were

around.

of 'zone'

system in which we laid out a series

energy

for the acting. In this case, it
Steven more freedom to deal
the actors, because the perfor¬

sort

area

where the

would be, rather than

setting
specific marks for them to hit."
The cinematographer notes,
"Although he had full backing from
Artisan

Entertainment,

wanted to

keep The Limey within the

realm of a smaller-sized

Steven

independent

freewheeling, pick-up-the-

more

camera-and-shoot
contributed

feel,

our

chair, we'd do that. We made

these surfaces. We

being cut

independent films from both Europe

pan

and the U.S.

ing them along a flat surface."

up

into

so many

pieces. It

angles from each direction with
each take, which helped matching in
two

were

[focusing on
Rafelson's Five
"What

made in the 1970s,

films] such

as

Bob

we

found

was a

the

camera

Lachman

much

even

used them

to

sometimes, just slid¬
used

Moviecam

The Limey, generally
fitted with his personal set of Series II
Compacts

Easy Pieces.

series

pads we called 'Tootsie rolls,'
using rolled-up sound blankets to
cushion and position the camera on

film. We studied and discussed how

helped keep up the momentum
of shooting, because we could cover

a

of these

each other, because the action wasn't
also

which

shooting in a
much looser way. About 80 to 90
percent of The Limey was done
handheld, even though one may not
always notice that it is handheld.
Only about five percent or less was
done with a tripod. If the camera
could instead be put on a table or
to

on

American

Cinematographer 55
American Cinematographer - November 1999

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