American Cinematographer - December 1999 - 65

camera

assistant

on

Alien. He advanced

The Duellists and
to

cinematogra¬

on dozens of commercials and
the Scott-directed features Thelma &

pher

Louise
man

(which earned the
1991

camera¬

Academy and BAFTA

Award

nominations) and 1492:
Conquest of Paradise (see AC Oct.
'92). Biddle's feature credits also

include Aliens, The Princess Bride,

Willow,
Horizon

101 Dalmations, Event
(AC Aug. '97), The Butcher

Boy and the recent remake of The
Mummy. "Adrian was someone
whose work I'd liked for

long time,"
Apted remarks. "He'd done a lot of
work that I thought was very impor¬
and his

tant,

resume

a

had

lot of

a

range: he had done a huge amount of
action work and big-budget stuff,

and he had demonstrated

an

will

a

ideal choice.
"You

never

know how

respond to the offer of

Opposite:

and

James Bond

photography,
reproduce the sort of work
he'd done before without falling into
the trap of second-guessing what
people might want in a Bond movie.

great
ability to light women. He seemed to
be

take chances with the
to

We talked about the look

lot, did a
lot of scouts, and looked at a lot of
action films that we liked, such as The

people
Bond

a

film, but I met with Adrian and he
seemed

really excited by it - I knew
he was the guy. He and I spoke the
same language, and yet he'd also had
experience on these very big-budget

a

trying to beef up the drama, the most
important thing to me was to work

Fugitive, Speed and Die Hard - films
that had a lot of great action but still
told good stories."
Biddle counters modestly,
"Michael mostly wanted a mood for
each scene, and that's what I hope I
gave him, but we didn't actually set

with

out

films, which I hadn't. Since I

someone

who

was

understood

drama and who could

effectively
photograph actors. Adrian just
seemed to cover many bases."
Interestingly, The World Is Not
Enough isn't Biddle's first Bond film
-

he had

a

small hand in the shoot¬

ing of the action-packed toboggan
chase in 1969's On Her Majesty's
Secret Service. "I was just a lowly clap¬
per/loader," the cameraman admits.
When Apted called, Biddle couldn't
wait to shoot his very own Bond film.
"They're really historical, aren't
they?" he enthuses, speaking after a
long days' shoot on director Kathryn
Bigelow's upcoming thriller The
Weight of Water.
Biddle had his work cut

for

definite look in mind. I

Elektra

King

(Sophie
Marceau), who
secretly plots
against him.
This page,
above: Filming

proceeds at
Pinewood

Studios, where
the

production
staged several
major action

sequences,

including this
one

set at

a

invariably involves exotic locales,
imposing secret lairs, gripping action

really find the look in whatever I'm
doing. In this case, it just grew out of

and beautiful women. "I believe that a

the architecture, the sets, the story,
and Michael's ideas. It was very

Left: The World

Bond movie
movie

on

can

look

as

good

as any

Earth," Apted states. "We

can't

disappoint the fans who are
waiting to see what they're used to
seeing, so we still had to deliver the
trademarks, but I think there's
more

drama in this

has been in
wanted it

to

some

have

one

much

more

bit

of the others. I
a

complicated look than
ward action film. I

a

than there

richer,
a

was

more

straightfor¬
trying for

emotion in this

film, and

I wanted Adrian to reflect that

photo¬

graphically by giving everything

a

him, thanks to Apted's determination
the Bond "look," which

chances with the cast, I wanted him to

to reinvent

a

romances

refinery
complex in
Azerbaijan.

slightly surprising look that wasn't
just flat. Because I was going to take

out

with

(Pierce
Brosnan)

natural. If Bond's

going to make love,
to be a low-key,
moody scene. If he's going into a
nuclear facility where the villain is
stealing some bombs, that's also
going to look moody, but in a differ¬
ent way than the lovemaking scene."
The globe-hopping World Is

then I

want

that

Is Not
marks

Enough

Brosnan's third

outing

as

007.

Not

Enough production visited a
variety of locations that included
Charmoix, France; Istanbul, Turkey;
Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland; and
Sydney, Australia. This extensive tour
provided a few surprises for Biddle.
For
near

example, shooting
the

a scene set

shimmering, silver-walled
American

Cinematographer 61
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