American Cinematographer - January 2000 - 37

music video and commercial work.

Opposite page:

Never

Offensive and
defensive
linemen square
off in a driving
rainstorm. In
their attempt
to infuse the
film with

shy away from taking a
leap of faith in terms of either casting
or

to

one

crew

decisions, Stone hired the

Brooklyn native to shoot his $65
million football epic after just one
meeting.

overtones of
trench warfare,
director Oliver
Stone and

Totino entered the New York
film world in the 1980s
tion

produc¬

as a

assistant, but quickly became

fascinated with the role of the cine¬

cameraman

Salvatore
Totino went so
far as to use

matographer. "On one job, I met Paul
Gaffney, a New York camera assistant,

techniques
employed by

and I told him that I also wanted to be
a

camera

said

assistant," he recalls. "He

Steven

'Okay, move those cases!'
For two straight days he intentionally
to me,

made

me move cases

Spielberg and
Janusz

Kaminski, ASC

back and forth,

on

all

day long. At the end of the job he
said, 'I see you're serious!' On my days
off, he started teaching me about
cameras, and before long he was
taking me on jobs."
Totino moved up to first
camera

assistant, and received his

first break when he

was

director Peter Care

shoot second-

unit

to

asked

by

footage on a music video for the

Saving Private
Ryan. This
page, top:

Injured Sharks
quarterback
Cap Rooney
(Dennis Quaid)
midseason

injury, leaving the offense
cocky third-stringer

in the hands of

Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx). After

a

principled D'Amato is feeling the
squeeze from the Sharks' young,
ambitious, take-no-prisoners presi¬

and his

dent and

study the

sought-after director of
photography in his own right, shoot¬
ing a wide array of innovative

shaky start, Beamen shocks both
fans and management by rejuvenat¬
ing the previously moribund team.
Before long, however, the me-first
style of "Steamin' Beamen" leads

chronicling the chasm between
D'Amato's seemingly archaic ideals
of loyalty and teamwork and the
modern
game's
increasingly

commercials and music videos. He

him into clashes with both team¬

cutthroat

has shot ad

mates

and the Sharks' old-school

fashioned

British band New Order. He

became

soon

a

campaigns for Jack
Daniels, Nike, Jaguar, The Gap and
H.I.S. Jeans, winning a Clio award for
the latter. Among his most interest¬
ing music videos are U2's "Staring At
The

the World

War II drama

head coach,

Tony D'Amato (Al

Pacino). To make matters

worse,

the

co-owner

(Cameron Diaz).

In

atmosphere, Stone has
apt metaphor for the
ever-present
tension
between
an

replacement,
Willie Beamen

(Jamie Foxx)
team's defense
with coach Tony
D'Amato (Al

Pacino). This
page,

bottom:

Stone and

Totino discuss
their game

plan.

American individualism and the

Sun," R.E.M.'s "What's the

Frequency,
Kenneth?,"
Bruce
Springsteen's "Secret Garden,"
Soundgarden's "Spoonman," Live's
"Lightning Crashes" and Radiohead's
surreal "Fake Plastic Trees."

the latter videos

are

(Both of

part

of the

permanent archive collection at New
York's Museum of Modern Art.)
Set in the

near

future, Any

Given

Sunday follows the fictional
Miami Sharks franchise through a
tension-packed season of intrasquad
intrigue. The Sharks' veteran quar¬
terback, Cap Rooney (Dennis
Quaid), has suffered

a

serious
American

Cinematographer 35
American Cinematographer - January 2000

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