American Cinematographer - September 2000 - 130

Northern Exposure
many directors of photography who
have come to Toronto from else¬

where have been
with the local

more

crews.

than satisfied

Veteran director

of

photography Roy Wagner, ASC,
commenting on his experience
shooting the Showtime movie In the
Company of Spies in Toronto two
years ago (see Production Slate, AC
Oct. '99), offered, "When I was being
raised as a cinematographer, I was
always told the great stories of old
Hollywood and how everybody was
tied together; if one bled they all
bled, [and] if someone needed help
they all pitched in and helped each
other. That's the experience I've had
[in Toronto]. There's been a sense of
collaboration, of making this work
Computer

Shooting outside the studios
the streets is complicated by

animators
Martin Drover,

and

foreground in
top photo, and

almost

Moysis
Antoniou,

foreground in
photo at right,
make

magic at
C.O.R.E.

workstations.
The company
was one

of

several visual-

effects houses
that

contributed
shots to X-Men.

on

the fact that Canadian cities

are

always disguised as U.S. cities
Hollywood films. One recent
exception to this was The Whole Nine
in

Yards, which was both shot and set in
Montreal, allowing cinematographer
David Franco to take full

of the landmarks that

advantage
give the city its

distinctive Old World look. Toronto

frequently substitutes for New York
City, dating back to when Union
Station, the city's train depot, stood
in for Grand Central Station in The
Last Detail

and TV
were

(1973). Last year, 28 film
projects set in the Big Apple
find

filmed in Toronto.

Visually, however, Toronto
are very dissimilar,
which presents challenges to direc¬
tors, cinematographers and produc¬
tion designers alike. Jeff Freilich,
producer of the Showtime movie
The Naked City (see Production
and New York

Slate, AC Oct. '98)
the

was

sensitive to

discrepancies. "In Toronto it's

rare to

find the mosaic of architec¬

ture that you find in
where you can take a

Manhattan,
40mm lens,
point it at a certain corner and see 10
generations of architecture dating
back to the late 18th century," he
notes. "In Toronto you're lucky to

128

September 2000

older

building among 20
skyscrapers, and the degree of
'skyscraping' is different; it's rare to
find the assemblage of tall buildings
here that you would find in New
one

no

matter

any

what. And there's

complaint

ever.

You

X-Men

was

that Canada's

guilds and government incentive
programs, which ensure that crews
shooting in Canada are almost
entirely Canadian, would prevent
him from employing his usual chief
lighting technician and focus puller.
Although most cinematographers
would rather work with trusted

collaborators than unknown

ones,

resistance whatso¬

can come

not

into your own

here."

Polish

concern on

been

city and find that kind of conflict,
but

York."

Sigel told AC that his initial

or

not

cinematographer Piotr

Sobocinski, whose credits include
Ransom and Three Colors: Red (for
which he

was

nominated for

an

Academy Award), recently spent 52
shooting days in Toronto with direc¬
tor

Luis Mandoki

on

Warner Bros.'

Angel Eyes, starring lennifer Lopez.
Having worked in both Europe and
America, Sobocinski qualifies the
experience with his Canadian crew
as the best of his career.
"My focus
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