American Cinematographer - April 2001 - 33
(Nicolas Cage), a mandolin-strum¬
ming artillery officer whose exuber¬
ant spirit initially elicits the disdain of
Cameron Crowe,
collaborated
with whom he had
the
charms after the officer is billeted at
critically
acclaimed Almost Famous. Despite
his hectic schedule, Toll graciously
spent part of a Sunday-morning
respite answering questions posed by
executive editor Stephen Pizzello.
(Editor's note: Although Captain
Corellis Mandolin was initially
scheduled to be released in April, the
date was pushed to August at press
her father's home. When the strife
time.)
the natives
notably Pelagia
(Penelope Cruz), the beautiful
daughter of a respected village
doctor
-
most
(John Hurt). Educated and
strong-willed, Pelagia is engaged to
a
local fisherman (Christian Bale), but
she
gradually succumbs to Corelli's
on
on
the island begins to escalate, however,
forced
American
weigh their
feelings for each other against their
ethnic allegiances.
An A-list project all the way,
Captain Corellis Mandolin teamed
Cinematographer:
Did you read the novel by Louis de
Bernieres before you began work¬
ing on Captain Corelli's Mandolin?
Oscar-nominated
shooting the picture, I started to read
the novel, but I quickly decided not
to finish it
I knew right off the bat
that the film would only be able to
cover about 20 percent of the mater¬
ial in the book. On previous projects,
I'd gotten very involved in the book,
only to realize later on that we
weren't really shooting the book.
the lovers
are
to
director
John
Madden
(Shakespeare in Love) with
Academy Award-winning
cinematographer John Toll, ASC
(Legends of the Fall, Braveheart).
Their efforts were bolstered by a topnotch team that included production
designer Jim Clay, supervising art
two-time
director
Chris
Seagers, costume
designer Alexandra Byrne and
makeup artist Lois Burwell.
When AC phoned Toll to
request an interview, he was busy
shooting six-day weeks in Los
Angeles on Vanilla Sky, a project that
reteamed
him
with
director
Toll: When I knew I'd be
-
This time around, rather than be
distracted
by all of the great things in
of the
film, I opted to approach the work
purely as a film that was simply based
on the novel. Otherwise, I might have
found myself second-guessing vari¬
the book that wouldn't be part
ous decisions or trying to talk some¬
body into including a certain scene
from the book. The director, John
Madden, and the screenwriter,
Shawn Slovo, already had their hands
frill
doing the adaptation, and they
involvement as well.
Were you still able to draw
inspiration from the novel?
didn't need my
Toll: The book had
a tone
of
'magic realism' that I found interest¬
ing, but both John and I were drawn
more to the story's realistic elements.
That approach just felt right to me,
because I felt that if
we
leaned
too
much toward the
'magical' elements
danger of making the
film too sweet. Those aspects of the
story worked well in the book, but
when making a film I think you
sometimes walk a very fine line
between what is perceived as 'real'
there
was
a
Opposite page:
Corelli (Nicolas
Cage) and
Pelagia
(Penelope Cruz)
share
a
tender
moment beneath
a
canopy
of
trees on
Cephallonia. Tree
cover
is
relatively
rare
the island,
but careful
on
scouting led the
filmmakers to
a
promising and
romantic spot.
Below: Ruining
the mood of
an
impromptu
beach party, a
German officer
gives Corelli the
dreaded Nazi
salute.
and what isn't. It is
a wonderful book,
however, and the island characters
are
fantastically drawn.
John Madden
came onto
the
picture after the original director
fell ill. How did that development
affect the production?
Toll: John
came
aboard
on
relatively short notice, but the prepa¬
ration of the picture was already well
underway; they were locked into a
shooting schedule because of Nic
American
Cinematographer 31
American Cinematographer - April 2001
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