American Cinematographer - October 2002 - 86

a

little bit

gentler.' So I

was,

because I

want the actor to be comfortable with

how he

While working on The Man From

Elysian Fields, director of photog¬
raphy Kramer Morgenthau found
himself framing and lighting some very
well-known faces: the film's principal
cast includes James Coburn, Andy
Garcia,
Mick Jagger,
Julianna
Margulies and Olivia Williams. While
discussing his strategy for the picture as
a whole, Morgenthau offered the
following thoughts on his approach to
lighting the actors:
"In general, my lighting and
photography of actors' faces is intended
to provide a visual extension of their
performances. Many of the actors I've

a

others, and

great deal from some of

"When I prep a

film, I like to have
opportunity to shoot tests with the
actors not just for hair and makeup, but
to really study the landscapes of their
faces. I like to explore different qualities
of light, color, direction and intensity. One
quick test I like to do is to have my gaffer
an

handhold

a source

the actor's face

sculpted by
cinematographer

were

Kramer

Morgenthau's
light. Opposite
page:

Morgenthau
takes a reading
with Olivia

Williams, whose
characters look

changes from
angelic to
ruthless

as

the

story progresses.

82 October 2002

five

and

as we

10 seconds to

move

roll the

it around

camera

for

how the

light
angles. The result is
often very revealing; something as
simple as coming from the left or right or
or

see

looks at different

from below

can

make

even

the most

recognizable face change dramatically.

He understood what I

trying to do, because he's been on
longer than I've been alive, and
he knows every trick in the book! There
were some things he objected to, but in
film sets

because he's

really
interesting and amazing face-it's a
landscape, and you definitely want to get
that across

on

the

screen.

a

Of course, he's

not a rock 'n' roll star in this

film; he's

a

gentleman escort. I didn't really soften
him with anything on the lens, but I used
softer light. I generally don't use a lot of
hard light directly on a face anyway.
"My lighting for Andy Garcia was
more affected by the environments or
situations he was in. The type of light that
worked

on

his face

was a

Gordon Willis

those instances it

was

an

type of toplight; that really brings out

actor who wants

everything related to

Andy's cheekbones and the handsome¬
ness of his face. We didn't always want

his character to make
'real' actor. In
was

sense.

He's

a

very

light source
coming from a certain direction that
one scene, a

with him. Yet

the actors I've worked with.

among the actors
whose features

sources.

actively with the director and me to
explore the image as a means of bringing

I've learned

Garcia and James
Coburn were

cooler
was

he didn't feel

actors are more into this than

Margulies, Mick
Jagger, Andy

Elysian Fields, I lit James
just the way he is. He's supposed
to be dying in the film, so I certainly
wasn't trying to make him look younger. I
wasn't afraid to light him in an unflatter¬
ing way, including underlight and harder,

worked with have collaborated very

out their characters. Some schools of

Left to right:
Julianna

"On

Coburn

she looks. Mick has

or

moment. I

was

realistic to the

respected that, and I agreed
as an

artist, I took the

him to look like
of

a

GQ model, but that type

on him. So,
his character broke down, we wanted
to show different sides of his personality

toplight works really well

as

through different qualities of light.
"The

in this film

liberty of pushing realism more in the
direction of expressionism.
"While we were in prep, I asked
Mick Jagger if he had any ideas about

absolutely beautiful. Julianna Margulies
has a classic, Botticelli-type face, and

how he'd like his character to look

wonderful, porcelain skin. My approach

onscreen,

to Julianna was all about

of the music

loveliness. I used very

some

videos he's been in. One

Rolling
clip that was very harsh and
hard-looking, with very high contrast; I
believe it was directed and shot by
Samuel Beyer. The lines on the Stones'
faces were very defined, and I thought it
was a very gutsy look. I went into Mick's
makeup trailer as I was lighting for his
was a

Stones

first scene, and I asked him if I could

really go that far. He said, 'Well, that was
music video with a lot of quick cuts, so
with this character you might want to be

were

both she and Olivia Williams have

and he gave me a tape where

he'd marked off

a

women

capturing that
broad, soft
sources placed close to her face, and
negative fill to create more contrast and
modeling. I also added more warmth to
her look. One of my favorite close-ups of
her is in the bar of

an

Italian restaurant

when she discovers that her husband

has become

an escort.

crying, and there's
light on her.

a

She's

sitting there
beautiful, warm

"Olivia Williams' character is
described in the

angel,

so

script as looking like an
I wanted to make her look
American Cinematographer - October 2002

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