American Cinematographer - December 2003 - 76

True Grit
Bridges rides
shotgun as car
mounted
camera

films

a

close-up of a

life-saving
arrow

puncturing

a
tire, which

the

car

to swerve

and

causes

narrowly miss
Filmore. Below:

Bridges with his
own

creation:

the Larry

Dolly.

city, the Catalina Island
Conservancy and the National Park.

find the blacks and build

The National Park

working with got more sensitive and

tions: the

was

very accom¬

modating; they gave us permission to
shoot

on

Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz

shape natural light on loca¬

tion, Bridges carried a kit that
consisted of silks, flags and gold and
silver reflectors. The

gaffer, Andrea

Sachs, set up a few Pars for sequences
filmed in

rendered

more

detail, I

work with much

more

was

up

was

able to

range.

I let

[the light] blow out more as we

islands."
To

things

from there. As the emulsions I

bigger settings. "When you
light, you have to

shoot in available

be concerned with available shad¬

ows," notes Bridges. "Fred Schuler
always told me to look at the scene,

progressed. We let the emulsion just
march straight into the light to find
what

was

hidden there."

Although Bridges' extraordi¬
narily dedicated cast never ran out of
patience, a variety of practical issues
arose over the lengthy shoot. One
actor moved away, another suffered a
heart attack, and another contracted
cancer.
ers

Both of the stricken

perform¬

recovered, however, and contin¬

ued in their roles. "I decided not to
be

rigid about designing

consistent visual look

or

a

was

tone," says

another conti¬

nuity concern. In the beginning,
Bridges asked most of the actors to
72 December 2003

would
some

stow

the garments

time. Griffin

wore

for quite
the

same

suit for 10 years.

"His tie was perfect
day, we lost the
tie," recalls Bridges. "I tried framing
shots so you couldn't see that his tie
was
missing, but he couldn't seem
to get into character. We stopped
shooting for two hours while some¬
one went into wardrobe and dug
around to find the tie. Dina Boykiw,
my wardrobe staff, was extremely
well organized and kept track of
what the actors were supposed to be
wearing over a very long period of
for this suit, but one

time.

"There

single,

Bridges. "The story allowed for the
evolution of characters. Continuity
was ingrained in the theme of the
story. I accepted that my style might
change, and that the acting styles and
the characters might change."
Wardrobe

own clothes, cautioning
them that the wardrobe department

bring their

was

no

makeup," he

continues. "We shot the actors

as

were. We had characters gain
and lose 50 pounds over the course
of the film, and we watched some of

they

their hair turn gray, but that was
what I wanted, because the narrative
takes

over about five years. My
for this project was 'The
Hair Farm,' because it was tough to
match dramatic changes in hair-

place

pet name
American Cinematographer - December 2003

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