American Cinematographer - May 2004 - 57

Opposite: The
charismatic but

deeply disturbed
Charles Manson

(played by
Jeremy Davies)
exerted

a

powerful hold
over

his

followers and

eventually led
them to commit
mass

the

murder in

Hollywood

Hills.

Cinematographer
Don FauntLeRoy,
ASC notes that
the actor's
constant
movements

caused him to

drift in and out of

shadows, making
the character
appear even

menacing
mysterious.

more

and

This page, top:
Bailiffs restrain

When writer/director

Skelter,

powerful telefilm adap¬
bestselling book by
Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent
Bugliosi and Curt Gentry that
provided a detailed account of the
brutal "Manson family" murders
and the killers' subsequent convic¬
tions. The events depicted were just a
few years old, and although the tele¬
film was set primarily in the court¬

In 1976, CBS broadcasted Helter
a

tation of the

room

and

most

of the crimes'

details were merely refer¬
enced, it still managed to shock a
gruesome

national audience.

Manson

John

more

Gray set out to remake Helter Skelter

bring

for CBS, he

one

was not

interested in

retaining the "police procedural"
emphasis of the original. "I think the
original TV movie did a great job,
but I wanted

to

focus

more

on

Charles Manson, his

'family' and the
murder victims. Our adaptation
ends the night before the trial. You
could almost call it a prequel to the
1976 Helter Skelter"

Because of this

focus, Gray's
remake, which is scheduled to air on
CBS this month, is also darker and

brutal. The director wanted

to

a unique look to the project,
that was literally quite dark, with

various

characters,

especially
Manson (Jeremy Davies), constantly
moving in and out of shadows. He
set out to find a director of photog¬
raphy gutsy enough to deliver such a

look, and when he

saw

the horror

films

Jeepers Creepers (see AC Sept.
'01) and Jeepers Creepers 2, both shot
by Don FauntLeRoy, ASC, he knew
he'd found his man. "I was struck by
how beautifully those films were
shot," recalls Gray. "I loved the way
Don used light and darkness, and I
definitely thought his cinematogra¬

phy brought
to

his

during
high-profile

trial. Bottom:
Prosecutor
Vincent

Bugliosi

(Bruno Kirby,

right) eventually
convicted
Manson and
later co-authored
a

best-selling

book about his
most famous
case.

a great nervous energy

both of those movies. Then, when

I met

him, I loved what he had to say.

There's often

a fear about making
things dark for television, but Don
really understood that I didn't want
to see faces all the time. We agreed

that it's sometimes

CBocSurft.esy
Phot s

more

effective

just to see a slash of light across a
portion of someone's forehead."
FauntLeRoy was considering
various film stocks for Helter Skelter

when Kodak offered him
tional deal

on

an excep¬
its last batches of

American

Cinematographer 53
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