By Robert Goldrich

One cinematographer just won his first career Oscar and ASC Award.
    Another earned his second Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography.
    A third DP recently received his fourth ASC Award nomination in five years for his TV series work.
    Here’s a close-up look at cinematographers Wally Pfister, ASC, Matthew Libatique, ASC, and Eagle Egilsson, ASC.

Wally Pfister, ASC    It’s been a breakthrough awards season for Wally Pfister, ASC, who won his first Best Cinematography Oscar as well as his first career ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film–both for director Christopher Nolan’s Inception, a breakthrough movie in terms of its originality, imagination and vision.
    Pfister earned three prior Academy Award nominations–for the Nolan-directed Batman Begins, The Prestige and The Dark Knight–and two previous ASC noms, for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
    And the longstanding working relationship between Nolan and Pfister continues as they are at press time in pre-pro on The Dark Knight Rises.
    In accepting the Oscar, Pfister credited Nolan for his “incredible vision…His work has inspired me for twelve years and continues to. He’s a brilliant filmmaker.”
    As for what winning the Academy Award felt like, Pfister told SHOOT of an experience he had years ago on Insomnia. “It was one of the first bigger movies Chris and I had done together and I remember putting my eye to the camera eyepiece and seeing Al Pacino in front of me delivering a phenomenal bit of dialogue with great emotion. At that moment I couldn’t believe where my journey had taken me. It’s very much like how I recently felt when I was holding the golden statue [Oscar] with Tom Hanks’ arm around my shoulder. I believe we make our own luck. But I still feel very fortunate.”
    Part of that good fortune is the education in directing that Pfister has gained by working with and observing Nolan. “I study Chris, watch him work with great actors–how he directed Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard in Inception. I’ve had lengthy conversations over the years with several of the performers Chris has directed to gain insights into the process.
    Pfister is himself an up-and-coming director, one who is repped for commercials and branded content by Santa Monica-based Independent Media. Gratifying to Pfister was Nolan’s positive feedback on the Montana Meth campaign he directed via Independent Media for Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco.
    The centerpiece spot of the package made SHOOT’s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery last year. Titled “Ben,” the PSA presents a series of flashbacks, showing scenes from a meth addict’s life and the now eerily silent and empty venues in which they took place. First we see dramatic glimpses of a man going into convulsions on a couch. As we see the couch today–now sans the man–a female voiceover relates that this is where he started uncontrollably convulsing. Next we’re taken to a hospital emergency room where the addict nearly died–and then to an alley adjacent to what appears to be a junkyard. The young female voiceover continues, telling us that this is where he began smoking meth again right after he got discharged from the hospital.
    And then we see a dark, dank, secluded basement/supply room which is where, the woman says, he hung himself because he couldn’t quit meth.
    Finally we see the woman who has been speaking to us. She continues, “And this is what I said when he told me he was going to try meth.” What follows is a prolonged silence as we see anguish across her face.
    “Ben” is one of four TV spots telling stories based on composites of real testimony from addicts and those close to them across the State of Montana. The campaign tells the heartbreaking stories of kids who saw their friends consumed by addiction–and who recall with guilt, regret and sadness not having said anything when informed their friends were going to try meth for the first time.
    While the campaign is also visually interesting–which is what one would expect of an accomplished cinematographer–it has a humanity and emotion that shows a fine directorial touch in terms of performance.
    Pfister foresees focusing more on his spot directorial career down the road. Once he does, he intends to be as protective of his brand as he would be the concept and product attached to the branded content awarded to him. “Protecting my brand as a director means being very selective about the projects you take on, accepting only high quality creative–be it a commercial, a feature or any other form of content.”
    Still, cinematography remains top of mind for Pfister whose undivided professional attention is on The Dark Knight Rises. Repped by ICM (as a cinematographer and feature director), Pfister is a film lover while open minded about prospects for digital cinematography.
    Film was the resounding medium of choice for Inception (which deployed a variety of Panavision film cameras including the Panaflex Millennium XL, PF System 65 Studio, PanArri 435ESA and 235; digital such as the Phantom HD camera was deployed for some high-speed work).
    “Times are changing. New technology is knocking at the door. More and more are shooting on digital media and it’s getting better. But film still has more latitude, resolution and is a better capture medium. Will that change in the future? Possibly. If and when it does, I will not be a snob about it. However, digital has to develop to being equal or better than film before I would consider using it. There are some pretty incredible tools out there but they are still inferior to film. For the Montana Meth spots, for example, I couldn’t have gotten the look on a digital camera that I got with film.”

Matthew Libatique, ASC    Ten years ago, Matthew Libatique, ASC, won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography on the strength of the Darren Aronofsky-directed Pi. Last month, Libatique again won that coveted honor, this time for another Aronofsky film, Black Swan.
    “Never in my wildest dreams did I think Black Swan would get all this recognition,” related Libatique. “One of the first to recognize the film was the Spirit Awards. Then came BAFTA and the Oscars, which both kind of overshadowed the original Spirit Award attention. But this was the one I wanted to win. I had won it before, been nominated other times. The Spirits, the community of independent film, is where I have my comfort zone. This community is where my roots are. To be back in the tent at the beach [in Santa Monica] for the Spirit Awards and to win 10 years later means a lot to me.”
    How has Libatique’s working relationship with Aronofsky evolved over those 10 years during which the DP also shot the director’s Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain?
    “Early on, we were two very aggressively creative people trying to show the world we could make films,” observed Libatique. “We’ve transitioned into 40 year olds who are comfortable in our skins and are able to work together, and work apart from ego…I don’t know if we have a shorthand with each other. I do know what he wants. He’s consistent in what he wants, how he wants to make a film. I can anticipate where he wants the camera, what action he wants. But he always has surprises, keeps you on edge. There’s not a whole lot of politics around him. He cares deeply about what the eventual product will be. He’s very engaged with his cinematographer.”
    For Libatique the biggest challenge of shooting Black Swan was learning about ballet. He even found an app to familiarize himself with the glossary of ballet–with definitions and videos of the dance moves themselves. The only term he knew going in was “pirouette” so he had a steep learning curve.
    “The more you understand about the subconscious and the art,” affirmed Libatique, “the more real your work will be. I wanted to learn the language of ballet, to speak the language so I could apply the language of film to that art. Natalie [Portman] worked so hard. The ultimate challenge for all of us was meshing the world of cinema with the world of dance, using the subjective camera, having it move with her.”
    Black Swan earned Libatique–who is handled by United Talent Agency (UTA)–Best Cinematography Awards from the New York Film Critics, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and an ASC Award, among several others.
    Libatique recently wrapped Cowboys and Aliens for director Jon Favreau, for whom he earlier shot Iron Man and Iron Man 2.  Libatique has also shot multiple films for Spike Lee.
    The cinematographer got his start in music videos. “The amount of work I learned to accomplish in one day on a music video was like bench pressing 500 pounds and then playing in a football game. When I went into features, the work wasn’t as intense in the same way but it was longer. I went from a sprint to a marathon. You learn to mentally pace yourself, to move quickly, efficiently and to make careful choices since they will affect your choices later on. My experience in short-form, videos and commercials has informed my work in features.”
    Libatique’s spot lensing over the years has entailed collaborations with some of the industry’s leading directors, including Noam Murro, Nicolai Fuglsig, Paul Hunter, Baker Smith, Traktor, Kinka Usher, Dante Ariola, Stylewar, and Brian Beletic.
    Among Libatique’s latest commercialmaking endeavors are a Hyundai campaign (including a couple of Super Bowl spots) directed by Stylewar of production house Smuggler, a Dairy Queen package of spots helmed by Beletic, also of Smuggler, and a Heineken job directed by Traktor of Partizan.
    Of his advertising industry exploits, Libatique observed, “The true value for me is having interesting discussions with talented directors like Brian, Stylewar, Traktor about the work, how to best do the work, what the best approach is in order to do justice to the concept and story. That’s invaluable for a cinematographer. It’s what I need. You go into a feature film and that is a marathon of those kinds of discussions. Having the opportunity to evaluate, analyze and take action is what’s great about commercials. If I just took three months off without doing commercials and went on to the next film, I would need more time to warm up and don’t think I would be as good on the next film.”
    Libatique shot Black Swan on Super 16 (the Arri 416 being the main camera), yet he also did some work for the film with the Canon 5D Mark II and 7D. His spot experience has also seen him deploy both the original and new versions of RED, as well as such digital cameras as Thomson’s Viper and Panavision’s Genesis.
    He doesn’t at all see digital as somehow signaling the demise of film yet he stays open minded as to what electronic cinematography can offer. “I’m always looking forward to exploring new technology. I haven’t shot with the [ARRI] Alexa yet but I’m looking forward to it.”
    Libatique views digital cameras as another tool for a cinematographer to access when a project calls for it. “Digital is evolving yet film is still wonderful,” he said. “I’m not into this film versus digital debate. But digital is revolutionary in the sense that it enables others who might not have been able to afford to before to now shoot and showcase their vision and talent.”

Eagle Egilsson, ASC    Four of the past five years, Eagle Egilsson, ASC, has been nominated for the ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in episodic television, winning the honor in 2010 for the “Venice Kings” episode of Dark Blue (TNT). He was nominated again for Dark Blue this year on the strength of the “Shell Game” episode. (Jonathan Freeman, ASC, won for an episode of Boardwalk Empire.)
    Egilsson’s first two ASC nominations came in ’07 and ’08 for CSI: Miami (CBS). It was his work as a commercials DP which helped inform his approach to CSI: Miami.
    “The purpose of a TV show is not to be an art showcase,” related Egilsson who is repped by William Morris Endeavor (WME). “It’s to keep the viewer tuned into the channel, away from the remote control button, for the duration of the show and during the commercial breaks. I felt the best way to do that, the trick to employ, was to take on CSI: Miami as if it were a commercial where every frame, every composition, every bit of lighting is designed to hold the viewer’s attention. I challenged myself to take that mentality from delivering thirty seconds to delivering the forty-two-and-a-half minutes that make an hourlong drama. Everyone on the CSI crew got into that groove. We turned out an extremely graphic and colorful show, which became the world’s most watched show.”
    SHOOT caught up with Egilsson via phone while he was in Toronto preparing to direct an episode of the TV series Nikita, which will be shot by Rene Ohashi, ASC. Occasionally opportunities to direct gravitate toward Egilsson; in fact he helmed both of his ASC Award-recognized Dark Blue episodes.
    Egilsson loves to shoot film but is open to digital cinematography, noting that he is just starting to experiment with ARRI’s Alexa at the behest of colleague Bill Bennett, ASC. Egilsson shot the first season of Dark Blue with the Panavision Genesis. For season two, he deployed the Sony F35.
    His alluded to spot lensing experience encompasses varied clients such as Volkswagen, Toyota, Pepsi, Target, Chevy, Discover Card, McDonald’s, Little Caesars, Burger King, Pantene, Maxwell House, Colgate, The Travel Channel and Wrangler Jeans. Over the years, Egilsson has shot for a host of notable directors including Bob Giraldi, Noam Murro and Danny Ducovny.
    Egilsson also branched out into unconventional forms of ad content, directing and shooting four webisodes for Sprint tied into the primetime TV series Heroes. Each Heroes: Destiny webisode was four minutes in length.
    Speaking of destiny, Egilsson felt his was to be a cinematographer. Born and raised in Iceland, Egilsson sold his car and came to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a DP. In his early 20s, he knocked on numerous doors, made cold phone calls and got his first break shooting assorted karaoke videos, pulling images from them and assembling his first showreel. Gradually Egilsson made headway, landing a 2nd unit shooting gig on a Fleetwood Mac music video directed by David Hogan and shot by Daniel Pearl, ASC. Egilsson then garnered other music clips to shoot, the visually engaging work catching the eye of director/series creator Zalman King who hired the cinematographer for his Showtime series Red Shoe Diaries. “He gave me full carte blanche,” said Egilsson of King. The show broke new visual ground, credited by some critics as bringing stylized sensibilities to the TV series discipline.
    After a smattering of indie features and diversifying into commercials, Egilsson landed HBO’s The Wire, which went on to become a critically acclaimed series. “It was a great new challenge, going from what were often glossy commercials to the gritty world of The Wire,” said Egilsson.
    His success on that show begat a succession of high-end TV gigs which included his ASC-honored work on the series CSI: Miami and Dark Blue.

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