The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) held its annual awards on Sunday evening (3/3) with Hoyte van Hoytema, ASC, FSF, NSC earning the marquee feature film honor for Oppenheimer. In his acceptance remarks before an industry audience at the Beverly Hilton, van Hoytema thanked Oppenheimer writer-director Christopher Nolan, producer Emma Thomas, and a close-knit camera team. The cinematographer added that a priority for him over the years has been to help keep celluloid alive as a viable option for filmmakers. The success of Oppenheimer, he noted, underscores that “ [celluloid] film is alive and appreciated by audiences more than ever.” Van Hoytema added that four of the five nominated pictures in this year’s ASC Award feature category were shot on film.
This marks van Hoytema’s first ASC Award win. He was previously nominated for Dunkirk (2018) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2012).
The 38th ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards also honored Warwick Thornton for The New Boy in the Spotlight Award category, which recognizes stellar cinematography in independent, foreign or art-house-type/festival films. And cinematographer Curren Sheldon topped the documentary competition on the strength of King Coal. These were the first career ASC wins for Thornton and Sheldon.
ASC winners in television included M. David Mullen, ASC for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Ben Kutchins, ASC for Boston Strangler; and Carl Herse for Barry. Jon Joffin, ASC took home the first ASC Award in the inaugural music video category for Jon Bryant’s “At Home.”
This was Mullen’s fifth nomination for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and his second consecutive win. Kutchins scored his first ASC win. Herse has won the ASC Award for Barry for two straight years. And Joffin registered his fourth ASC Award win, having previously earned TV honors for Beyond (2019), Motherland: Fort Salem (2020) and Titans (2022).
Honorary awards at this year’s ASC ceremony included Spike Lee receiving the ASC Board of Governors Award (presented by Matthew Libatique, ASC, Ellen Kuras, ASC; and Ernest Dickerson, ASC), and Don Burgess, ASC was honored with the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award (presented by Robert Zemeckis). Steve Fierberg, ASC was honored with the ASC Career Achievement in Television Award (presented by Sarah Treem). Amy Vincent, ASC received the Presidents Award (presented by Beverly Wood). And the Bud Stone Award was presented by ASC President Shelly Johnson to Sony’s Dan Perry
Here’s a rundown of the evening’s winners in competition:
THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM
Hoyte van Hoytema, ASC, FSF, NSC for Oppenheimer (Universal Pictures)
SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Warwick Thornton for The New Boy
EPISODE OF A ONE-HOUR REGULAR SERIES
M. David Mullen, ASC for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, “Four Minutes” (Prime Video)
LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TV
Ben Kutchins, ASC for Boston Strangler (Hulu)
EPISODE OF A HALF-HOUR SERIES
Carl Herse for Barry, “Tricky Legacies” (Max)
DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Curren Sheldon for King Coal
MUSIC VIDEO AWARD
Jon Joffin, ASC for "At Home" (Performed by Jon Bryant)
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More