One DP took on a much anticipated film, the follow-up to his Oscar-winning turn on the first cinematic installment of a revered sci-fi novel.
Another continued a fruitful collborative relationship, wrapping his seventh feature for a director whom he’s worked with for the past 15 years.
Our third cinematographer also enjoys a lengthy track record with a helmer, dating back to film school. And they most recently teamed to take us back some 52 years to a tragic chapter in history–from the perspective of the small group of broadcasters who covered it live, to the shock and horror of the world.
And our fourth DP came together with a first-time director on a period piece marked by personal redemption found during the course of a single day.
Here are insights from Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS on Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros. Pictures); Lawrence Sher, ASC on Joker: Folie à Deux (Warner Bros. Pictures); Markus Förderer, ASC, BVK on September 5 (Paramount Pictures); and Peter Simonite, ASC, CSC on Day of the Fight (Falling Forward Films).
Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS
If you believe in astrology, perhaps cinematographer Fraser was somehow destined to work with director Denis Villeneuve in that they were both born on October 3, albeit in different years. From the moment they first worked together on Dune: Part One, Fraser felt a connection with Villeneuve. Often their thinking is not only simpatico but verges on “a mind meld” in their perspective, view and approach, observed the DP.
Whatever your take on the constellations, clearly the stars aligned for them on Dune: Part One with Fraser winning both the Best Cinematography Oscar and the ASC Award in 2022. Fast forward to Dune: Part Two, which hit theaters earlier this year, and Fraser noted that his bond with Villeneuve deepened as they continued to tell a grand story, striving to do justice to Frank Herbert’s seminal science-fiction novel.
“Denis kept saying he doesn’t see Part Two as a sequel–that each standalone film tells one story,” related Fraser. It’s a story Villeneuve has lived with and admired since he was a teenager. And because of that, although the Dune films are a great spectacle, Villeneuve’s priority in every decision that’s made, related Fraser, is to tell a story that centers intimately on the characters. The ability of audiences to connect with those characters is paramount, their relationships to each other and their environments. A planet, for example, can be stunningly beautiful yet its harshness, in which there’s beauty, can kill you at the same time. The narrative is one of relationships–interpersonal and to your surroundings.
Towards that end Fraser and Villeneuve carried over essential elements from Part One to Part Two, a prime example being to bring film into the digital process in order to gain an emotional feel. Fraser dovetailed with Fotokem, a digital lab that also processes film, for Dune: Part One. They explored shooting digitally (deploying the ARRI Alexa LF,) spitting it out to film and then scanning back to digital. While not originating in film, Dune: Part One was thus able to have the benefits of film make their mark on the storytelling, bringing an analog dimension to the production. Fraser found that being able to push the film stock opened up creative opportunities, affording some control and options that wouldn’t normally be realized. He observed for instance that film lent a softening dynamic to the surroundings. You don’t have to tell the story of a harsh environment with harsh light and through harsh windows. You can instead allow the wind, the texture and the sound to depict harshness.
And this softening dynamic comes into play for the story and its characters, helping Fraser to provide Villeneuve with images that nurture the audience’s empathy for characters. That humanity helps to ground the film in reality, which can prove invaluable when creating worlds not your own. Even within that context, viewers can recognize the reality of the environment and what’s transpiring in it.
This digital/film process remained intact for Dune: Part Two, for which Fraser turned to the ARRI Alexa 65 and LF cameras. Fraser said that Villeneuve in his wisdom felt that taking the film-out step “helped take the digital edge off what we were filming.”
Fraser noted that Villeneuve was insistent that “we connect all the characters.” In the midst of explosions, stunt work and epic action, there’s the inherent danger of becoming disconnected from the characters–and of the characters becoming seemingly disconnected from each other. Fraser felt that among his main responsibilities was to maintain that human connectivity through the visual language developed for the films.
In the big picture, Fraser shared that Villeneuve encourages input and feedback from his collaborators. In that pursuit, Fraser said that Villeneuve is “straight forward” and “doesn’t sugarcoat anything.” And conversely, the cinematographer related, “I can say quite boldly and unabashedly what I think without the risk of feeling I need to sugarcoat anything.” This straight-up, honest exchange of ideas is essential to the process. And with some six hours over two feature films to tell the story, Villeneuve encouraged bold choices so that everyone could feel the freedom to figuratively “swing for the fences.” One such successful swing for Fraser was shooting a key Dune: Part Two exterior sequence in infrared. “I may not have chosen to do that if we were making a film that wasn’t that long in total run time,” conjectured Fraser.
The “swing for the fences” mantra, pointed out Fraser, represents quite a departure from the varied unfulfilled attempts over the decades to make a film based on Herbert’s “Dune.” The story was frequently deemed “unfilmable” and “unmakeable,” said Fraser who affirmed that Villeneuve was steadfastly committed to bringing what turned out to be his two films to fruition. Villeneuve’s imagination as a youngster was engaged and sparked by Herbert’s 1965 novel which introduces us to a young man on a journey carrying heroic themes spanning personal duty and responsibility, destiny, heritage, colonialism, brotherhood, religion, the environment, politics, morality and the lack thereof. The “Dune” book did all this in an awe-inspiring poetic manner and when Villeneuve became a filmmaker his dream project was at some point to bring the spirit and depth of Herbert’s tale to the big screen. Fraser noted it’s been inspiring to watch Villeneuve work with the actors and assorted collaborators to tell the story and in the process tackling head-on assorted limitations and logistical hurdles. The DP said he feels “fortunate” to be “sitting alongside Denis as a filmmaker.” (Villeneuve also wrote the adapted screenplay for Dune: Part Two, teaming with Jon Spaihts.)
Fraser is a two-time Oscar nominee, the first coming in 2017 for Lion which also earned him his first ASC Award win. Fraser is a four-time ASC Award nominee. Besides the wins for Lion and Dune: Part One, Fraser was nominated in 2021 on the TV side for the first episode of The Mandalorian, and last year for the feature film The Batman. Fraser is also a three-time Best Cinematography BAFTA Award nominee–for Lion, Dune: Part One and The Batman.
Lawrence Sher, ASC
For Sher, Joker: Folie à Deux is the continuation of a process, not started as one might assume with the original Joker–for which he earned Oscar and ASC Award nominations in 2020–but rather a process that began some 15 years ago when he first collaborated with director Todd Phillips on the feature The Hangover. Since then, Sher has shot seven movies for Phillips, including both Joker films.
From the outset, Sher said that he and Phillips have been experimenting with ways to free the actors to perform, removing constraints such as the confines of lighting. The director and DP have sought to enable actors to do what they do best with creative and physical freedom–affording them the flexibility to go 360, set new marks, explore scenes in real time. With each film he shot for Phillips, Sher said they have progressed in different ways, moving closer to realizing that aspiration and more. This forward-thinking, open mindset, for example, facilitated Phillips, Sher and Joaquin Phoenix being able to discover scenes in real time, moments for the first time as they happen before the camera. Phoenix of course wound up winning the Best Actor Oscar for Joker, one of 11 nominations earned by the film (for which composer Hildur Guðnadóttir also won for Best Original Score).
This approach, Sher told SHOOT during that Oscar season, made the film feel different from others in the so-called superhero/supervillain genre. “The movie feels handmade, a little bit dirty, very real, constructed by human beings, not a pre-vis lab. Humanity is the best way to describe it. Joker introduces us to a human being who happens to transform into something that exists within a superhero context.”
Now, four years later, Joker: Folie à Deux emerges with that humanity carrying over but taking on new dimensions as the sequel also brings us musical numbers, additional crime thriller elements, a romance dynamic (Lady Gaga as Lee Quinzel), and a courtroom drama as an imprisoned Arthur Fleck (aka Joker, again portrayed by Phoenix) goes on trial for the murders that occurred in the first Joker film.
Besides developing a shorthand and deep communication with one another, Sher and Phillips’ long track record has yielded another major benefit. “We’ve expanded our filmmaking language together,” said Sher, commencing with The Hangover in which “characters are in situations that are crazy but the world they’re in is visually authentic. The authenticity helps make the craziness of the comedy better.” Sher added that he and Phillips discovered “the most valuable thing we can do is to give actors the freedom to perform–that informs my lighting philosophy; environments are lit as opposed to people.” This, he continued, affords room for a final product that benefits from being more “jazzy” and improvisational.”
Over the past 15 years and counting, Sher said that he and Phillips have kept pushing that dynamic from one film to the next, including The Hangover films, Due Date and War Dogs. By the time they got to Joker, it wasn’t a departure but really “an extension of what we had been doing.”
Like the first Joker film, Joker: Folie à Deux takes place, said Sher, in “a realistic world that’s heightened. It’s not a wholly realistic space but we like it to feel grounded in reality.” That grounding is also important in the musical scenes which are at times fantastical, allowing the characters to break out of full reality into very production designed spaces. But even in those fantasies, there are heightened versions of things that exist, observed Sher. And the musical numbers are wide ranging, including a rooftop dance that resides closer to the spirit of the 1940s’ MGM movie musicals.
Among the prime challenges that Joker: Folie à Deux posed to Sher was visually figuring out how the music was going to play into the story. Noting that music was a big part of the original Joker but not as overtly as in the second film, Sher said it was somewhat natural to incorporate musical numbers into the sequel in that the Joker and Fleck had music within them all along–and Gaga’s character gives them a chance to sing out to her. Plus, they sing out to each other in ways that further define the characters. Still, this was described by Sher as a “scary” proposition. But at the same time, he observed, “Scary is part of the reason you want to do it. If I feel it’s something I’ve done before, it’s usually something I don’t want to do.” Fear and anxiety in prep turned to “exciting and new once we got into it.”
As with the first Joker film, Sher deployed the ARRI Alexa 65 for Joker: Folie à Deux. For a sequence towards the end where Fleck escapes the courthouse after an explosion, Sher went with the Sony VENICE digital camera in the portable Rialto mode to better follow Fleck as he flees; along the way he’s picked up by a car carrying some of his so-called admirers. Fleck takes flight from them as well.
As for the biggest takeaways from his experience on Joker: Folie à Deux, Sher said he learned that “you can do something that really feels quite improvisational” as long as you plan meticulously. Lighting sets to give the actors freedom, even real-time lighting certain spaces towards that same end, enables you to “play jazz with the camera and the actor.” At first, Sher earlier feared that attaining that jazzy dynamic would “feel formless in a bad way.” But with thorough planning, jazzy doesn’t mean having to feel unfocused and sloppy–as long as your approach is thought out and precise. “When I watch the film, I feel a level of precision,” said Sher, adding that at the same time it didn’t feel meticulously planned out. Rather he feels naturally connected with Fleck and the characters because the actors were given the latitude to perform at their best. Sher described the process of working with Phillips and the actors as “joyous.”
The other major takeaway for Sher is that “when you make a movie, you then give it away and it’s out of your hands.” It’s akin to a child you raise who goes on to live his/her/their own life. “The joy of a movie can sometimes not align with the way it’s received,” observed Sher who still firmly believes that Joker: Folie à Deux will have a longer history than what has been written thus far.
Sher brings another experience to his cinematography as he’s been directing from time to time. For example, he directed the comedy-drama feature Father Figures (2017) starring Owen Wilson, Glenn Close, Ving Rhames, Christopher Walken and J.K. Simmons. Sher also directed multiple episodes of the Peacock series Rutherford Falls. And he continues to be repped as a commercial/branded content director via brother, the production company headed by filmmaker Theodore (Ted) Melfi and exec producer Rich Carter.
Sher said that serving as a director gave him a much better perspective of the filmmakers he shoots for, what they’re going through day to day–the multitude of concerns and elements “outside of my purview” as a cinematographer. “When I come to them with a question, need or desire, I’m one of 40 others asking them something that day.”
While he is looking to direct select projects down the road, Sher reaffirmed that he loves lensing. And the experience of directing has made him a better cinematographer, re-inspired and made him more courageous, willing to take more chances as an artist. In fact, after Joker: Folie à Deux, Sher shot a commercial for director Melfi as well as the feature The Bride, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Markus Förderer, ASC, BVK
Like Sher and Phillips, cinematographer Förderer has a longstanding track record with director Tim Fehlbaum. The two went to the same film school in Munich and have collaborated regularly over the years.
Förderer made his feature film debut on Fehlbaum’s post-apocalyptic feature, Hell. The film garnered Förderer several awards including the 2012 German Camera Award for Best Cinematography, the Best Cinematography Award at the 2011 Sitges Film Festival in Spain, and a nomination for Best Cinematography Debut at Camerimage International in 2012. Förderer lensed Fehlbaum’s second feature, The Colony (2021). And slated for wide U.S. release this month is their third feature together, September 5, a dramatic thriller set around the live coverage of the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Some 20 hours after it began, the attack claimed the lives of 11 members of Israel’s Olympic team, a West German policeman, and five terrorists from the group Black September, an affiliate of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
September 5–which Fehlbaum wrote with Moritz Binder and co-writer Alex David–focuses on the sports broadcasters from the ABC Television Network who had cameras in place and wound up covering the live events as they unfolded to shocked audiences around the world. A group of sports broadcasters suddenly found themselves covering an event which normally would have been the province of ABC News. September 5 brings us into the ABC Sports control room, the fateful decisions made within that space and how they reverberated worldwide.
Förderer shared that he was initially concerned about the prospects of shooting much of the film in such a confined space–a TV network control room–with very few exterior shots. Förderer asked himself, “Are we doing these events justice with the scope?” Telling a global event within such a small setting seemed counter-intuitive at first. But Förderer came to embrace a “less is more” philosophy as the drama of the real-life story generated a palpable energy within such a claustrophobic environment. Förderer observed that the control room crew rolling out a map on a table, showing we are here and the hostages are there, had a unique impact all its own. This way so much “takes place in the audience’s head,” said the DP. And at times both in and beyond the control room, Förderer said that when it came to lighting, he often didn’t want to show everything in certain scenes, opting to keep mystery in the shadows so viewers’ imaginations could fill in the blanks. “Nothing is as strong as our imagination,” shared Förderer who maintained an approach of restraint so that “each audience member creates their own little film in their head” as he and Fehlbaum were intentionally not always specific in what they showed the world, sticking to what those in the control room saw and could make of it.
Writer-director Fehlbaum had this film in development in his own mind for some three years prior to the start of the actual shoot, noted Förderer who was brought onto the project, scouting locations, a long time before any green light was given. Förderer grew up in Germany, attended film school in Munich and knew the Olympic Village there quite well. It looked very much the same as it did in the 1970s. The film evolved over time as Fehlbaum became fascinated by the perspective of telling the story through the eyes of the media–what they knew, didn’t know, and the challenges posed by a new form of live television. Förderer said that Fehlbaum was very respectful of the facts–and the families who lost loved ones. The writers thoroughly researched the history and just days before the film got underway, German reports on the terrorist attacks were declassified and served as a major resource, documenting the failure of the German police, their lack of preparation while pretending to have everything well under control. At one point, German authorities reported that the Israeli hostages were successfully rescued–but a short time later came news of a shootout at the Fürstenfeldbruck air base outside Munich, where a plane was waiting at the request of the terrorists. None of the Israelis survived.
At one point, ABC Sports producer Geoffrey Mason (portrayed by John Magaro)–who was thrust to the helm of the control room–decides to go on air with the report that the hostages were safe, which was initially corroborated only to later fall by the wayside.
“We wanted the audience to feel part of this crew in the control room–witnessing the characters as the events unfold,” Förderer pointed out.
Also key was the shootout at the air base–with original footage shot from afar. Fehlbaum got access to some of the archival content which was on videotape and of poor quality so Förderer had to re-create what audiences saw at that time. He went with black-and-white digital paired with old lenses, capturing traffic jams around the airport as well as nearby residents being interviewed about what they heard and saw. Förderer and Fehlbaum decided to embrace the darkness of the actual period footage, which was illuminated by car footage. Förderer used a couple of hidden LED lights and tried to replicate the look of 16mm film with digital cameras. Some archival footage was used (of ABC Sports anchor Jim McKay on air, and wide shots of fencing around the air base) but the majority of the action was re-created. “It was important for Tim to never show real images of the hostages out of respect for their families.
Förderer selected the RED Digital Cinema V-Raptor 8K digital camera, paired with lenses from the 1960s and ‘70s, for September 5. He also learned about Zoomar, the first Zoom lens of its kind, which was used at the ‘72 Olympics. A self-described “lens freak,” Förderer hadn’t heard about the Zoomar lens before. He wound up locating one on eBay from a collector. Förderer had this Zoomar lens–which was made for still photography-converted to shoot in conjunction with the digital camera sensor. Additionally, some select sequences were shot on film.
Förderer noted that Fehlbaum is well versed in camerawork, having started in film school shooting documentaries and short films himself. “He has a great understanding of the camera and for me as a cinematographer it’s a gift to have such a creative partner to bounce ideas back and forth with. We have similar tastes and sensibilities. We started out making films from the early days. We know each other’s style. I know what he likes and doesn’t like.”
For September 5, they looked to strike a balance–a documentary feel but not a documentary, bringing a cinematic quality to the work.
September 5 premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and went on to the Telluride Film Festival. Besides his work with Fehlbaum, Förderer has to his credit two feature films with director Roland Emmerich, the period drama Stonewall, which bowed at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, and Independence Day: Resurgence. Additional credits include Mike Cahill‘s sci-fi drama, I, Origins, which won the 2014 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Sundance Film Festival; the feature film I Remember, which premiered at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival and won the 2016 German Camera Award for Best Cinematography; the pilot for the sci-fi horror series Nightflyers, by Games of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin; and the drama Bliss, directed by Cahill, starring Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek.
Förderer also lensed the pilot and second episode of Constellation, the Apple TV+ sci-fi thriller starring Noomi Rapace; and the action-comedy Red Notice, directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, which launched on Netflix and is the streamer’s most watched movie of all time.
Peter Simonite, ASC, CSC
Day of the Fight marks the feature directorial debut of Jack Huston. It’s also the first time that cinematographer Simonite worked with Huston who going in was best known for his body of work as an actor.
“One of his producers was familiar with my work and knew I had done some recent black-and-white projects,” recalled Simonite, adding that Huston had also expressed interest in poetic visuals with a Terrence Malick kind of feel. Simonite had some experience working for Malick and cinematographer Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki, having done second unit work on their The Tree of Life. Based on all that, Simonite’s name was submitted to Huston for consideration on Day of the Fight.
Simonite described Huston as “very driven and very hard working. He’s far from a first-time director. He has a lot of experience in film from performing as an actor, being on set with the likes of Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese, and growing up with a family history of filmmaking [his grandfather being the legendary director, John Huston]. You’re working with a director who has a deep sense of performance and visual storytelling. He has a strong sense of what he likes and at the same time is a great collaborator. This was a nice opportunity for me to join in with him and discover a language together for the film.”
Day of the Fight follows a former champion boxer, Mike Flannagan (played by Michael C. Pitt) as he takes a redemptive journey through his past and present, on the day of his first fight since he left prison. Simonite was drawn to Jack Huston’s script, soulful with a lot of heart, as well an instant rapport he felt with the writer-director, and a stellar cast headed by Pitt, with supporting roles for Joe Pesci, Ron Perlman, Steve Buscemi and Nicolette Robinson.
Simonite felt an affinity for Huston based on his strong ideas and sense of the story. “Jack also envisioned this as a black-and-white film with this sort of interesting use of color flashbacks–almost a hand-tinted color feel,” said Simonite. The latter artistic choice grabbed the cinematographer in that it was based on “the feeling of memory” to which he could relate. “In your memories, things can be colored a little bit or faded a little bit. So much of the story happens within the protagonist’s mind. There’s a poetry to that,” which the subtle use of color reflects.
Simonite said, “Jack wanted a very classic timeless visual quality, which called to mind street photography and classic black-and-white movies, a higher contrast black and white, more like a silver gelatin print, more of a fine art kind of look, not your creamy black and white.”
Huston and Simonite identified visual references, which included John Huston’s Moulin Rouge for its interesting use of color and Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront for its great long takes, inspiring the use of one-ers to enhance the narrative flow in Day of the Fight. Simonite cited another parallel to On the Waterfront in that it and Day of the Fight have storylines that involve boxing but are not necessarily boxing films. There’s a lot of heart and human poetry on the screen in Day of the Fight as viewers can feel New York City in the 1980s.
Simonite ultimately opted for the ARRI Alexa 35 which he regards as delivering “the gold standard, the most modern, beautiful digital format.” He put that camera in tandem with Leica Summilux lenses, which Simonite described as delivering a classic and timeless look. Simonite also reached out to master camera operator Jim McConkey to handle Steadicam which facilitated a number of one-ers and such story elements as the fateful bout in the boxing ring. Many years ago Simonite served as a camera assistant on a film on which McConkey operated. Simonite remains in awe of McConkey’s talent–including his acumen for long, artful tracking shots–and gravitated toward him for Day of the Fight. McConkey’s giant tracking shots (and rigs he invented to accomplish them) have made their narrative mark on varied projects, including five seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel–and on director Michael Mann’s feature, Ali.
Like any film, Day of the Fight had its challenges, causing Simonite and other crew members to coin the phrase “fight of the day” to encapsulate the assorted obstacles that would emerge–such as prepping in the midst of the COVID pandemic, shooting during the winter in New Jersey, and working with an indie budget on a film full of big aspirations. “Like a lot of independent films, there was a lot of passion behind this. And as they say, ‘if it’s not challenging, you’re not trying hard enough,” said Simonite.
Huston challenged Simonite to help liberate the actors during shooting. “Jack was very clear from the beginning that he wanted his performers to have a sort of freedom in the blocking and staging of the scenes. He didn’t want to nail things down too much. His instincts as a director were to protect that space for the performers, to have a fluid feel for things.”
In addition to his second unit work on The Tree of Life, Simonite contributed additional photography to other Malick films such as To The Wonder and Song to Song. Simonite’s credits as a cinematographer also include Voice from the Stone starring Emilia Clarke, and The Perfect Guy starring Michael Ealy and Sanaa Lathan–as well as music video work for Billie Eilish.
