Hustlers Cinematographer on Capturing Glamour, Grime, & J. Lo’s Knockout Performance

Writer/director Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers, based on a gangbusters piece of reporting from The Cut‘s Jessica Pressler, follows a group of dancers-turned-criminals from New York’s famous strip club Scores. Although “criminals” in the Robin Hood sense—sort of. Sure, the two women at the center of the story don’t give their pilfered riches to the poor, but you’re rooting for them nonetheless. It also helps that they’re embodied by a sensational Jennifer Lopez as Ramona and the rising star Constance Wu as Destiny.

How Cinematographer Checco Varese Harnessed Darkness in It: Chapter Two

The 2017 remake of Stephen King’s It was box office smash raking in over 700 million worldwide during its release. Pennywise was back and Warner Bros tapped director Andy Muschietti, who shot the remake, to bring the sequel to the silver screen which picks up the horrific events 27 years later. The Credits detailed you in on the hair-raising score from Benjamin Wallfisch. Now let’s step into the shadows with cinematographer Checco Varese and face our Pennywise fears.   

TIFF 2019: Legendary Cinematographer Roger Deakins on Capturing The Goldfinch

Cinematographer Roger Deakins, best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes, and Denis Villeneuve, whose Blade Runner 2049 earned Deakins his first Oscar last year after 14 nominations, is no stranger to complex adult dramas. For The Goldfinch, Deakins and director John Crowley worked carefully to bring Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to the screen without falling into the traps that often snare book adaptations.

Best of Summer 2019: Fleabag‘s Emmy-Nominated Cinematographer on Capturing Cutting-Edge Comedy

*As summer draws to a close, we’re looking back at some of our favorite interviews and stories.

There’s no such thing as flawless art. Flaws are baked right into anything a human being creates, and often they are hard to disassociate from the strengths that make any art worthwhile. Yet I’ve heard several people call Fleabag‘s second season flawless, and I’ve been hard-pressed to argue the point.

Fleabag‘s Emmy-Nominated Cinematographer on Crafting a Nearly Flawless Second Season

There’s no such thing as flawless art. Flaws are baked right into anything a human being creates, and often they are hard to disassociate from the strengths that make any art worthwhile. Yet I’ve heard several people call Fleabag‘s second season flawless, and I’ve been hard-pressed to argue the point. Few shows on television are as personal, raw, and fearless as what Phoebe Waller-Bridge has created here, which is full of its creators’

Deconstructing Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s With his Cinematographer Robert Richardson

When you dig past the humorous and unnerving storylines of Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, you’ll find a serious tale about friendship.

Set in 1969, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a fading Western star trying to stay relevant in Tinseltown has one sure thing—his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Booth’s past includes being a war hero and some domestic trouble,

How Mood & Lighting Established Tone in The Last Black Man in San Francisco

The Last Black Man in San Francisco marks the feature debut for director Joe Talbot, an allegory that puts a spotlight on the childhood dream and the effects of gentrification.

Inspired by the real-life story of Jimmie Fails, who plays a fictionalized version of himself, Fails, with the help of his best friend Mont (Jonathan Majors), go on a journey to take back the family home his grandfather built but lost ownership of when he was a young child.

How Russian Doll’s Cinematographer Owned the Night in Netflix’s hit Series

“Joel was amazing for coming up with solutions for turning New York into a Russian Doll city.”  The Big Apple already boasts its share of Russian dolls, mobsters, peroshkis, and more, of course, but cinematographer Chris Teague is instead referring his gaffer, Joel Minnich, and the recent hit Netflix series of the same title, which he shot.

Starring co-creator, co-producer (and for one episode, director) Natasha Lyonne, Russian Doll follows the various embedded and unraveling realities of Nadia,

Building Thousands of Years of History in Amazon’s Good Omens

“Corners are where everyone makes decisions. This is the point where you change directions.” And corners are usually located at crossroads, to boot, the very place—especially if you’re a Mississippi bluesman—where it’s said deals with the devil can be struck.

The corner in question, however, concerns an angel, and the London bookshop that he owns—part of Michael Ralph’s production design on the upcoming Amazon/BBC adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens.

Martin Ruhe on Shooting George Clooney’s Catch-22 Adaptation

“Certain things I don’t think we’d be legally allowed to do now,” observes cinematographer Martin Ruhe, ASC, when reflecting on the prior attempt to bring Joseph Heller’s classic, absurdist, and decidedly non-chronological Catch-22 to the screen.

That would be the 1970 Mike Nichols film version, which was somewhat of a commercial and critical bust at the time but has since come to be regarded in more classic “70’s cinema” terms.

Captive State DP Pictures Chicago After Aliens

Director Rupert Wyatt took motion capture technology to the next level in 2011 with VFX-intensive Rise of the Planet of the Apes. For his new sci-fi movie Captive State (opening Friday, March 15), Wyatt and director of photography Alex Disenhof took a stripped-down approach, filming on the wintry streets of Chicago to conjure a near-future urban dystopia ruled by aliens. Ashton Sanders (Moonlight) plays the leader of a resistance movement,

Meet the Creative Team That Helped Captain Marvel Soar

Captain Marvel‘s Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) is a part human part alien superhero who can 100% kick-ass. Seriously. Watch out Thanos. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck propelled Marvel’s most potent superhero to the big screen this weekend and the results are a critical and commercial smash. Meet the creative team who helped Boden, Fleck and Larson create a Marvel movie unlike any other.

The allegory catapults us to the Kree home planet of Hala where Danvers already touts her powers and is training as a member of Starforce,

Cold War‘s Oscar-Nominated DP Lukasz Zal on the Perspective of Love

*In the run-up to this Sunday’s Oscars telecast, we’re sharing some of our favorite interviews with nominees. 

Cinematographer Lukasz Zal won the prestigious Silver Frog Award at Camerimage for his work on Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, a ravishing look at a romance over the course of 30-years and several thousand miles through Europe. Zal had worked with Pawlikowski on Ida, the director’s previous masterpiece,

The Favourite‘s Oscar-Nominated DP on Creating one of the Year’s Most Ravishing Films

*In the run-up to this Sunday’s Oscars telecast, we’re sharing some of our favorite interviews with nominees. 

Before The Favourite came his way, Robbie Ryan had never worked with Yorgos Lanthimos, but he did admire the Greek director’s offbeat art house films Dogtooth and Killing of a Sacred Deer. So when Lanthimos invited Ryan to shoot his 18th-century black comedy about Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) and rival courtiers (Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone),

Celebrating the ASC’s Top 10 Films of the 20th Century

The American Society of Cinematographers recently released their “100 Milestone Films in Cinematography of 20th Century.” For the uninitiated (which is 99% of the viewing public), the ASC is “an honorary organization made up of the best cinematographers in the world,” says cinematographer Richard Crudo, ASC (this explains why you often see an “ASC” after a cinematographer’s name in the credits.) “Membership is by invitation only and is extended after the candidate has been proposed by members and has passed a screening process.”

The titles in the ASC’s list were compiled through an internal poll conducted by the Society.

Aquaman‘s DP on the Challenge of People Talking & Fighting Underwater

Of all the superheroes (and there are a lot of superheroes if you haven’t noticed), cinematographer Don Burgess was challenged to lens the one with the most problematic superpowers and origin story. Unlike Batman’s gritty Gotham, Superman’s soaring Metropolis or even Black Panther’s glorious Wakanda, there is no superhero who presents a tougher challenge to a filmmaker than Aquaman and his underwater kingdom of Atlantis.

“When When I met Sam Raimi to interview for Spider-Man,

Oscar Watch: DP James Laxton on Creating Radical Intimacy in If Beale Street Could Talk

Oscar-nominated cinematographer James Laxton (Moonlight) and his longtime collaborator director Barry Jenkins did something novel with If Beale Street Could Talk, and we’re not just talking about the fact the film is adapted from the legendary James Baldwin’s titular novel. Unlike their previous collaborations, 2008’s Medicine for Melancholy, set in San Francisco, and 2016’s Oscar-winning Moonlight, set in Miami, Beale Street unfolds in a city neither had an intimate knowledge of—New York.

Oscar Watch: Black Panther Cinematographer Rachel Morrison on how to Make an Intimate Epic

When Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison (the first woman ever nominated in the category for her work on Mudbound) started working on Black Panther, she had an uncanny feeling; this massive, ultimately groundbreaking Marvel mega-film felt much more like the indies she’s worked on in the past. Black Panther marked her second collaboration with writer/director Ryan Coogler (she lensed his breakout first film, Fruitvale Station),

Oscar Watch: Cold War‘s DP Lukasz Zal on Crafting Pawel Pawlikowski’s Latest Masterpiece

Cinematographer Lukasz Zal won the prestigious Silver Frog Award at Camerimage for his work on Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, a ravishing look at a romance over the course of 30-years and several thousand miles through Europe. Zal had worked with Pawlikowski on Ida, the director’s previous masterpiece, as a cameraman (he ultimately earned himself a co-cinematographer credit). For Cold War, Zal was in command of the camera team,

Cinematographer René Richter on Creating the Sumptuous Head Full of Honey

When director Til Schweiger and his team shot Honig im Kopf, about a family dealing with a grandparent’s onset of Alzheimer’s, his team primarily worked where the film was set: continental European countryside, plus a bit of London. Minor interior replacements subbed Germany in for Venice. When Schweiger and his crew reconvened to film an English-language remake, Head Full of Honey, the settings changed, though the locations often didn’t.