“John Wick: Chapter 4” Cinematographer Dan Laustsen on the Beautiful Brutality of Lensing Wick’s World

Editor’s Note: Leading up to the release of John Wick: Chapter 4 on March 24, 2023, The Credits is publishing a “Wick Week” of content, weaving stories about the film’s fighting style, stunts, along with an interview with director Chad Stahelski. Some mild spoilers follow.

Cinematographer Dan Laustsen has a way with color.

“Scream VI” Cinematographer Brett Jutkiewicz on Framing Scenes So They Cut Deep

Brett Jutkiewicz wanted the images to cut a little deeper in Scream VI. Inspired by the franchise’s move to New York City, the cinematographer wanted a crueler and harsher mood. To achieve this effect, Jutkiewicz ditched anamorphic lenses and brought a new aesthetic to the long-running series.

Filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, known as Radio Silence, embraced Jutkiewicz’s idea for a new style. The trio collaborated on Ready or Not and the previous Scream film.

“Daisy Jones & the Six” Cinematographer Checco Varese on Evoking 70s Vibe Through a Contemporary Lens

Cinematographer Checco Varese won a 2022 Emmy for his gripping treatment of Appalachia’s opioid epidemic in Dopesick before taking on the relatively innocent place and time dramatized in Daisy Jones & the Six. The 10-episode series (adapted from Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel), now streaming on Amazon Prime, follows the rise and fall of a mid-seventies Fleetwood Mac-like L.A. band fueled by drugs, sex, and rock and roll.

Varese,

“Champions” Cinematographer C. Kim Miles Found Inspiration Everyday on Set

Cinematographer C. Kim Miles has shot everything from TV superhero The Flash and Robert Zemeckis’ miniaturized soldier epic Welcome to Marwen to teen cannibalism drama Yellowjackets and Michelle Yeoh‘s upcoming miniseries The Brothers Sun, which he describes as “Crazy Rich Asians meets John Wick.” But until director Bobby Farrelly’s Champions came along, Miles had never worked with a cast of developmentally challenged actors.

“The Last of Us” Cinematographer Eben Bolter on Episode 4 & More

It took a decade to get there, but The Last of Us’ migration from video game to television paid off big time last month when the post-apocalyptic thriller enjoyed the largest viewership jump in HBO history. Audience numbers increased 22 percent to 5.7 million viewers for the show’s second episode in the wake of its January 15 debut. Already renewed for a second season, the series comes from Emmy-winning writer-producer Craig Mazin of Chernobyl fame in collaboration with Neil Druckmann,

Best of 2022: “Nope” Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema on Capturing the Epic Scope of Jordan Peele’s Latest

It’s that time of year—we look back on a few of our favorite interviews from 2022 in our annual year-end list.

Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema failed to get into two Dutch film schools, so he worked in a soap factory, played in a band, and survived unemployment as a self-described “slacker” before finding his creative footing at a renowned cinema academy in Lodz, Poland. Since then, he’s made up for lost time through collaborations with A-list auteurs,

Best of 2022: “The Batman” Cinematographer Greig Fraser on Finding Light in the Darkness

It’s that time of year—we look back on a few of our favorite interviews from 2022 in our annual year-end list.

At a gripping three hours, The Batman isn’t so much an endurance test as it is a lengthy visual puzzle, one that takes place primarily after hours. Director Matt Reeves’s take on Batman (Robert Pattinson) may be the franchise’s most disaffected nocturnal not-so-superhero yet. Working,

Best of 2022: “The Woman King” DP Polly Morgan on Lensing Viola Davis in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Thrilling Epic

It’s that time of year—we look back on a few of our favorite interviews from 2022 in our annual year-end list.

A sweeping historical epic that blends intimacy and adventure is the kind of movie that The Woman King cinematographer Polly Morgan dreamed about making while growing up in West Sussex, England. 

“My earliest memories were Close Encounters and Empire of the Sun.

“Causeway” Cinematographer Diego Garcia on Capturing Jennifer Lawrence’s Subtly Powerful Performance

“I would like to go back,” says former U.S. soldier Lynsey (Jennifer Lawrence) to her physiotherapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson), who is overseeing her rehabilitation following a traumatic brain injury from an IED while serving in Afghanistan. But her reasoning for returning is more than a flashy comeback story found on the front page of a sports magazine. Her wounds run deeper, and the question of “should she go back” is the resonating theme of director Lila Neugebauer’s (Maid,

“Black Bird” Cinematographer Natalie Kingston Breaks Down Her Technique on Apple’s Crime Thriller

There’s a symphony of visual subtlety threaded throughout creator Dennis Lehane’s psychological crime drama Black Bird (available now on Apple TV+) that harmoniously lifts the resonating performances and moody tenor of the story that can be easily overlooked. Series cinematographer Natalie Kingston (who alluringly photographed all six episodes) prefers it that way.

Based on the life of James Keene (Taron Egerton), a Chicago-area high school football star turned dope dealer and eventual prison inmate,

“Reasonable Doubt” DP Robert E. Arnold on Lensing Hulu’s Legal Drama

Robert E. Arnold figured he’d paid his dues in Hollywood, working since 2008 as a grip, gaffer, and Steadicam operator on dozens of projects ranging from Big Little Lies and Grown-ish to The Walking Dead and Furious 7. But those credits, along with a degree from Los Angeles’ prestigious American Film Institute, failed to open doors to the coveted Director of Photography position he hankered for.

“Don’t Worry Darling” Cinematographer Matthew Libatique on Creating a Sinister World Beneath the Surface

There’s a menacing unreality looming beneath the surface in Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling that cinematographer Matthew Libatique (The Whale, A Star is Born) stitched together through a tapestry of largely subliminal clues, subconsciously pinning you to the story’s shocking twist. 

Midsommar scene-stealer Florence Pugh steps into the role of Alice Chambers, a young housewife living her best life circa the 1950s.

“Confess, Fletch” Cinematographer Sam Levy Modernizes the Crime Caper

Being pegged as the main suspect in a murder may sound worrisome, but some cinematic shooting, scenic locales, and Jon Hamm’s charm can make such a predicament seem seductive, and Confess, Fletch both resurrects and modernizes the classic crime caper. Pulled from the pages of Gregory Mcdonald’s 1970s novels, Fletch now carries a smartphone, but still inhabits an atmospheric world of suspense and adventure. 

Cinematographer Sam Levy strikes a noir tone with contemporary clarity.

“The Woman King” DP Polly Morgan on Lensing Viola Davis in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Thrilling Epic

A sweeping historical epic that blends intimacy and adventure is the kind of movie that The Woman King cinematographer Polly Morgan dreamed about making while growing up in West Sussex, England. 

“My earliest memories were Close Encounters and Empire of the Sun. Spielberg captured my imagination like many of my generation,” said Morgan over the phone from the Toronto International Film Festival, where The Woman King had its world premiere.

Going For Broke in HBO’s “Industry” With Cinematographer Federico Cesca

For fans of HBO’s Industry who relished its hyper-intensive peek into the world of international finance, the series’ return this August after an 18-month hiatus was like welcome news on the financial markets.

The ambitious hirers who survived the cutthroat trading floor in season one are upping their game as they fight to make their mark at Pierpoint & Co, the prestigious London-based investment bank. Harper Stern (Myha’la Herrold) is scoring points by currying the favor and business of Jesse Bloom (Jay Duplass),

Emmy-Nominated “Dopesick” Cinematographer Checco Varese on Layering in Subliminal Clues

Cinematographer Checco Varese is no stranger when it comes to photographing pilots, having created alluring visual palettes for over twenty projects, including David Elliot’s Four Brothers, Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain, and HBO’s True Blood. He reconnected with Empire creator Danny Strong to shoot Hulu’s Dopesick, a poignant narrative about the opioid crisis starring Michael Keaton as a doctor in a small mining town affected by the addictive drug.

“Nope” Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema on Capturing the Epic Scope of Jordan Peele’s Latest

Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema failed to get into two Dutch film schools, so he worked in a soap factory, played in a band, and survived unemployment as a self-described “slacker” before finding his creative footing at a renowned cinema academy in Lodz, Poland. Since then, he’s made up for lost time through collaborations with A-list auteurs, including David O. Russell (The Fighter), Sam Mendes (Spectre), and Spike Jonez (Her).

“Winning Time” Cinematographer Todd Banhazl on Capturing the Flow State

Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty sounded, on paper, like a no-brainer for HBO. Based on Jeff Pearlman’s book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s,” the source material had every ingredient you’d want for a prestige series. It had larger-than-life figures in Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar (as well as their foils and foes around the NBA), it’s set largely in Los Angeles in the late 70s and early 80s (gaudy,

“Moon Knight” Cinematographer Gregory Middleton on Creating Marvel’s Head Trip

Moon Knight cinematographer Gregory Middleton came to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with considerable world-building experience. He helmed six episodes of HBO’s colossal fantasy series Game of Thrones, as well as three episodes of Damon Lindelof’s fantastic adaptation of Watchmen (also for HBO), so it would be unfair to say he was daunted to take on Marvel’s vaunted, ever-expanding cinematic universe.

Yet Middleton had his work cut out for him with Moon Knight, 

“Barry” Cinematographer Carl Herse on Lighting Season 3’s Dark Path

Barry cinematographer Carl Herse has his fingerprints all of season three in what is turning out to be a reckoning for the titular hitman (played by co-creator/writer/director Bill Hader). Herse joined the Barry team and lensed five of season three’s 8 episodes (1, 2, 6, 7, and 8) in what has turned out to be the darkest stretch of Barry’s decidedly pitch black journey thus far.

Citing influences as wide-ranging as Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood,