Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle on Filming HBO’s “The Undoing” – Part II
As mentioned in Part I of our interview with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, a good many of The Undoing’s settings were shot on location in Manhattan, while the main interiors were built at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. Many of the locations were found in the Upper West Side, something that took some getting used to for Mantle. “We were very true to the Upper West Side, which I actually found hard to embrace because it’s not a world I’m drawn to,” he says,
Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle on Filming HBO’s “The Undoing” – Part I
When Nicole Kidman first began reading scripts for HBO’s hugely popular limited series from David E. Kelley, The Undoing, among the first things she noticed was intense scenes in which her very interior character said little, and gives away even less. When she wondered aloud about how best to handle such performances for the camera, director Susanne Bier simply replied, “I’ve got ideas.”
The limited series follows Grace (Kidman) and Jonathan Fraser (Grant),
“Run” Cinematographer Hillary Spera on Creating Hulu’s Breathless Thriller
Co-writer and director Aneesh Chaganty’s Run moves like a thoroughbred thriller thanks to all its constituent parts working in perfect unison. The stellar cast, led by Sarah Paulson and newcomer Kiera Allen, Chagnaty’s lean script, co-written with Sev Ohanian, and Chagnaty and his crew’s exacting execution. The film is centered on the too-close-for-comfort relationship between a mother in daughter—Diane (Paulson) is a zealously devoted guardian of her daughter Chloe (Allen), who is paralyzed from the waist down and also deals with a variety of other ailments,
Cinematographer Andy Rydzewski on Lighting the Horrors of Middle School in “Pen15”
We’ve hit the apex of spooky season, so let’s talk about one of the creepiest shows on television: Pen15. Yep, co-creators Maya Erskine’s and Anna Konkle’s adult foray back to seventh grade, rife with slut-shaming, passive aggression, and surprise three-way phone calls. Now in the first half of its second season (the next seven episodes will likely air on Hulu in the spring), the women are once again ensconced among their young peers,
“One Night In Miami” DP Tami Reiker on Regina King’s Stunning Directorial Debut
Tami Reiker has had a very busy year. She was the cinematographer on Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s The Old Guard, one of the most-viewed movies ever on Netflix, and just finished work on One Night in Miami, Regina King’s feature debut as a director. The fact-based story is about the night four friends, Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Cassius Clay, and Sam Cooke spent together on February 25th,
DP Phedon Papamichael on Designing for Dialogue in Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Aaron Sorkin is well-known for his densely-packed dialogue, and The Trial of the Chicago 7, his retelling of the 1969 trial that saw counter-culture luminaries like Abbie Hoffman and Bobby Seale tried for conspiracy and inciting a riot, the writer-director is true to form. The film, which debuts on Netflix on October 16th, swerves between the trial and the defendants’ memories, to revisit what each of the seven accused was doing the day the police went after previously peaceful protestors outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
DP James Kniest on Netflix’s New Horror Series “The Haunting of Bly Manor”
The question central to Henry James’ horror novella “The Turn of the Screw” is whether a nanny who tries and fails to protect her young charges from ghosts ever really saw the ghosts, or if she’s gone mad and is thereby herself at fault for the two children’s’ demise. In Mike Flanagan’s loose adaptation of this and other horror works by James, the creator zooms out, asking instead whether all the occupants of Bly Manor might be losing it.
“Lovecraft Country” DP Michael Watson on Lensing HBO’s Multi-Genre Hit Series
If you’ve been watching Lovecraft Country on HBO, you’ve seen one of the most sublimely ambitious series on TV this year. Stripping the legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft for parts (the man was a seething racist and anti-Semite), creator Misha Green’s 9-episode series is equal parts horror, drama, sci-fi, and social commentary. Lovecraft Country is the show 2020 needed but probably didn’t deserve.
Cinematographer Michael Watson lensed four of Lovecraft‘s episodes,
Emmy-Nominated DP Benedict Spence on Shooting “The End of the F***ing World”
Netflix’s The End of the F***ing World is based on Charles Forsman’s graphic novel, is a beguilingly beautiful, darkly comedic series. Adapated by Charlie Covell, the story follows two teen outsiders with different ideas about their relationship. James (Alex Lawther) believes he’s a psychopath, and while he agrees to go on a road trip with Alyssa (Jessica Barden) to find her father, his real plan is to find the perfect time to kill her.
Emmy-Nominated DP Greig Fraser on Harnessing Cutting-Edge Tech in “The Mandalorian”
The Emmys have spoken: The ballots are in, and among the most-nominated shows was Disney’s first live action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian.
One big reason for that was cinematographer Greig Fraser, a previous Oscar nominee for his work on Lion, and now sharing an Emmy nom with Barry “Baz” Idoine on the Disney+ series, in particular its gunslinging penultimate episode,
Cinematographer Jay Keitel on Shooting the Deliciously Creepy “She Dies Tomorrow”
Director Amy Seimetz’s new feature, She Dies Tomorrow, opens on a tight close-up of a teary blue eye ringed with streaked mascara. When we next see Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil), the film’s patient zero, she’s dazedly moving through her sunny new Los Angeles home. The house is modest and half unpacked, but hip light fixtures and the beginnings of some artsy wallpaper hint at what once had been a more normal life.
How DP Nancy Schreiber Sidesteps Voyeurism for a Naturalistic Look in “P-Valley”
If you think you’re in for a sexy, easygoing watch with P-Valley, Starz’s new series on the life and times of the employees of a Mississippi Delta strip club, expect an emotional awakening. The show’s creator, Laurence Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall, first brought P-Valley to life as a critically well-received play, “Pussy Valley.” Hall’s television adaptation may be less explicitly titled, but it retains the nuance of a work fit for the stage,
“Self Made” DP Kira Kelly on Why Black Stories Matter
Cinematographer Kira Kelly shot Ava DuVernay‘s 2016 Oscar-nominated 13th documenting how American prisons target Black men. Then she filmed miniseries Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker, named after the hair products entrepreneur who became the country’s first Black female millionaire. Most recently, she shifted into rom-com mode for an episode of Insecure, set in South L.A.
Cinematographer Armando Salas on the Seductive Aesthetics of “Ozark”
The third season of Netflix’s Ozark sees Marty and Wendy Byrde (Jason Bateman and Laura Linney) dig into their life in Mississippi, where they now own one casino, and a sticking point in their marriage is the risk associated with acquiring another. With the Byrdes still laundering money for Omar Navarro (Felix Solis), the head of a Mexican cartel, and working alongside bloodthirsty lawyer Helen Pierce (Janet McTeer), the series’ third season retains the cool blue and green tones of earlier episodes but adds new aesthetic dimensions via a deeper look at the Navarro compound and flashbacks to Marty’s youth.
How Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” Got Its Signature Look
Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, known for his work on films like Bohemian Rhapsody, Drive, Three Kings, numerous X-Men installments, notes that his first feature with director Spike Lee always “felt like a distant dream.”
Not because he hadn’t crossed Lee’s path before, since the two had collaborated on numerous commercials, and he mentions having “known Spike forever it seems—we both came up in New York at the same time.
Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel on Shooting Spike Lee’s Epic Da 5 Bloods
On its surface, Spike Lee’s latest joint, Da 5 Bloods, is about four Black Vietnam war veterans who return to the country decades later to bring home the remains of their leader, Stormin’ Norman (Chadwick Boseman), who was killed in action. Secondary to this mission, the remaining four of the five Bloods (played by Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and Norm Lewis) also plan to locate and dig up a chest of gold bars they’d buried in battle.
Westworld and Snowpiercer Cinematographer John Grillo on Crafting Dueling Apocalypses
Right before lockdown and social distancing began in earnest, we had a chance to talk with notable cinematographer Paul Cameron about his return to Westworld, for which he not only shot the pilot but returned to film the just-concluded season’s opening episode and to direct the fourth.
He kept singing the praises of John Grillo, his cinematographer for that fourth installment, “The Mother of Exiles,” replete with action-strewn set pieces,
9-1-1: Lone Star Cinematographer Andrew Strahorn on Sitting Tight
Cinematographer Andrew Strahorn recently took part in our first ever Film School Friday event, in which he joined Stacy Osei-Kuffour, a writer on HBO’s stellar Watchmen, composer Brandon Campbell, whose work includes Game of Thrones, and actress Tamlyn Tomita, who recently starred as Commodore Oh on the critically acclaimed Star Trek: Picard. Strahorn himself had been a very busy man,
Cinematographer Priyanka Singh on COVID-19, Her New Documentary & More
Cinematographer Priyanka Singh jumped on the phone from Mumbai more or less exactly at the moment that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was locking down the country—and its’ 1.3 billion residents—on March 24. “Right at this very minute, our Prime Minister is addressing the nation and saying, ‘It’ll go on for three weeks,'” Singh said. “There’s a country-wide lockdown for the next three weeks. This means a curfew, a state of emergency. We just have to figure out what to do in the next three weeks.
Under Lockdown, Tech & Film Meet in New Ways to Un-Stall an Industry on Hold
The first feature film made entirely over Zoom may still be a blessed long way off, but in accordance with COVID-19 social distancing procedures, formerly eschewed technologies are finding a current warm welcome among the film and television industry. Whether it’s a newfound acceptance of older, familiar names like Skype, or industry-specific digital tools being put to creative off-label uses, it’s thanks to technology that film crews can,
