American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 58

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Masterful Vision

this expressionistic, nightmarish world
for Madonna's New York City, inspired
by [German Expressionist painters]
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Emil
Nolde. I used gels to create a lot of
yellow and green light at night motivated by the light in the streets. People
on the crew said, 'Eddie, you're going to
get fired!' I said, 'No, it's fluorescent and
tungsten light from the street's light
sources. I'm just pushing it a little bit
further than usual.' I didn't get fired, but
people looked at me like I was weird."
The cinematographer's approach
impressed musician David Byrne, the
lead singer of Talking Heads, who asked
Lachman to undertake an offbeat,
experimental film titled True Stories.
Byrne, always looking to expand his
artistic visions, was directing the film,
which was based on a script he'd written
with playwright Beth Henley. The look
at middle America has a unique visual
style that supports the songs' mixture of
satire and warmth toward the subjects.
"We referenced William Eggleston and
amateur photographers' photos that
would come out of a Fotomat with a
snapshot sensibility, off-balance framing
and not necessarily cinematic lighting,"
Lachman says of his inspiration.
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February 2017

Lachman then connected with
British director Marek Kanievska to
help bring to the screen Bret Easton
Ellis' novel Less Than Zero, which
chronicles the excesses of sex, drugs and
nihilism among privileged youth in L.A.
The cinematographer used lighting
"that would inverse day and night. These
people primarily lived at night, through
drugs, and slept during the day. So we
found ways to give an edge and a
contrast to the lighting of the night
scenes to indicate it was their day. Then,
during the day, the challenge was to
make everything feel nocturnal."
The cinematographer was
becoming more noticed when he
teamed with Soderbergh. The Limey -
starring Terence Stamp as a British excon out to avenge his daughter's death
- pays homage to the fractured, shifting story perspective and dislocation of
characters of 1960s neo-noir thrillers
such as Get Carter and Point Blank;
Lachman used a handheld camera and
expressionistic color palettes for the
film's locations, which established a
strong tone for the actions of the characters. For Erin Brockovich, the cinematographer drew from his documentary
experience, creating naturalistic lighting
American Cinematographer

with motivated sources to reinforce Julia
Roberts' Oscar-winning performance
as a struggling, humiliated workingclass mother who overcomes obstacles
to help victims of corporate negligence
and, in doing so, finds her sense of
purpose.
"Ed was an influence on me
before we even met," says Soderbergh.
"He's the best kind of obsessive: curious,
enthusiastic, unpretentious and, best of
all, thrilled to share his ideas and experiences. His passion is infectious; when
you're in close proximity to an artist
with his level of dedication, technical
skill, courage and imagination, it's
impossible not to be inspired and
excited by the work at hand.
"Ed used the Polaroid extensively
when we were working together, and
he'd be so caught up in looking at the
result he'd just let the discarded backing
fall wherever he was standing or walking," the director continues. "We
referred to these as 'Lachman droppings,' and the image of all of us trailing
him to pick them up still makes me
laugh. I'm thankful for his great work,
and even more thankful for his friendship and guidance."
Lachman's longest creative

Erin Brockovich photo by Bob Marshak. Carol photo by Wilson Webb, SMPSP.

Left: The cinematographer at work on the set of Erin Brockovich.
Above (from left): Steadicam operator Kirk Gardner, Lachman, director Todd Haynes
and gaffer John DeBlau on the set of Carol.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 2017