American Cinematographer - October 2007 - (Page 61)

Opposite: No longer a neophyte, Queen Elizabeth II (Cate Blanchett) demonstrates her iron will in the sequel to Elizabeth. This page, left: Elizabeth encourages Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) to dance with her favorite lady-inwaiting, Bess Throckmorton (Abbie Cornish), in her private quarters at Whitehall Palace, a set built at Shepperton Studios. Below: Remi Adefarasin, BSC assesses a setup. cinematographer Remi Adefarasin, BSC, who was nominated for an Oscar and won awards from the BSC, BAFTA and Camerimage for his work on the picture. The film told the story behind Elizabeth I’s accession to the English throne in 1558 amid a political climate charged with conspiracy and religious division. Elizabeth (played by Cate Blanchett) is portrayed as vulnerable and naïve during the early months of her rule, but her heart steels over the course of the film, leading her to assassinate her enemies and adopt the Virgin Queen persona, announcing that she is “married to England.” The new film Elizabeth: The Golden Age takes up the story and relates the middle years of her reign, a period during which she facilitated exploration of the New World and dealt with a plot involving her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Philip II of Spain, who in 1588 sent a great armada to topple the English throne. Many of those involved with Elizabeth returned to work on its sequel, including Kapur, Adefarasin and Blanchett. Adefarasin, whose feature credits include House of Mirth (see AC Feb. ’01), About a Boy and Match Point (AC Jan. ’06), recently spoke to AC about his work on the Elizabeth films from Australia, where he was filming The Pacific, HBO’s companion piece to Band of Brothers. “When we made Elizabeth, all we had to go on was a good story and a very dedicated bunch of people,” he says. “We had many discussions about the look and style of the film, and it was clear from the very beginning that Rembrandt would be a source of inspiration visually.” In particular, Adefarasin was influenced by the Dutch painter’s tendency to illuminate the central area of an image and allow the edges to drop away into darkness; reproducing this technique allowed him to suggest unseen perils lurking in the shadows of Elizabeth’s court. Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures and The Moving Picture Company. When he and Kapur began talking about the visuals for The Golden Age, they found themselves gravitating toward a very different but equally admired painter. “Shekhar and I got together with John Myhre, who designed Elizabeth,” recalls Adefarasin. “We needed a plan for the Spanish Armada — would we shoot it at sea or on a bluescreen stage, or both? In doing research for that, we came upon some of J.M.W. Turner’s astounding seascapes. Of course, American Cinematographer 61

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - October 2007

American Cinematographer - October 2007 Contents Editor’s Note Letters DVD Playback Production Slate Western Destinies Emotional Betrayal Palace Intrigue Unsafe Passage Short Takes Post Focus New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up

American Cinematographer - October 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.