American Cinematographer - October 2008 - (Page 60)

Memoirs of a Spook honest as possible with your director,” he observes. “But it can be hard. These guys have a family of people they’ve been working with, and it’s tough to be the outsider. You don’t know if you’re trusted or liked, but you have to put all that behind you and just go to work and get the movie done.” Lubezki’s solution for the re-shoot was simple: he removed the Kino that had primarily been lighting the background and left the other in place. The result is that the walls behind Pitt go “slightly murky,” he says. “It just made Brad more important than the rest of the kitchen — you can concentrate on his eyes instead of a white refrigerator.” Compared to Linda’s kitchen, the basement in the Pfarrers’ home — with its textured walls and dirty ambience — allowed Lubezki to breathe a sigh of relief. Harry uses the basement to secretly construct a sex machine for his wife, though his ingenuity proves too little too late to salve the wounds of his marriage. With bursts of fill provided by the actual sparks of Harry’s welding arc, the practical location was otherwise lit with household fluorescents provided by the art department, according to O’Leary. “We’d move them around or shut off a bulb if we wanted a little less fill, but they were all practical fixtures that could appear in the shot,” he says. To suggest that everyone is under surveillance, Burn After Reading is occasionally punctuated by long-lens POV shots taken with an Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm T2.8 zoom. Lubezki’s camera package, which also comprised Arri Lites and a set of Arri Master Primes, came out of Arri CSC in New York. “Everything was very simple,” he notes. “The 21mm was our main wide lens, and we also used the 27mm, but that’s about it. And I didn’t use any filtration outside or ¢ inside. Above: The cuckolded Cox seethes aboard his yacht. Scenes set belowdecks were filmed onstage at Brooklyn’s Steiner Studios. Below: Muslin-wrapped strip lights known as “covered wagons” were used to softly light Harry and Katie’s post-coital confabulation. Linda to be who she is.” With Cox’s stolen memoirs in hand, Chad comes to Linda’s apartment to discuss his plan to exchange the CD for a sizeable “good Samaritan” fee. While Linda sits in her living room, Chad stands in the open kitchen, surrounded by white walls broken only by a white refrigerator. “That kitchen was one of the most horrendous locations I’ve seen in my life,” Lubezki chuckles. “It was what Joel would call ‘very banal.’ It’s ridiculous to even talk about it, but the simplest things were often the hardest for me to figure out.” The filmmakers tackled Pitt’s coverage one morning before lunch. To light the actor, Lubezki and O’Leary rigged two 4' two-bank Kino Flos to supplement a practical fluorescent rigged by the art department. During lunch, however, Lubezki began to have doubts about the approach. With a knot in his stomach, he realized the kitchen footage would need to be re-shot. Fortunately, the team’s efficiency had put the production ahead of schedule, and the Coens were happy to oblige Lubezki’s request. “As a cinematographer, you have to be as 60 October 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - October 2008

American Cinematographer - October 2008 Contents Editor's Note Short Takes: DirecTV's "Fourth Wall" Campaign Production Slate: Prison Break Production Slate: Need for Speed: Undercover Middle East Intrigue Kingdom of Light Memoirs of a Spook Landmark Gains Post Focus: An Overview of the ASC CDL Filmmakers' Forum: Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Ross Berryman

American Cinematographer - October 2008

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