American Cinematographer - November 2012 - 68

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Deep Shih Tzu

The filmmakers prepare to shoot with Farrell at a location in Echo Park that offered a spectacular view of downtown Los Angeles.

Hunter was key to the look of Marty’s scenario about a Quaker psychopath who stalks his daughter’s killer. “We had to decide what kinds of films Marty likes — what are his points of reference?” says Davis. “We felt Night of the Hunter would be one of his favorites, and that when he was describing this Quaker character, those noir images would be very much part of it. Another of his favorites would be Paris, Texas, so he imagines the actor playing the Quaker to be Harry Dean Stanton.” When Billy narrates his grand finale, it involves all seven psychopaths in a blazing gun battle in a misty cemetery, complete with exploding heads, buckets of blood, and a pistol-packing Hans popping out of a grave. “Billy likes bad action movies, so we set out to make one,” says Davis. Hans, in turn, narrates an ending to a story about a Vietcong psychopath that references the famous image of the self-immolating monk that shocked people around the world during the Vietnam War. For a sequence in which Zachariah (Tom Waits) recounts his decades-long rampage killing serial
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killers, Davis referenced film noir, 1970s American thrillers, and still photography by Saul Leiter, William Eggleston and Steven Shore. “For the rest of the movie, the goal was a very contemporary feel,” says the cinematographer. “Martin is obsessed with L.A., especially the palm trees. We tried to get palm trees in every shot, and we strove for images that would make you feel the Southern California sun.” With that goal in mind, and because a good portion of the story is set in the desert, the filmmakers opted to shoot 35mm. “Film captures highlights beautifully and handles hot, contrasty day exteriors better than digital,” Davis observes. “Some scenes also call for fire, which film captures better, too. We also wanted a bit of grain and good contrast in the image.” Shooting 3-perf Super 35mm for a final aspect ratio of 2.40:1, Davis deployed two cameras throughout the shoot, and he always operated one of them. “When I’m shooting film, I like to look through the eyepiece to make decisions about lighting because that’s the best way to assess what you’re getting,” he notes. He told Campanelli there
American Cinematographer

would be no A and B cameras, strictly speaking. “If I felt I needed to be on the close-ups so I could read the performance and relay information to Martin, I was on the close-up; if I felt I needed to be on the master, I was on the master. If I needed Steve on the master because it had a complex move and I had a lot of lighting to do, Steve did the master. We had a very flexible relationship.” Davis used a range of Panavision Primo primes and an 11:1 24-275mm Primo zoom. “In the contemporary footage, we worked on wider lenses closer to the actors, sticking to focal lengths between 21mm and 35mm,” he says. “We wanted the audience to travel through the movie with Marty and Billy, and I feel that when you’re on a wider lens and closer to the actors, the audience connects with them more closely. We also used more handheld and Steadicam work in that material. For Zachariah’s flashbacks, we take a more observational position, using lenses between 35mm and 100mm and less camera movement.” Los Angeles is another character in the story, and McDonagh wanted to select locations that haven’t been seen in

American Cinematographer - November 2012

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