American Cinematographer - December 2016 - 65

Unit photography by Jan Thijs, courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Behind-the-scenes photos courtesy of Eames Gagnon.

the alien messages proves an onerous
task, but as the visitors' ambiguous
behavior threatens global stability,
Banks must prove that their intentions
are nonviolent before it's too late.
Quebec
director
Denis
Villeneuve became involved with
Arrival - based on the novella Story of
Your Life by Ted Chiang and adapted for
the screen by Eric Heisserer - while
shooting the thriller Prisoners (AC Oct.
'13), and later tapped director of
photography Bradford Young, ASC to
join him on the production. The cinematographer recalls that while shooting
J.C. Chandor's crime drama A Most
Violent Year (AC Feb. '15), he had been
advised by gaffer Bill O'Leary and key
grip Mitch Lillian, both Villeneuve
collaborators, that he and the director
might hit it off.
"Polytechnique [shot by Pierre
Gill, CSC] and Denis' other films were
already in my creative consciousness,"
says Young on the phone from his
Washington, D.C., home, two days
after Arrival screened at the Toronto
International Film Festival. With a
laugh, he recalls, "I thought, 'Yeah, right.
One day I'd like to meet him, but I
doubt I'd ever shoot for him - he's way
too evolved.' My agent had asked me
what folks I would like to work with as
I developed my body of work, and
Denis was on my list. Then one day my
agent called and said, 'They just sent us
the new Denis film script and would
love for you to take a look.' I said, 'Come
on, man - that's not real.' I was pinching myself."
When he read Heisserer's script,
Young's excitement continued to build.
"It reaffirmed Denis' brilliance - that
he's a real curator of his artistic practice,"
Young says. "That script got deep into
my DNA as an image-maker, because it
has realism invested in flesh and bone
extending into a world of allegory by
introducing these unseen beings from
afar. I could see how I could offer something.
"Denis and I had a conversation,
and there was mutual respect for one
another's films," adds Young, whose CV

Opposite: Linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) introduces herself to a pair of extraterrestrials in
the feature Arrival. This page, top: Physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) joins Banks in her efforts
to communicate with the aliens. Bottom: Cinematographer Bradford Young, ASC studies the light in
the set for the aliens' spacecraft.

also includes Ava DuVernay's Selma
(AC Feb. '15) and David Lowery's Ain't
Them Bodies Saints (AC Sept. '13). "I was
moved by the fact that he had seen some
of my work and it meant so much to
him. I told him I would do anything to
work with him on the film, and it went
from there."
In recent years, Villeneuve's most
frequent shooting collaborator has been
renowned cinematographer Roger
Deakins, ASC, BSC, who worked
alongside the director on Prisoners and
Sicario (AC Oct. '15) - and who, at the
time of this writing, was assisting
Villeneuve on Blade Runner 2049.
www.theasc.com

Young acknowledges that he had big
shoes to fill. "Roger's residue was palpable," Young says, "but it's a residue I
respect and honor. There's a high level of
consciousness around image, which was
humbling. I knew I had to go in with a
certain amount of rigor in order to do
my best. I had to do my homework. I
had to be precise, but at the same time
not be arrested by precision and still be
free. I felt this was still an opportunity to
bring my voice to the conversation."
During eight weeks of preproduction, Villeneuve related to Young
that he and Deakins have a preference
for storyboarding - and that they don't
December 2016

http://www.theasc.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2016