American Cinematographer - January 2009 - 20

Nixon hangs up on Frost after drunk-dialing his interrogator before their final interview. To lend this sequence a live feel, the filmmakers shot Langella and Sheen simultaneously on adjoining sets. Totino occasionally softened sunny day exteriors by placing a 20'x20' frame of Soft Frost over the actors, “but we didn’t have a lot of time, and we needed to look almost 360 degrees, so we couldn’t bring in big construction cranes to control the sun with silks. On this film, my work was more about finding camera angles that would suit the lighting that was there.” To the surprise of just about everybody, the current owners of La Casa Pacifica, Nixon’s Western White House in San Clemente, agreed to let the production shoot there. “It’s so unique, particularly in the courtyard area and the entrance,” notes Howard. “We couldn’t find anything that would replicate it.” The production spent two days at the compound and filmed several sequences in the exact spot where the real events had taken place. Other practical locations included the Nixon Library and the Beverly Hills Hotel. Totino shot Frost/Nixon in Super 35mm. He initially tried to convince the studio to allow him to shoot 3-perf, “but they were reluctant. They felt it wouldn’t give them any wiggle room in post.” The footage was processed normally at Deluxe Laboratories, and the digital intermediate was carried out at EFilm. “Doing a DI allows me to be a little quicker on the set — I don’t have to spend a half-hour flagging a little shadow on a wall, because I know I can fix it later.” He timed the picture with colorist Steve Bowen, a regular collaborator since The Missing. Clairmont Camera provided the cameras and lenses, which included Cooke S4 primes, Nikkor 200mm and 300mm lenses, an Angenieux 12:1 Optimo (24-290mm) zoom and a Cooke (18mm-100mm) zoom. With the exception of the late-night phone call, which was shot on 100mm and 150mm lenses, Totino generally stayed with medium focal lengths. The production had a 40day shooting schedule but managed to finish two days early. In one of Totino’s favorite shots, Frost arrives at the house where the interviews will take place. The actor was driving the car, and Totino was next to him, handholding the camera. The passenger door was tied open and the camera battery was taped to the roof. “Focus puller Dominic Aluisi was in the passenger seat behind me with a remote follow focus,” recalls the cinematographer. “You see a jogger running by, and I tilt down and show Frost’s hands as he starts turning the steering wheel. I tilt up and show the reporters on the lawn through the windshield. The car comes to a stop, and I pan back to Frost’s face. He acknowledges his producer, who is theoretically sitting where I am. At that point, I lean back and pass the camera out to Andrew, who is waiting for us on the sidewalk. He takes the camera, and Dominic passes the follow focus out to another camera assistant on the sidewalk. Frost strides across the street. Zelnick, Reston and John Birt (Matthew Macfadyen), Frost’s producer, come around from the back of the car and also cross the street. Then Nixon’s motorcade drives up. “Originally, we went into a whole over-the-shoulder into Nixon, but that part got cut — the shot was just too long,” adds Totino. “But that whole sequence was so much fun to do.” Another of Totino’s favorite shots finds Nixon lying on a gurney as he’s rushed into a hospital. The grips built a speed-rail rig over the gurney, and as the EMTs push the gurney forward, the camera, on a remote head, is looking back toward the emergency entrance they just used. The camera tilts down to Nixon’s face. At that point, the scene cuts to a tight shot of one of the wheels on the gurney as it races down the hall. To get this shot, Totino lay on a doorway dolly and held the camera, following the wheel until it turned the corner and exited frame. He praises Aluisi, his longtime focus puller, noting, “I always like to move quickly, which makes it doubly hard on Dominic. Plus, all of our night scenes were shot wide open at T2!” Totino says he and Howard have developed a way of working together that serves them well: they drive to the set together every morning, along with the 1st AD, and talk about the day ahead of them. “We get to the set early, jump out of the car and get right to it,” he says. “As we drive home at the end of the day, we recap what we’ve done and talk about the next day. Ron is always really well prepared, and working with him is fantastic.” TECHNICAL SPECS 2.40:1 Super 35mm Arricam System Cooke, Nikkor, Angenieux lenses Kodak Vision2 500T 5218, 100T 5212 Digital Intermediate ¢ 20 January 2009

American Cinematographer - January 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2009