American Cinematographer - January 2021 - 69

camera is really incredible. You can underexpose in the
shadows [while] bringing out people's faces. In the hotel
room, that was invaluable. "
For exteriors, Reiker created what she calls " Miami blue "
by dialing in something close to Rosco Cyan 60 on the Arri
SkyPanels that lit the hotel exterior and pool, as well as a
liquor store in Los Angeles.
In contrast to the camerawork in the hotel interiors, King
wanted a different energy for the 12-page scene on the hotel
roof. At that point in the story, Reiker explains, " they've been
in that hotel room, and Malcolm is getting paranoid that
he's being watched and bugged. They just needed to bust
out and get a breath of fresh air. As they did that, we went
handheld, and we stayed handheld for the entire scene so
we could move with them and feel the energy. "
That energy, however, turns from relief to tension. Says
King, " Just as we're thinking it's like summer camp, with the
boys on the roof watching the fireworks, it starts to get a
little crazy when that conflict between Sam and Malcolm
starts to go. " Thus begins one of the movie's many arguments about whether Black artists and athletes should be
" weapons " in the cultural fight, as Malcolm X insists, or
whether economic power is key. Cooke, who owned his own
record label, says at one point, " I don't want a piece of the
pie - I want the recipe. "
The filmmakers wanted to shoot the roof scene outside
but keep blue- or greenscreen to a minimum. They had
trouble finding the right roof; most of the buildings nearby
had low parapets that would require safety harnesses on the
actors. So instead, the crew built a roof atop shipping containers in a parking lot next to the stage. Being 10' up, they
needed a guardrail, but that could be a thin, black bar that
was easy to disguise in the dark.
The production split the rooftop shoot over two nights.
When the actors faced the Miami skyline and the fireworks
display, they had a bluescreen. Then that came down, and
they shot in the opposite direction the next night. To suggest the surrounding environment, Reiker says, " I put small,
battery-operated lights and neon a quarter- or half-mile in
the background to create the feeling of light back there. "

Ready to Rumble

The two boxing matches in the story don't occupy much
screen time‚ but the filmmakers knew it was important to
get those sequences right - after all, anybody can watch the
actual fight footage on YouTube. The production thus faithfully replicated the fight choreography, costumes, height of
the ring, lighting grids, and myriad other details.
The first fight opens with a crane shot telescoping in over
the crowd at Wembley Stadium. Londoners were rooting for
Henry " The Hammer " Cooper, who was heavily favored to
win. At that point, Clay was mostly known as a big talker,
but he quickly proved the superior boxer, pummeling his
opponent and ultimately - though it's not shown in the

" Shooting these long takes was as
immersive an experience for us as we
wanted it to be for the audience. "

movie - winning the fight. However, Cooper managed to
land a hammer-fisted blow that knocked down the overly
confident American.
Odds were against Clay in Miami, too. There he was pitted against Liston, a seemingly invincible boxer with ties to
organized crime. Clay was still considered a braggart and
a showboat, but he gave more than he got. After the sixth
round, a bloodied Liston pointed to his injured shoulder
and threw in the towel. That moment marked Clay's transformation into " The Greatest. "
Reiker used both Alexa 65s and the Mini LF (the latter
modified to LPL mount to use the Prime DNAs) on both
fights. Two cameras were outside the ring on longer lenses, capturing " dirty frames " over the crowd and through
the ropes. Chamberlain was inside the ring, holding the A
camera at waist height. " That gave you more of a feeling of
being in the ring, " Reiker says. The low angle also meant
that overhead lights were sometimes visible, and Reiker's
crew meticulously reproduced the respective lighting grids
for each fight. " Allen Parks was able to source the 18-inch
Altman 1K scoops that were actually used for [the Miami]
JANUARY 2021 / 69



American Cinematographer - January 2021

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American Cinematographer - January 2021 - 1
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