American Cinematographer - February 2011 - 60

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A Cinematic Passport
with The English Patient, for which he won several awards, including the Oscar, the ASC Award and the European Film Award. It was one of three films he made with British writer/director Anthony Minghella. Minghella’s death a little more than two years ago was a devastating loss for Seale, not only professionally but also personally. They had become close friends while making The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley(AC Jan. ’00) and Cold Mountain (AC Jan. ’04), and were talking about their next collaboration. “Anthony was such a lovely person,” says Seale. “He had a real understanding of the crew, looked after them and treated them well. He loved everybody.” Seale has made two films with director Wolfgang Petersen, ThePerfect Storm (AC July ’00) and Poseidon (AC June ’06). Sailing and the sea are lifelong passions of Seale’s, as they are for Petersen. “We hit it off right away,” declares Petersen. “We got so excited, like kids, when we were out on the water for the few scenes in Perfect Storm that we could shoot in the actual ocean.” (The majority of the movie was shot in a giant water tank at Warner Bros.) Seale recalls, “I was really keen to make it work for Wolfgang. I didn’t want people to say, ‘I can see it was made in a tank.’ One of the greatest compliments is when people say, ‘It must have been rough, making that picture out there.’ And I say, ‘Yes, it was — Stage 16 at Warners!’” Seale’s preference for “good stories that take place outdoors” means he has been away from Australia — and his family — for long stretches at a time. After Poseidon, he decided to go home and stay for a while. “I’d fallen in love with my grandchildren,” he says simply. He went back to shooting commercials, which took him out of town for no more than a few weeks at a time. His son, Derin, a commercial director who now resides in Los Angeles, even hired him to shoot a spot in Prague. (Seale’s daughter, Brianna, a former set dresser, lives in Sydney.) Seale returned to features with The Tourist. “I thought The Lives of Others

Right: Seale checks the light for a shot in Wolfgang Petersen’s The Perfect Storm (2000), which required the filmmakers to re-create a legendary East Coast storm entirely onstage at Warner Bros. Below: Seale (center, at camera), camera operator Bruce MacCallum and their team brave the elements on location for Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain (2003).

Panaflex cameras — he’s partial to the Millennium — at about the same time, specifically because the NDs didn’t have to go in front of the lens. “You can put a magazine on the top or back of the Millennium and there’s a film slot in the back, so you don’t have to look through the NDs,” he explains. “Instead, you’re looking through a bright, clean lens.”
60 February 2011

He notes that he always has an Arri 235 with him as well. “It’s great for action stuff, for squashing into a corner, for handholding and for Steadicam.” As his résumé suggests, Seale is partial to good stories that take place in exterior locations, especially foreign countries. Of all the films he has shot, he is probably most closely identified
American Cinematographer

American Cinematographer - February 2011

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