American Cinematographer - April 2016 - 46

*|*

Memories of Vilmos

I

interviewed Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC,
HSC for the first time in 1978, after
he earned an Academy Award for his
artful cinematography on Close
Encounters of the Third Kind. I saw the
emotions on his face and heard them in
his voice when he told me, "I remember
walking up those steps knowing that 80
million people were watching on television. That was the first time I felt that I
belonged."
Vilmos shared memories of his
early life in Hungary, including his
student days at the Academy of Drama
and Film in Budapest, where he met
fellow future ASC member Laszlo
Kovacs. "György Illés taught us that
film is an important part of our culture
and that it was our responsibility to help
train the next generation," Vilmos said.
Vilmos and Laszlo documented
the brutal suppression of an uprising
against the Soviet Army in October,
1956. They subsequently carried laundry bags filled with 12,000' of 35mm
motion-picture film across the border
into Austria. I asked Vilmos what had
motivated them to risk their lives.
"Laszlo and I believed it was important
for the world to see that our people
fought for freedom and were murdered
by the Russians," he replied.
After arriving on the East Coast
of the United States in January, 1957, he
and Laszlo lived in a refugee camp. "I
learned how to speak English one word
at a time," he recalled.
Vilmos soon followed his dream
to Los Angeles, where his first job was
processing film and making prints at a
still-photography laboratory. Not long
after, he was shooting 16mm educational and training films for schools and
businesses.
During the early 1960s, Vilmos
joined a new wave of cinematographers
who were shooting commercials. He
told people his name was William,
because it sounded more American. He
also began shooting ultra-low-budget
independent movies such as The Sadist,
The Nasty Rabbit and The Incredibly

46

April 2016

Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living
and Became Mixed-Up Zombies.
"I shot Futz in 1969," Vilmos
told me. "It got terrible reviews, but
Haskell Wexler [ASC] called and said
my cinematography impressed him.
That meant the world to me." Haskell
was already part of the mainstream and
had won an Academy Award for Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1967.
I interviewed Vilmos after he
and director Michael Cimino
completed production of The Deer
Hunter in 1978. "Shooting that film
was like playing jazz music together,"
Vilmos said. "I love working with directors who are passionate about telling
stories with images. If a movie doesn't
say something of value, I don't think it's
worth making."
The Deer Hunter was an ambitious endeavor, with scenes filmed
during a five-month period on practical
locations from Ohio to Thailand. "I
don't believe that you should ever shoot
on a stage when an appropriate location
exists," Vilmos told me. "The cast and
audiences both respond to what is real.
We shot early scenes in an actual steel
mill where the actors were right there
with the workers. They were sweating,
which made it look and feel real."
He also stressed the important

American Cinematographer

*|*
role that every member of his crew
played. "I always listen to my crew," he
said. "You can never tell when one of
them will see something that I missed
or have an idea for enhancing the
story."
Vilmos once told me that Laszlo
had just completed production of "a
wonderful film," and he offered to
introduce us. It was a two-way street.
Laszlo regularly told me I should write
about a "wonderful film" shot by
Vilmos.
Vilmos and Laszlo introduced
me to Lajos Koltai, ASC, HSC in
1995. Lajos is a native Hungarian who
also studied filmmaking at the
Academy of Drama and Film. He told
me that Vilmos sent György Illés
copies of American Cinematographer
every month. When Lajos saw Vilmos'
picture in one issue, he was inspired to
pursue his own dream.
I was able to witness Vilmos'
global influence on the next generation
when he received a Lifetime
Achievement
Award
at
the
Camerimage film festival in Torun,
Poland, in 1997. It was like traveling
with a movie star. Everyone wanted to
meet him.
Vilmos and Laszlo never forgot
their roots. They organized and participated in a two-week master class at the
Academy of Drama and Film in
Budapest; for those two weeks, they
would spend 16 hours a day mentoring
the next generation of cinematographers.
I have countless treasured
memories of Vilmos. It was my good
fortune to write 62 stories about him;
he discussed the films he had shot and
shared his feelings about the issues and
people he cared about. I moderated
seminars with Vilmos at film festivals
and other events. He was a legendary
filmmaker and a wonderful friend.
- By Bob Fisher,
honorary ASC member



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

Contents
American Cinematographer - April 2016 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - April 2016 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - April 2016 - 1
American Cinematographer - April 2016 - 2
American Cinematographer - April 2016 - Contents
American Cinematographer - April 2016 - 4
American Cinematographer - April 2016 - 5
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American Cinematographer - April 2016 - 64a
American Cinematographer - April 2016 - 64b
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