American Cinematographer - June 2007 - 10

Editor’s Note t wasn’t long ago that pirate movies were considered dead in the water. With the days of Errol Flynn a distant memory, no one had managed to redefine the swashbuckler mystique for modern audiences seeking derring-do on a hot summer day. Enter Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow, a roguish, amusingly effete scoundrel who, we suspect, will ultimately prove himself a hero. Depp’s imaginative turn in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film was matched by an ambitious visual design spearheaded by director Gore Verbinski, cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, ASC and production designer Brian Morris. That film went on to reassert the possibilities of the summer blockbuster, launching a lucrative franchise that still has plenty of wind in its sails. Wolski recently completed work on the third film in the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. By all accounts, no expense was spared to make this latest spectacle even bigger and bolder — as they say here in Hollywood, the money is on the screen. Working at real locations and on epic sets designed by production designer Rick Heinrichs (who joined the crew on Pirates 2 ), Wolski and co. have created an encore that quite literally transports viewers to the ends of the Earth. In Noah Kadner’s piece about the production (“All Hands on Deck,” page 32), Wolski notes that he kept his early filmmaking experiences in mind while tackling the show’s daunting logistical challenges. “You always go back to basics no matter how big the film,” he says. “Everyone has done small projects where they had no resources whatsoever, and you have to remember those experiences, because it really helps on a film of this scale that’s so technologically complex.” Larry Blanford also faced a huge logistical leap when he was promoted from secondunit cinematographer on Fantastic Four to first-unit director of photography on Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. But he also has a nostalgic affection for comic books that served him well on the sequel. “I still have every comic book I bought as a kid — I had one of the few moms who didn’t throw away all of your stuff — and they’ve turned out to be a great resource,” he tells fellow Marvel Comics fan Jon D. Witmer, who covers every angle in his article on the show (“A Fantastic Experience,” page 50). John Lindley, ASC stakes out darker turf in Mr. Brooks, the tale of a successful businessman who is prodded to kill by his murderous alter ego. Lindley’s main goal was to find a way to visually delineate the relationship between Brooks (played by Kevin Costner) and his inner killer, Marshall (William Hurt), who remains invisible to everyone but Brooks. The solution was simple and elegant. “In the early discussions, we decided there would be no strange special effects or strange lighting,” Lindley reveals to Jon Silberg (“A Killer Within,” page 62). “Marshall looks and sounds just like another person in the scene.” An epic real-world adventure provided the inspiration for The Alps, the latest Imax spectacular from the intrepid folks at McGillivray Freeman Films. An entire team of cinematographers (including Brad Ohlund, Greg McGillivray, Michael Brown and aerial specialist Ron Goodman) set out to capture a group of mountaineers scaling the perilous north face of the Eiger, one of the world’s most imposing climbs. Pat Thomson debriefed key members of the team in her hair-raising account of the shoot (“Treacherous Ascent,” page 70). Their jawdropping images are sure to impress, even in the temperature-controlled safety of a theater. I Stephen Pizzello Executive Editor 10 Photo by Douglas Kirkland.

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American Cinematographer - June 2007

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