American Cinematographer - October 2008 - 55

was enthusiastic, but upon reading the script, he realized “it didn’t make sense to make the movie handheld.” In his second conversation with the Coens, he recalls, “they said, ‘Of course! What were we thinking? This movie should not be handheld.’ And in our third meeting, we said, ‘Let’s storyboard the movie.’” Working with their regular storyboard artist, J. Todd Anderson, the Coens invited Lubezki to New York for prep, a period also peppered with location scouting. “Parts of the movie were to be shot in a Costco and a gym, settings full of fluorescent lights,” notes Lubezki. “This is not a period movie, and it doesn’t have any of the visual flourishes of Barton Fink or The Big Lebowski — it’s very minimalist. The story happens in the present in suburban Washington; I cannot imagine anything more boring visually.” Tempering Lubezki’s sentiments, gaffer Bill O’Leary, a regular member of Deakins’ crew and a fixture on the Coens’ sets, notes that the settings called for “a naturalistic approach, and this is similar to Roger’s style. The lighting is logical and driven by what appears to be a true source.” Admitting that his methods usually incorporate a number of different lights, Lubezki praises O’Leary’s ability to use a minimum of units to accomplish all of a show’s demands. “This might sound like sacrilege to some cinematographers,” says Lubezki, “but if you start bouncing a light or putting it through diffusion, there’s a point where it doesn’t matter if it’s a MiniBrute or a 20K. I thought there was a bigger difference, but Billy proved me wrong in many instances. He just made it simple.” O’Leary adds, “Keeping it simple and focusing your energy where it counts just makes for a more flexible system and allows you to take advantage of the creative impulse that sometimes presents itself.” Lubezki’s preproduction schedule precluded the extensive testing he usually does before commencing principal photography, but he notes that one of the film’s central locations, Hardbodies Fitness Center, required special attention ahead of time. The gym employs Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), a serial online dater obsessed with cosmetic surgery, and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), whose blond streak seems to have bleached through to his brain. Together, they set the wheels of intrigue in motion when they find a CD containing the vitriolic memoirs of ex-CIA agent Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) and decide to ransom the CD for the price of Linda’s surgeries. Under the guidance of production designer Jess Gonchor, who first collaborated with the Coens on No Country for Old Men (AC Oct. ’07), Hardbodies was built in the shell of an old Tower Records store in Paramus, N.J. The store had custom-made fluorescent fixtures, and, O’Leary recalls, “there were some bad ballasts we couldn’t really see by eye. We shot some tests to pinpoint the problem fixtures, and then we swapped out the ballasts.” Two of the gym’s walls are glass and look out on a predominantly frontlit street. “Joel and Ethan wanted to feel traffic all the time to give a sense of suburbia,” says Lubezki. However, even with the fluorescents at capacity, he was only reading a T2 inside. To balance the bright exterior, the art department hung transparent, plastic, consumergrade shades that effectively served as neutral-density gels on the windows. Meanwhile, “I asked Jess to grab all the [fluorescent] fixtures and put them closer together to make an Opposite: After leaving his job at the CIA, Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) settles down to write his memoirs in Burn After Reading. Above: Carrying on an affair with Katie Cox (Tilda Swinton), Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) nervously exercises his culinary skills in the Coxes’ kitchen. Left: Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC keeps a steady eye on the expanding web of intrigue. Photos courtesy of Focus Features. American Cinematographer 55

American Cinematographer - October 2008

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