American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 80

Persistence of Vision

Willis received one of his two Academy Award
nominations for Zelig (1983), a period
"mockumentary" that required him to blend Allen
into footage of real-life public figures from the 1920s
and '30s - entirely without the aid of CGI. "I'm
honored," Willis told AC at the time, adding with dry
understatement, "I'm also surprised."

80

about the proper lens to use for a particular shot. Benjamin countered strongly
with an idea of his own, and after a bit
of an exchange, for once he got his way.
Of course, he was wrong. To Benjamin's
great credit, though, he owned up to it
the next night at dailies. Gordon was
gracious and didn't rub it in, but at the
back of the room where I sat, another
lesson had been imparted.
There were also the wilder tales I
never witnessed that served to burnish
the legend, including the ones about a
malfunctioning Panaflex camera
smashed on the New York City pavement, and a thoroughly innocent tripod
hurled from a jetty into the ocean. All of
these stories are true, and all reflect the
intense passion that infused Gordon's
work.
This passion is really what made
Gordon the best, but it also seeds the
root of the saddest irony: As great a
cinematographer as he was, Gordon
Willis probably would not get hired in

today's moviemaking environment.
That may seem like a bold statement, but it reveals infinitely more about
the business, and the overall denigration
of our cultural values, than it does about
the man himself. It's a crime that
Gordon threw in the towel in 1997,
with so much more he could still accomplish in his career. Rather than leaving
the industry, someone as smart as
Gordon must have recognized that the
industry was leaving him. The barbarians and bean counters running the
studios at that time could no longer
dream of ceding as much control as
Gordon had enjoyed for so many years.
Though these executives were no doubt
bright people, well educated, maybe
even somewhat talented in their own
limited way, they couldn't have been that
intelligent; if they were, they would have
realized how lucky they'd have been to
have a Gordon Willis on the job. It's no
exaggeration to place him on the same
pedestal occupied by the greatest figures

Zelig frame grab courtesy of Orion Pictures and Warner Bros.

◗



http://www.hasselbladbron.com http://www.hasselbladbron.com

American Cinematographer - October 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - October 2014

Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 1
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 2
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 4
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 5
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 6
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 7
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 8
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 9
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 10
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 11
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 12
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 13
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 14
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 15
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 16
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 17
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 18
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 19
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 20
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 21
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 22
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 23
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 24
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 25
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 26
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 27
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 28
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 29
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 30
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 31
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 32
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 33
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 34
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 35
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 36
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 37
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 38
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 39
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 40
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 41
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 42
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 43
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 44
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 45
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 46
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 47
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 48
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 49
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 50
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 51
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 52
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 53
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 54
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - I3
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - I4
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 55
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 56
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 57
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 58
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 59
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 60
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 61
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 62
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 63
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 64
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 65
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 66
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 67
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 68
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 69
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 70
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 71
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 72
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 73
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 74
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 75
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 76
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 77
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 78
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - I1
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - I2
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 79
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 80
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 81
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 82
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 83
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 84
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 85
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 86
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 87
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 88
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 89
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 90
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 91
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 92
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 93
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 94
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 95
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 96
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 97
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 98
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 99
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 100
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 101
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 102
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 103
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 104
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 105
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 106
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 107
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 108
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 109
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 110
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 111
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 112
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 113
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 114
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 115
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - 116
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - October 2014 - Cover4
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