American Cinematographer - December 2021 - 32

PROFESSIONAL ASCENT
Previous spread: Kramer Morgenthau, ASC on the set
of Respect. This page, top: The Soprano and Moltisanti
clans mingle at a family gathering. Bottom: Aretha Franklin
(Jennifer Hudson, seated at piano in blue) rehearses.
Morgenthau had watched The Sopranos when it aired, but making a
feature film set in the same world was an entirely new proposition. " I
watched the show again while I was prepping, to live and breathe it, surrounded
by these characters, " Morgenthau says from Boston, where he's
shooting the Christmas musical Spirited with Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds
and Octavia Spencer.
In framing a prequel about the notorious fictional family, Morgenthau
didn't want to rehash a " traditional gangster " look. " As tempting as
that was, I felt like it would have made the film more about photography
than character, mood, vibe and ambience, " he says. " I went for more silky
blacks, more ambient top lighting, and single-source lighting, but in a
nuanced and subtle way, expressing myself more with color and texture. "
The story's New Jersey setting was re-created mostly in New York's five
boroughs but called for a lot of what you might call 'local color': " I used
a lot of this color that we nicknamed 'Jersey Yellow,' as well as a 'Soprano
Green.' These colors were created using code values on the Arri SkyPanel
S60. " Morgenthau shot on the Alexa LF with Panavision T Series lenses,
but " optimized to feel like an older set of 1960s lenses. "
Morgenthau says he's developed a form of telepathy with Many Saints
director Alan Taylor, who had helmed nine episodes of The Sopranos and
teamed with the cinematographer on several features and television series,
including Thor: The Dark World, Terminator Genisys and the HBO
series Game of Thrones. " When I watch Alan walking around in a space, I
can almost see what he's thinking, " Morgenthau says.
Taylor says, " I became aware of Kramer's work on Boardwalk Empire,
" [Kramer] has the skills of a great
craftsman, the spirit of a musician,
and the soul of an artist. He is a mensch
and a joy to work with. "
though we never worked on an episode together. I later directed a pilot
and dragged him along; then we did Game of Thrones together. And that's
where he got his nickname: Lord of Light. It's stuck with him, and for
good reason. He has the skills of a great craftsman, the spirit of a musician,
and the soul of an artist. He is a mensch and a joy to work with. My
only regret is that word has gotten out. He's become hard to get! "
On Many Saints, Taylor was very involved in shot design and storyboarding,
as Morgenthau observes: " Characters are often isolated in
space, shown from behind in silhouette, to convey some of the alienation
and moral ambivalence that they're feeling. " We would do the wide
shots very composed on a dolly or crane, and then shoot a lot of the coverage
handheld or on A-camera operator Mike Heathcote's Steadicam
to make it feel more like you're in the room with the characters - a bit
more immersive and a little less formal. "
The movie's action unfolds in and around the Moltisanti house, mob
meeting spots and assorted Newark haunts. A striking recurring scene
takes place in a prison visiting room, where Dickie visits his uncle -
played by Liotta in a double role as Hollywood Dick's twin brother, Sal,
who's serving a long stretch. As Dickie recounts a litany of violent and
tragic " mishaps " that plague his life, Sal listens with intense focus - and
an air of skepticism. " It's a device similar to the therapy scenes [between
Tony Soprano and Dr. Melfi] in the original show, " Morgenthau says,
adding that the prison scenes, staged at a school basement in the Bronx,
were shot at different times of day to lend Liotta's character an ethereal,
32 / DECEMBER 2021
RESPECT STILLS BY QUANTRELL D. COLBERT, COURTESY OF MGM. THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK STILLS BY BARRY WETCHER, SMPSP, COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.

American Cinematographer - December 2021

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