American Cinematographer - December 2021 - 58

Picture Partners By David E. Williams
Eric Steelberg, ASC and Jason Reitman
Reunite for Ghostbusters: Afterlife
A new project is often an opportunity
for a cinematographer to forge
a fresh creative working relationship
with a director - but for a
few, it's the chance to work again
with a close friend. And in the case
of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, there's
much more to the story.
A direct continuation of the iconic
Ghostbusters films of the 1980s,
both of which were produced and
directed by Ivan Reitman, Afterlife
features young protagonists teaming
up to carry on a mission started
decades before. Art mirrors life in
this sequel as the veteran filmmaker
is again producing, but his son
Jason is now at the helm, marking
his eighth consecutive feature collaboration
with Eric Steelberg, ASC
in just 14 years.
The duo's previous feature projects
are Juno; Up in the Air; Young
Adult; Labor Day; Men, Women
& Children; Tully; and The Front
Runner - an eclectic mix of drama
and comedy, but all human-scaled,
modestly budgeted screen stories.
58 / DECEMBER 2021
The pair originally met in their
teens while making short films in
the late 1990s, when both were
beginning to learn their craft. " I was
working on a film being made by
a mutual friend from Jason's high
school, " Steelberg says, " and Jason
was acting in it. We just stayed in
touch, we did a few more shorts, he
went off to USC, and it snowballed
from there. "
With a chuckle, Reitman notes,
" While I was an actor in that first
short, I was just a production
assistant on the second one we
worked on together. Eric's been the
cinematographer since day one,
while I've just been slowly rising up
the call sheet. "
Steelberg retorts, " But on the
first of Jason's own short films I
worked on, I was the focus puller.
That was the first of two occasions
I've done that job, both of which
were on his shorts. But when it
came time to do some re-shoots
on that project, I came back as
cinematographer, and we did them
at Panavision Hollywood. "
Some 20 years and many projects
later, the pair would see the
first teaser trailer for Ghostbusters:
Afterlife debut in December of
2019. Neither was dwelling on their
creative partnership's milestone
two-decade mark, as this was a
few months after the production's
wrap in Alberta, Canada, and they
were now deep into postproduction
to meet their original release date
of July 2020, which was ultimately
pushed due to Covid-19. " It doesn't
feel like some kind of anniversary,
because I feel like I've known Eric
forever, " says the 44-year-old director.
" It has come to the point where
there's a hive mind at work when we
talk about things. People often mistake
the director/cinematographer
relationship as one that's all about
cameras, lighting and lenses. The
truth is that it's all about language
and sharing something emotive that
there are often no words for.
" What happens over a long relationship
is that you're building upon
so many previous conversations and
experiences that there becomes
a complete immediacy to how you
collectively shoot something. I may
have no idea where an idea came
from, if it originated from one side
or the other, but once we're on the
same page as to how the audience
is supposed to be feeling in a given
scene or moment, the execution
almost becomes automatic. "
While Reitman has not made
a feature without Steelberg since
his first - Thank You for Smoking,
photographed by James Whitaker,
ASC - the cinematographer has
learned from shooting films for
other directors, including Ivan Reitman
on Draft Day. " One thing I've
realized about us through working
with other people is that our point
of view is always in sync, " he explains.
" Storytelling in filmmaking is
all about point of view. It's one thing
that makes one director's movie
different from another's. But Jason
and I always look at a story and
feel the same way or want to tell
PRODUCTION PHOTOS BY KIMBERLEY FRENCH, SMPSP, COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES.
American Cinematographer - December 2021

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