American Cinematographer - March 1993 - 40

Pushing the Envelope
on Point of No Return
Michael Watkins, ASC pulls out all
for his big-budget debut

the stops

by Stephen Pizzello
Outside

Century City's Marriott

Hotel, it is a clear and warm spring

down toward the waiting lenses of
six

cameras.

In the wake of the

day. Although the building's main
entrance and surrounding grounds
have been commandeered by

blast,
Fonda, Badham and cinematogra¬

director John Badham and the crew
of Warner Bros.'
Point of No Re¬

around

pher Michael Watkins, ASC gather
video monitor to review

a

Maggie (Bridget
Fonda) gets an
unexpected gift
from Bob

(Gabriel Byrne),
her mentor in
the art of

assassination.
Notice the
source

warm

lighting

at the table. This

page, bottom:
Director

(left)
cinematog¬
rapher Watkins
plot their
strategy while
Badham
and

crew

members

listen in.

Opposite: A
violent shootout
in the kitchen of
a

restaurant

incorporated
slow-motion to
milk the tension
and capture all
of the action in
the frame. The
scene

climaxes

with Fonda

narrowly
dodging a
bazooka-like

rocket, which
was

suspended

and "fired" with

the

help of some

titanium wire.

38

the seventh floor resets the star
of the show, a pressurized, gas-fu¬
eled mortar device. Another crew
on

member, armed with a longhandled broom, climbs into a rather

precarious position on the balcony
railing in an attempt to scrub away
the dark scorch marks left by the

turn, the film's

This page, top:

tions, Fonda heads back into the
hotel, and the special effects team

security team
appears to be
having
no

fireball.
The entire process

ing the crowd of

would
repeated three times in order to
perfectly capture the explosion as it

onlookers mill¬

will be

ing around the
long grassy is¬

superimposed over Fonda's face in

trouble manag¬

be

seen

in the finished film:

the reflection of the automobile's
driver7s-side window. When asked
later how he felt about putting so

land that di¬
vides the Av¬
enue
of the
Stars. The eyes
of both the crew and the crowd are
trained on the northeast comer of
the hotel's seventh floor, where the
silhouettes of several technicians
can be seen
just beyond the balcony
of a strategically selected suite.
The attentive silence is

much effort into

a mere

reflection,

momentarily broken by the ampli¬
fied voice of assistant director
David Sosna, who intones a curt

"Standby!" through a police
bullhorn. After a brief pause, he
follows with the traditional cry of
"Action!" On his cue, actress
Bridget Fonda strides briskly
through the hotel's front doors and
into a waiting automobile. Just sec¬
propulsive explosion rips through
the balmy air, sending a huge fire¬
ball billowing over the balcony and
up the side of the hotel wall. The
crowd below applauds enthusias¬

tically

American

as

residual debris wafts

Cinematographer

the

footage. "Let's try it again,"

Badham

suggests.
The director's casual edict

sets off

flurry of activity: crew
members hurry back to their posi¬

March 1993

a

TBarlumcoen

byPhot s

onds after she shuts herself in, a

Produced
Directed

by Art Linson

by John Badham
photography,

Director of

Michael Watkins, ASC
American Cinematographer - March 1993

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