American Cinematographer - March 1993 - 42

enough for the opportunity."
Steve

Peterson,

the

picture's first assistant cameraman
and Watkins' 15-year collaborator,
noted that his compatriot's com¬
ments belie his typical modesty.
"Anamorphic does free you up to
do more, but that freedom comes
with a price. Our actors were all

pretty good at hitting marks, but
when you

work wide

open

in this

format, there's really no margin for
Michael likes to downplay
his expertise, but I think the results
will speak for themselves."
error.

Badham chose Watkins
after viewing the latter's reel, which
combined stylish footage with the
well-known Genesis song "In the
Heat of the Night." The director has

reputation for giving cinematog¬
raphers their first shot at big-screen
glory; he hired then-unknown Ralf
Bode [now ASC] on Saturday Night
a

Fever, and also
Above: In the

hypermodern
"training
center" styled
by production
designer Philip
Harrison, Fonda
shows

an

opponent she's

pushover.
Right: The film's
Pygmalion-///re
no

overtones and

color scheme of

black, grey and
white

are

Badham smiled. "In this genre,
you're always trying to outdo your¬

self,

worrying because Dick
building in
Lethal Weapon 3. I thought that
Michael's idea of showing the ex¬
plosion in the car window was a
nice way of doing something that's
fairly common in action films, be¬
cause it solved the problem of tying
her into the scene without just cut¬
ting away. Cutting away is per¬
fectly acceptable, but fairly stan¬
or

Donner leveled that

showcased as

dard."

Maggie
develops her

For Watkins, the luxury of
actually being able to repeat such a
complex setup represents the key
difference between shooting for
television and for a major feature
film. His experience as director of
photography on the NBC sci-fi se¬
ries Quantum Leap has certainly
been fruitful and rewarding, result¬
ing in three Emmy nominations

skills under the
watchful eye of
her tutor,
Amanda (Anne

Bancroft).

(with wins in both 1990 and '91)
and three ASC Award nomina¬

tions, and the cinematographer has
also had prior feature experience on

the

modestly budgeted pictures
Paramedics, Fighting Mad (with
Jonathan Demme) and Coonskin
(directed by Ralph Bakshi). Still, he
has always sought the freedom that
a

healthy budget affords.
Watkins

40

helmed Bird on a
Wire and The
Hard Way, the

American

certainly got his

Cinematographer

first major ef¬
forts of Bob

Primes, ASC. "I
guess I just en¬
joy the eager¬
ness and
energy
you get from an

up-and-coming
cameraman,"
the
director
said. "It's cer¬
wish

Point

of No Return, a highoctane, anamorphic remake of the
popular 1991 French thriller La
Femme Nikita. The plot of the new
version hews fairly closely to the
original: a feral, psychotic street
on

urchin (Fonda) is arrested after a
murderous spree and sent to a gov¬

"conditioning center,"
manipulative mentor
(Gabriel Byrne) grooms her for a
career as an
expert assassin. "It was
great going to anamorphic, espe¬
cially on my first big feature,"

ernment

where

a

Watkins enthused. "It

was

like

coming out of this box and discov¬
ering a whole world outside; you
can do so many more things. On a
60-foot screen, you can tell nine sto¬
ries at

once.

March 1993

I can't thank

John

to

tainly possible
mistakenly employ a camera¬

man

who's been there too many

times and is burned out,

although
being old doesn't mean that you're
not good. When I was starting at
Universal I had the privilege of
watching the work of Russ Metty
[ASC] and Ray Rennahan [ASC],
who were probably in their 80s at
the time. Russ could do
two

more

with

lights than some younger guys

could with 90!"
In La

Femme Nikita,
Badham, who has demonstrated a
sure

hand with action-oriented

material, saw a film ripe for Ameri¬
canization. When he discovered
that Warner Bros, owned the rights
to the

remake, he immediately

sought out the assignment. "This
American Cinematographer - March 1993

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