7/25/23
Newsletter #407
The Crack of Dawn
In his extremely open and honest autobiography, Songs My Mother Taught Me, Marlon Brando discusses working with various directors. Other than Elia Kazan, Brando thought that all directors were hacks who mostly paid attention to the wrong things. He said that most of the directors he’d ever worked with were much happier talking to the cinematographer than talking to the actors. It’s true; most directors that I’ve seen would rather talk to the DP. Why? Because they don’t talk actor talk; they talk camera talk (me personally, I like Happy Talk).
I’ve worked with a fair number of DPs over the years, and apparently my approach is odd. I am indeed of the old school. I have every shot planned before I get there. Most directors don’t. Most directors have an idea of what they want, but as the shot is set up, they allow it to become a group effort, and everybody’s opinion is elicited, and this is where time is blown down the shithole.
So that’s not how I work. I’m Old School. I come from the Alfred Hitchcock/William Wyler perspective. I plan every shot, and I don’t want to discuss it. By removing the discussion about what they shot is, I leave more time to talk to the actors, and I always finish on time.
Here’s an example of how I work. The show, Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001) was photographed by the cinematographer, Donny Duncan, who was terrific. He and I never had a negative word in six seasons. Donny was a long-haired hippy who was always in an upbeat mood. He was completely accommodating to me and didn’t shit around with the crew. Also, once he had his camera and light machine moving properly, he’d sit down and play his half-sized guitar, which I found charming – particularly with his crooked teeth.
However, on the Xena episode, Blind Faith (1997), I had a fill-in DP named John Cavill. John was former military, and he wore his hair in a military-style flat-top. The first shot on the first day was Gabrielle (Renee O’Connor) throwing a rope made of sheets out the window of the castle, attempting to escape. The sheets were tied to a bedpost. Just then the villain and his henchmen enter and grab her before she escapes. I said to John Cavill, “We’re on the dolly looking out the window as Gaby enters and begins lowering the rope of sheets. She hears footsteps, turns and looks camera right. We pan and dolly right following the rope of sheets to the bedpost, behind which is the bedroom door. We tilt up to the door just as the villain and his guys enter, then we follow them back to Gabrielle, where the shot settles into a medium two-shot of Gabrielle and the villain. Make sense?” Nodding confidently, John said, “Sure.” As a note, I didn’t tell him which lens to use, and easily could have, because I leave that up to the DP, and once I see the shot through the monitor, I can always change it.
I then went outside the stage door with the 1st AD, Simon, and smoked a cigarette, as I always do. When I finished my cigarette – which is about ten minutes – I went back inside expecting to find the scene well on its way to being set up. What I found instead was that John had the camera mounted on the crane – an old-fashioned style crane where two people sit on the crane with the camera, which is an enormous piece of equipment and a total pain in the ass. I was stunned and said, “Didn’t I say the dolly?” John was seated on the crane and said some shit in his silly Kiwi accent like, “Royt, mate, I was thinking we’d boom up and—” I cut him off, “Can I speak to you and Simon outside right now?” John actually said, “I’m pretty busy, so—” I cut him off again, this time appealing to his military training. I said, “Outside, right now!” We went outside and I said, “John, it’s the first shot on the first day so I automatically forgive you. However, from now on when I say dolly, that means dolly, not crane. Ever. Get the picture?” John said, “I thought this was a collaboration, mate.” I said, “You are sadly mistaken, mate. You work for me, and you do what I tell you to do. If I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it.” John was agog but did as he was told. Once that was established there wasn’t a problem. We shot the episode, and it turned out well. John did a fine job, and everything moved smoothly. He did what I told him and there wasn’t a problem, other than I could see a burning resentment in his eyes all the time.
Two years later John filled in for Donny again, this time on an episode called, If the Shoe Fits (1999). When I heard that I was getting John Cavill, I asked production to set up a meeting with him before we started shooting. He came to my apartment in a high-rise building near the quay in downtown Auckland. (Quay is pronounced Key, BTW). John still had his military flat-top. I said, “After a rocky start, I thought the episode we did turned out fine.” He agreed. I said, “It’s going to be the same thing, do you have a problem?” John’s head bobbed around as he considered the question. He finally said, “No, I can do it.” Then he added petulantly, “But I won’t care.” What a shmuck. I said, “Don’t break my heart, motherfucker. If you can’t do it, go tell production.” He begrudgingly acquiesced like he was doing me a favor. I don’t know how many DPs were available in Auckland at that moment, so maybe he was.
The episode was ridiculously complex. It’s a retelling of Cinderella from multiple points of view. Gabrielle tells part of the story, in a fairytale fashion; then Xena tells part of the story, in her blunt, kick-ass style; then Joxer (Ted Raimi) tells part, making himself the hero; then Aphrodite (Alex Tydings) tells the sexy version. It’s an extremely clever script by Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster, who were the best comedy writers, and I directed several of their scripts. Anyway, I wanted each version to have its own visual look, and John Cavill was all over that. He came up with a distinct looks for each one, and they were all wonderful.
Xena shot 2nd unit on Saturdays. The director and the DP were not required for this because 2nd unit had their own. But if it was a big deal scene that got pushed to a Saturday, the director was expected to show up, and I of course would and the 2nd unit director would step down. But the main unit DP wasn’t needed. 2nd unit had a very good DP (Rick Allender, with whom I worked at the beginning of Hercules).
Nevertheless, John Cavill showed up on Saturday and supervised the lighting. I could not help but inquire, “John, I thought you didn’t care.” He smiled. “OK, I care. Fuck you.”
La!
Yes, it's quite similar, although Kubrick was much tougher than me. We were both establishing who was in charge, but he had a very specific effect in mind when he called for a wide-angle lens, but instead got a 50mm. That tracking shot across the apartment and back is a highlight, specifically because it's wide-angle. Mine was a good shot, but not that good.
That reminds me of the famous story about Stanley Kubrick and Lucien Ballard on THE KILLING. It sounds like you were nicer about it, though!