Shooting Life

DP Roger Deakins talks about what's important and his collaboration with the Coen Brothers

by Phillip Williams | Published February 3, 2007

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, and Roger Deakins

(L to R): Ethan and Joel Coen on the set with Roger Deakins

There is no dearth of talent behind the camera in American cinema. Whatever Hollywood may lack for, it's certainly not access to world class cinematographers. The best DP's from around the globe inevitably find their way to Los Angeles. Roger Deakins is one such artist. One of the best in his field, the sheer number of excellent films he has shot since his career began in the late 1970s is impressive by any standard. Born and raised in the UK, where he got his start as a documentary moviemaker, Deakins is now one of the most celebrated cameramen in Hollywood or, for that matter, anywhere else.

Now a regular collaborator with the Coen Brothers (he has shot all of their films since and including Barton Fink), since his film school days Deakins has worked with some of the most interesting directors in the business. These have included David Mamet, Mike Figgis, Frank Darabont, John Sayles and Martin Scorsese. His most recent work can be seen in the Oscar-winning film, A Beautiful Mind, as well as the Coen Brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There. Though an Oscar win has alluded him so far, Deakins has been honored with five nominations since 1994 for his work on The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, Kundun, O Brother Where Art Thou? and The Man Who Wasn't There. The common thread in Deakins' work is not the presence of a particular style, but rather a passion for making films about real people. For him, human relationships are where it's at and that's what he focuses on. In 1998, MM deemed Deakins one of the world's 15 greatest living cinematographers, and featured him on the cover. Just recently, we caught up with him again to discuss what he's been doing since.

Phillip Williams (MM): You've worked with many directors more than once. Is that helpful? Is the second time out usually better insomuch as you've learned a bit about each other?

Roger Deakins (RD): Yes, it really is. The problem is you can't keep working with people because you may not be available at the time they're doing a project. I do try and keep myself available when Joel and Ethan Coen do a movie, because that relationship has gone on and on. We've done six movies so far and we are doing another one in the summer.

MM: What is it about that collaboration that you enjoy?

RD: It's a matter of trust. You have to trust the director and the director has to trust you. I feel that if you're in a situation where you feel that the director trusts you, you can take your work further, even if it's as simple as exposing a shot a little darker. You don't tend to take those risks with people you don't know, especially if you are doing a big studio production. The last thing you want is to go into a screening room at dailies and have everyone whining because the shot is too dark. If you do that with Joel and Ethan they'll know why you're doing it and they'll probably turn around and say 'Yes, but can you print it a bit darker?' (laughs).

Filmography
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Dinner with Friends (2001)
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
Thirteen Days (2000)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Anywhere But Here (1999)
The Hurricane (1999)
The Siege (1998)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Kundun (1997)
Courage Under Fire (1996)
Fargo (1996)
Dead Man Walking (1995)
Rob Roy (1995)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
The Secret Garden (1993)
Passion Fish (1992)
Thunderheart (1992)
Barton Fink (1991)
Homicide (1991)
The Long Walk Home (1990)
Air America (1990)
Mountains of the Moon (1990)
Woman in the Moon (1988)
Pascali's Island (1988)
Stormy Monday (1988)
The Kitchen Toto (1987)
Personal Services (1987)
White Mischief (1987)
Sid and Nancy (1986)
Defence of the Realm (1985)
The Innocent (1985)
Return to Waterloo (1985)
Shadey (1985)
The House (1984) (TV)
1984 (1984)
Alan Bush: A Life (1983)
Another Time, Another Place (1983)
Towers of Babel (1981)
Blue Suede Shoes (1980)
Steppin' Out (1979)
Before Hindsight (1977)
Welcome to Britain (1976)

MM: How do you select projects? I assume that at this point you don't have to take everything that comes along?

RD: I never really did that. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I've never been seduced just by the business. I enjoy what I do and get satisfaction from it. If I don't feel that the project is something that I can relate to then I'd rather not be doing it; I've always had that attitude.

MM: What brought you onto A Beautiful Mind?

RD: A few years ago I asked my agent what was around and I read A Beautiful Mind and really liked it. He pursued it for me. When he found out that Ron Howard was doing it he got in touch and said that I was interested. It was a happy circumstance that Ron Howard was looking for someone.

MM: Did you see any particular technical challenges for you in the film before you started to shoot?

RD: It's not really about that for me. I could relate to the script. I had done a couple of documentaries with a friend about schizophrenia. We spent three months in a mental hospital in London following the cases of eight patients in the outpatient ward. I've always been interested in the subject and thought the idea of tackling it in a feature film "a mainstream Hollywood movie" was interesting. It's a difficult balance because you are trying to make a movie that is accessible to a broad audience, but also trying to do justice to the subject.

MM: Was there an attempt to create some sort of visual language to differentiate between John Nash's subjective world and the so-called 'real' world?

RD: We went back and forth on that in discussions. When we started off Ron had suggested that we make the vision bleaker and bleaker and more and more stylized, a sort of film noir/Third Man look. But in the end we scaled the whole thing back because you want to sell the whole thing to the audience as being real and I think that if we had gone too far the audience would have sensed the artifice of it.

MM: How do you typically prepare for a film?

RD: In the first discussion with a director you go with your own vision of what the film can be and then see if that's in sync with the director's. If you find that you are both going down the same path then it's a matter of mixing ideas and gradually the vision forms.

MM: As the DP, you are making decisions about all sorts of matters, right down to the film stock. Do you include the director in all those decisions?

RD: Sometimes the director's not interested. Sometimes the director is just into the script and the actors and they leave the visuals completely up to the cameraman. With Joel and Ethan, obviously they are very involved. They don't always ask me about film stock, but we do talk about the look and texture of the film. That's why in O Brother, Where Art Thou? we ended up doing a digital intermediary and coloring the picture the way we did. They said up front that they wanted the feeling of a hand-tinted photograph. We went through several experiments to get that look and ended up taking the digital route.

MM: What part of the process is the most attractive to you?

RD: There's not one actual aspect alone. The biggest thrill is looking through the camera and seeing a performance and a scene coming together and realizing it's special. Sometimes when something is working you get a tingle up your spine. It's a wonderful feeling when you realized you've captured a special moment. It's quite a buzz, really.

MM: When you prepare are you putting any notes on paper or is it all inside of the conversation with the director?

RD: There are two aspects, really. With Joel and Ethan you basically storyboard the whole picture. Also, when making a film, you have to have a battle plan: you scout every location with the director; you talk about the possibilities of the location with the director; you talk about the major problems or the better camera angles. Then you go back with the technical crew, the gaffer and the key grip, and you thrash out how you're going to light it. I always do a diagram of the set, a plan of the lighting and whatever rigs I might want. If it's for Joel and Ethan, where everything is prepared up front what kind of camera angles and shots we're going to do, I do diagrams of those shots.

MM: Do you have a sense of how you will lens the film up front?

RD: Yes, you do tend to have a sense of what lenses you are going to use. On Fargo, for example, most of the film was shot with relatively long lenses. Normally they like to shoot with wide lenses. We shot a lot of that film on a 40mm, which is long for them.

MM: That's actually a normal lens, isn't it?

RD: Well, it is for most people (laughing). I shoot on a 32mm most of the time with them. On Barton Fink, which was the first time I worked with them, we shot most of that on a 25 mm and 28mm.

MM: Are there things you can do to practice "to hone your skills" when you aren't making a picture?

RD: Yes, I think coming from documentaries brings a certain perspective to the process. And I was a still photographer for a short time and I try to keep that up. I don't take that many pictures but I spend time trying to (laughs). It just helps to cultivate a heightened visual sense; it keeps your instincts alive in many ways.

MM: Are there directors and DP's whom you've admired or who have been mentors for you?

RD: Absolutely. I've always admired Conrad Hall's work and I'm pleased to regard him as a friend now. I met him when I first came over to America and I've gotten to know him since. I think his work is fantastic because it's so varied. It's not like he has a particular style, but you know it's his work, somehow. And the other guy is Ossie Morris, the British cameraman, who is also quite brilliant. He shot a lot of John Huston's pictures-Moby Dick, Moulin Rouge, Beat The Devil, The Man Who Would Be King. He did The Spy Who Came In From the Cold with Richard Burton, which is one of the best black and white films you could ever see. He has an amazing track record.

MM: When you shot The Man Who Wasn't There, did working in black and white necessitate a shift in your methods? What sort of homework did you do? I assume you looked at a lot of black and white material.

RD: Well, it was the first film I shot totally in black and white. I shot part of The Hurricane for Norman Jewison in black and white the boxing scenes. When I was preparing I actually watch some black and white films but they weren't really related to what we were doing. It was just a good excuse to revisit some black and white movies. I was watching Hud, I remember, but the lighting in Hud has got nothing to do with The Man Who Wasn't There at all (laughing). The look and how you shoot really comes off the script and the material. Every film is like that.

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Comment by HID Conversion kit on 3/16/11 at 5:09 pm: Honestly, I am really amazed at what directors can do. Its like they imagine how a movie will be and makes it a point to make it happen. This is something that not everyone has, they are really talented.