ASC members Michael Chapman (a renowned cinematographer) and Allen Daviau (a member of the ASC) were the focal point of a legacy panel at EnergaCamerimage Festival on Monday. It was led by Lawrence Sher.“Joker”), Xavier Pérez Grobet (“Watchmen”), Amy Vincent (‘Footloose”) and Seamus McGarvey (“Atonement”).
His work was nominated for five Oscars “Bugsy,” “Avalon,” “Empire of the Sun,” “The Color Purple” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,”Daviau won 2007 the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award, but he was also known for his hatred of cars.
“I would follow him around in a supermarket, not to see what he was buying, but hoping to say hello. Then I acquired the responsibility of driving him to a whole bunch of different events,”Vincent. “There are not many of us who did not have the experience of driving him, sometimes conveniently and sometimes not.”
Daviau, who is well-known for his collaborations in the filmmaking of Steven Spielberg’s short film, had to wait 14 Years to see him again. “Amblin’”1968
“It’s like that Kevin Bacon movie ‘The Big Picture.’ The director becomes a bigwig and the cinematographer is his best friend, but then he goes: ‘Listen man, I fought for you but the studio wants someone else.’ And mentions some complicated Czech name,”Sher joked, showing clips from “E.T.,”They were brought together by this.
Desreta Jackson and Akosua Busia in “The Color Purple”
Warner Bros.
“They created a Marvel movie of its time and yet Daviau’s work with Spielberg was always pushing the boundaries of artistry. It’s a reminder that these two things can coexist.”
The clips were also reviewed by cinematographers “Empire of the Sun,”It can be used as a complement.
“It’s insane. All these extras, everything is real. You can feel that,” noted Pérez Grobet, calling Daviau “the master of silhouettes,”Also, as proved by “Bugsy.”
“I am afraid that this very image was wholeheartedly robbed for ‘Atonement,’ ” admitted McGarvey, referring to the scene when Annette Bening’s Virginia visits Bugsy, played by Warren Beatty. “This sequence is a sort of meta use of cinema itself. You are dissecting the mechanics of the camera, projection, light and shadow. The very essence of what we love about cinema is depicted so poetically.”
“They ended up marrying after this and are still married today. I feel like it was Allen’s responsibility,”Sher. “That close-up, when the door opens? Of course you are going to marry that person. We talk about how photography can add to the emotion of the scene. Here, photography is the emotion.”
Chapman, a two-time Oscar nominee, was also a recipient of the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award. “Jaws” “The Godfather.”He became well-known later thanks to “Taxi Driver” “Raging Bull.”
“I saw it again just before he died, although many people think I studied it every day on the ‘Joker’ set. It was influential in ways I haven’t even realized. He had such an impact on my life,”Sher.
“His work represented what New York was and it will forever be a part of my filmmaking language. I think that ‘Taxi Driver’ is the greatest film Scorsese has ever made and Chapman sort of agreed. It shows this moment before you become a product of your own reputation. Before Scorsese was Scorsese and Chapman was Chapman.”
Chapman would later create another masterpiece with this combination. “Raging Bull,”Even though the studio executives called it its protagonist “a cockroach.”
“It becomes transcendent when a beautiful image is portraying something so harsh,”Vincent praised the contrast between the “exquisite, silvery black and white cinematography”These scenes are extremely violent.
“You can have the brutality of this man, beating his head against the wall, but because it’s in the shadows you can almost live through the pain,”Sher. “Every day at this festival I watch something and go: ‘Goddamn, I should have stolen that!’ I want to go back and reshoot the things I shot last week.”