Roger Deakins is one of the best living cinematographers, even if The Academy only realized it a couple of years ago. Having worked on such gems as “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Fargo,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Blade Runner 2049,” and “Skyfall” should give you enough credibility to have people listen to your advice, but Deakins still finds it frustrating that Hollywood studios refuse to listen to him and expect him to shoot films a certain way.
The two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer spoke with Collider for nearly 90 minutes, where he looked back on his long and illustrious career. During the chat, Deakins shared some of his thoughts on the way Hollywood runs things, criticizing the lack of a cohesive voice in tentpole movies. “Movies have become more about the aesthetic than the story and the content and what the film is trying to say,” Deakins said. “I find that pretty disappointing and pretty depressing.”
Deakins’ frustration comes from the studio’s overreliance in second units, especially for big scenes, seemingly forcing it instead of trusting the cinematographer’s team. Deakins’ wife and longtime collaborator, James Ellis Deakins recalled the time when they were doing pre-production on “Blade Runner 2049.” A line producer talked to the duo about needing nine camera units to film the Denis Villeneuve science-fiction film that gave the legendary cinematographer his first Oscar. “We kept saying no, no, we don’t need that. And they [the line producer’s team] didn’t believe us,” James Ellis said. “The same thing with ‘Skyfall.’ They said, ‘Don’t you need five or six cameras?’ I know they didn’t believe we could do it with one camera.”
“It’s always like that,” Deakins added. “They say, we need a list of the four or five camera crews you want because we have to get all these shots. I said, what four or five? No! I thought that was strange to ask that on ‘Blade Runner’ as we worked with Denis before, quite successfully I felt. But it’s always like that with production. The bigger movies, if someone says, ‘Oh, we’ll put six cameras on it and get the scene.’ No thanks.” Deakins goes on to say it’s “sloppy” to rely so much on various camera units, and explained he mostly filmed “Blade Runner 2049” with a single camera.
Watch the rest of the interview below.
