When you hear that Roger Deakins has signed on to be the cinematographer of a film, there’s no question that you want to see the project. The DP has one Oscar win under his belt, as well as 12 other nominations. Even though he’s not directing a picture, just having his name attached lends credibility to whatever he’s working on. And likewise, if he leaves a project, for whatever reason, it’s likely that film fans’ interest is going to diminish.
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That’s exactly the case with the upcoming film “355,” from writer-director Simon Kinberg. The female-led spy film, which stars Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, Sebastian Stan, and Edgar Ramirez, originally had Deakins attached. However, according to GWW, the famed cinematographer has left the project and is replaced by Tim Maurice-Jones.
No offense to Maurice-Jones, who has done good work on films like “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch,” and “Kick-Ass 2,” but any film that loses Deakins behind the camera is going to suffer. And unfortunately, the news doesn’t come at the best time, as Kinberg’s directorial debut, “Dark Phoenix,” is hitting theaters with some terrible reviews. The anticipation of having such a great cast in a spy thriller was compounded by the addition of Deakins, which makes up for Kinberg’s…style.
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Now, without the Oscar-winning DP, the big question is how much the spy thriller will suffer, as a result. As mentioned, even without Deakins, the film still has an incredible cast, with some of the best actors working today. So, it would stand to reason that even with Kinberg’s lack of experience, the cast alone can make ‘355’ worth the price of admission.
We’ll just have to wait and find out when “355” arrives in theaters in 2020.
Correction: Peter Sciretta at /Film says Deakins was never attached to the film in the first place. Please disperse, nothing to see here? Ugh.
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