Calculated Frames: DP Martin Ruhe on Capturing “The Amateur’s” Deadly Chess Game

In the first part of our conversation with cinematographer Martin Ruhe about his latest film, The Amateur, he discussed director James Hawes’ grounded approach to Rami Malek’s CIA analyst-turned-vigilante by focusing on how his character’s humanity and intelligence were the keys to his playing a deadly game with trained spies and assassins. He’s able to do this not only because of his superior intelligence, but also because he blackmails his superiors (who have been ordering unsanctioned black ops) who know more than he does about the specifics of spycraft, getting the likes of Laurence Fishburne’s CIA veteran Henderson to give him mission-specific field training so that he can take matters into his own hands.

Now, we dive into details about some of the film’s marquee set pieces as Charlie (Malek) hunts down the people responsible for killing his wife, including the ingenious pool collapse and the climactic sequence as Charlie confronts the man who is directly responsible for her death—the Russian mercenary Horst Schiller (Michael Stuhlbarg).

Spoilers below!

Let’s talk about the final showdown on Schiller’s boat—Charlie finally gets the man who led the group responsible for killing Sarah.

We shot that in a bay near Marseille, and it was very windy. We had only one night to shoot that in the open water. We also built everything on the bridge in the studio and shot the interior scenes for 1.5 days. The open water sequence was nerve-wracking. It was stormy and windy, so the seas were very rough. We had a camera on the bridge with Schiller. [Aerial coordinator] Frédéric North was flying the helicopter with a camera on it. We used that helicopter for filming, but it was also in the movie as Interpol’s helicopter when they came to arrest Schiller in the end. Then, we had a camera on a bigger boat filming us, another camera on the smaller boat, and another on Schiller’s boat.

How was it to do a night shoot on the open water?

We wanted to shoot it at the right time of day. Because it’s the Black Sea, it’s totally black and there are no lights, so we had to shoot everything in the last light of day. There were a lot of moving parts, a lot of cameras, and everything was in motion. We tried to get the best video connection, but they didn’t really work, so we had to basically run it by ear and call the shots. But we did it all in a couple of hours. We rehearsed a few times, then when the light was right, we did three or four takes. The first take was probably too bright; you have two good ones, and the last one is probably too dark. That was some of the most nerve-wracking things I’ve ever shot because you had only one go. After sunset, you have this time where you can close the iris and make it look darker, but the perfect moment is only for five or 10 minutes. If you don’t get it in that moment, if the boats do the wrong thing, if the helicopter doesn’t film the right moment, then you don’t see them anymore, because it was just at the right level of exposure.

How challenging was it to light that sequence?

It’s the open sea with strong waves, so there weren’t many places to put the lights. We put some on the boats like the Interpol boat, the little dinghies, and on Schiller’s boat. If you light from other boats, then it looks artificial. That was one of the more extensive things we did, and we had to get it that night. We shot as a second unit with the boat arriving and in the harbor. For the second half of the night, we put the boat in the harbor and had more control. So that’s when we brought Rami aboard and had him safely cross. It was way too dangerous to have the dinghies in the water. Some of the stuntmen we had are ex-Special Forces, and they said in those waves, you wouldn’t make it into the other boat from the dinghy.

Let’s talk about that kickass infinity-pool-in-the-sky sequence where Charlie’s intelligence is on full display.

This pool really exists in London between two houses, even though it takes place in a hotel in Madrid. It’s on the 10th or 13th floor of the buildings, so it’s not easy to access and light. We shot on the real balcony as we look down at the pool before Charlie arrives. He threatens to blow up the pool if the guy doesn’t give him what he wants. A lot of that was shot on location, but we also built a similar-sized pool in a studio. The front of it would collapse with a stunt guy on wires. When the pool collapses [and the man plunges to his death along with all that water and glass], some of that is visual effects. But we started with the real thing, with a real stuntman in a real pool, and collapsed it in the studio. We had a camera on a flat camera crane on a platform so we could be above him. We put a handheld camera in the pool with a camera operator, plus another two or three cameras. The moment it collapsed, we’re actually quite close to him as he swims towards us before he is pulled away and suspended with the wires; he drops like a meter or so. It was not done with a CG body being tossed around.

When it explodes, a cascade of water and shards of glass plunge towards the ground. How was that made to look so real?

It was a brilliant thing. They had pre-cut Plexiglas so we didn’t have too many sharp angles. One side could collapse with all the water gushing and the body plunging, then there’s a digital takeover to see him falling much deeper. It was a crazy amount of water collapsing down and dropping these ice pieces from the pool. Again, we shot that for real so that the stunt work was as practical as possible.

The Amateur is in theaters now.

Featured image: Rami Malek as Heller in 20th Century Studio’s THE AMATEUR. Photo by John Wilson. © 2024 20th Centruy Studios.