Meet the Creative Team That Helped Captain Marvel Soar

Captain Marvel‘s Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) is a part human part alien superhero who can 100% kick-ass. Seriously. Watch out Thanos. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck propelled Marvel’s most potent superhero to the big screen this weekend and the results are a critical and commercial smash. Meet the creative team who helped Boden, Fleck and Larson create a Marvel movie unlike any other.

The allegory catapults us to the Kree home planet of Hala where Danvers already touts her powers and is training as a member of Starforce,

Cold War‘s Oscar-Nominated DP Lukasz Zal on the Perspective of Love

*In the run-up to this Sunday’s Oscars telecast, we’re sharing some of our favorite interviews with nominees. 

Cinematographer Lukasz Zal won the prestigious Silver Frog Award at Camerimage for his work on Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, a ravishing look at a romance over the course of 30-years and several thousand miles through Europe. Zal had worked with Pawlikowski on Ida, the director’s previous masterpiece,

The Favourite‘s Oscar-Nominated DP on Creating one of the Year’s Most Ravishing Films

*In the run-up to this Sunday’s Oscars telecast, we’re sharing some of our favorite interviews with nominees. 

Before The Favourite came his way, Robbie Ryan had never worked with Yorgos Lanthimos, but he did admire the Greek director’s offbeat art house films Dogtooth and Killing of a Sacred Deer. So when Lanthimos invited Ryan to shoot his 18th-century black comedy about Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) and rival courtiers (Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone),

Celebrating the ASC’s Top 10 Films of the 20th Century

The American Society of Cinematographers recently released their “100 Milestone Films in Cinematography of 20th Century.” For the uninitiated (which is 99% of the viewing public), the ASC is “an honorary organization made up of the best cinematographers in the world,” says cinematographer Richard Crudo, ASC (this explains why you often see an “ASC” after a cinematographer’s name in the credits.) “Membership is by invitation only and is extended after the candidate has been proposed by members and has passed a screening process.”

The titles in the ASC’s list were compiled through an internal poll conducted by the Society.

Aquaman‘s DP on the Challenge of People Talking & Fighting Underwater

Of all the superheroes (and there are a lot of superheroes if you haven’t noticed), cinematographer Don Burgess was challenged to lens the one with the most problematic superpowers and origin story. Unlike Batman’s gritty Gotham, Superman’s soaring Metropolis or even Black Panther’s glorious Wakanda, there is no superhero who presents a tougher challenge to a filmmaker than Aquaman and his underwater kingdom of Atlantis.

“When When I met Sam Raimi to interview for Spider-Man,

Oscar Watch: DP James Laxton on Creating Radical Intimacy in If Beale Street Could Talk

Oscar-nominated cinematographer James Laxton (Moonlight) and his longtime collaborator director Barry Jenkins did something novel with If Beale Street Could Talk, and we’re not just talking about the fact the film is adapted from the legendary James Baldwin’s titular novel. Unlike their previous collaborations, 2008’s Medicine for Melancholy, set in San Francisco, and 2016’s Oscar-winning Moonlight, set in Miami, Beale Street unfolds in a city neither had an intimate knowledge of—New York.

Oscar Watch: Black Panther Cinematographer Rachel Morrison on how to Make an Intimate Epic

When Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison (the first woman ever nominated in the category for her work on Mudbound) started working on Black Panther, she had an uncanny feeling; this massive, ultimately groundbreaking Marvel mega-film felt much more like the indies she’s worked on in the past. Black Panther marked her second collaboration with writer/director Ryan Coogler (she lensed his breakout first film, Fruitvale Station),

Oscar Watch: Cold War‘s DP Lukasz Zal on Crafting Pawel Pawlikowski’s Latest Masterpiece

Cinematographer Lukasz Zal won the prestigious Silver Frog Award at Camerimage for his work on Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, a ravishing look at a romance over the course of 30-years and several thousand miles through Europe. Zal had worked with Pawlikowski on Ida, the director’s previous masterpiece, as a cameraman (he ultimately earned himself a co-cinematographer credit). For Cold War, Zal was in command of the camera team,

Cinematographer René Richter on Creating the Sumptuous Head Full of Honey

When director Til Schweiger and his team shot Honig im Kopf, about a family dealing with a grandparent’s onset of Alzheimer’s, his team primarily worked where the film was set: continental European countryside, plus a bit of London. Minor interior replacements subbed Germany in for Venice. When Schweiger and his crew reconvened to film an English-language remake, Head Full of Honey, the settings changed, though the locations often didn’t.

The Favourite‘s DP on Creating one of the Year’s Most Ravishing (and Funny) Films

Before The Favourite came his way, Robbie Ryan had never worked with Yorgos Lanthimos, but he did admire the Greek director’s offbeat art house films Dogtooth and Killing of a Sacred Deer. So when Lanthimos invited Ryan to shoot his 18th-century black comedy about Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) and rival courtiers (Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone), the Irish cinematographer, fresh off indie film triumph American Honey,

How Bohemian Rhapsody‘s Cinematographer Recreated Queen’s Most Iconic Performances

Queen’s 1985 Live Aid performance was the rock event of the century that almost didn’t happen. It was an iconic display of untethered talent and vitality in the darkest days of the AIDS crisis. An estimated 1.5 billion people watched the unforgettable performance all around the world. Freddie Mercury left a lasting impression as a music legend that day. Bohemian Rhapsody cinematographer Tom Sigel studied the broadcast to bring audiences on stage.

How The Hate U Give’s Cinematographer Captured an American Tragedy

Fresh out of film school, Romanian cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. jumped into the deep end when Francis Ford Coppola arrived in Bucharest eleven years ago to film his coming of age drama Youth Without Youth. “Francis shot ten days with ten different DP’s because he wanted to see who worked well with him,” Malaimare recalls. “Three of my teachers also auditioned for the job so I figured I didn’t have a chance.

TIFF 2018: DP Pepe Avila del Pino on Bending Genres in The Kindergarten Teacher

Director of photography Pepe Avila del Pino lensed Sara Colangelo‘s daring The Kindergarten Teacher (Netflix, premiering on October 10, 2018), starring Maggie Gyllenhaal about the unusually intense bond Gyllenhaal’s kindergarten teacher Lisa Spinelli forms with a student, Jimmy Roy (Parker Sevak) she’s sure is a child prodigy. Written by Colangelo and based on a script by Nadav Lapid, an Israeli writer/director whose 2014 feature of the same name inspired the film,

Emmy Nominated Ozark Cinematographer on the Show’s Bleak & Immersive Style

Ozark is relentless. Whether an emotional reunion, a difficult decision, a gruesome death, or a grisly torture, the camera offers no relief. You cannot look away, but you likely will not want to. The show’s cinematography is compelling and immersive, capitalizing on some of the strongest performances of the season from a cast that includes Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Julia Garner, and Peter Mullan. Director of Photography Ben Kutchins received an Emmy nomination for his work on the complex season finale packed with emotional bombshells.

An Underwater Cinematographer’s Fish Eye View of Deadpool 2

Below the tide is another world, dangerous and unknown. As people tend to spend the majority of their life on dry land, some of the most memorable scenes in movies are underwater. Jack Sparrow diving into the ocean to save Elizabeth Swan in Pirates of the Caribbean. Adaline’s car plunging into icy waters rendering her ageless in The Age of Adaline. Judy Robinson swimming below the surface of an alien planet to save her family in Lost in Space.

RBG‘s Cinematographer on Revealing an American Icon

Ruth Bader Ginsburg has sparked a cultural fandom that is usually reserved for musicians, actors and athletes. The Supreme Court Justice’s face adorns stickers and pins at every bookstore and she has adopted the moniker ‘Notorious RBG.’ At 85 years old, Ginsburg is engaging the next generation of activists, but her personal history is just as inspiring. RBG Cinematographer Claudia Raschke worked with directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen to peel back the layers of Ginsburg’s career and grant us insight into her life as a wife,

Director & Cinematographer Warwick Thornton on his Outback Western Sweet Country

Growing up in the Australian outback, director and cinematographer Warwick Thornton wasn’t exposed to many big screen movies.

“We had a drive-in on Friday and Saturday nights. I remember Star Wars four or five years after was released; that’s how long it took that print [to travel to the outback],” says Thornton, 48. “So that’s the Hollywood cinema I grew up on. I never watched westerns in cinemas because [the cinemas played] just big,

Cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen on Breathing Life Into A Quiet Place‘s Terrifying Apocalypse

In a landscape dominated by whizz-bang actioners, A Quiet Place stands alone. Directed by John Krasinski and starring Emily Blunt, it’s a nearly dialogue-free, smartly subtle genre exercise that’s as much creature feature as it is a stirring family drama, a post-apocalyptic thriller centered on a family beset by malevolent monsters that use sound to track their prey. But in a landscape of utter quiet, it’s the film’s gorgeous look – executed by cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen – that ultimately fills out the lush world in which the monster movie peril plays out.

Oscar-Nominated Cinematographer Dan Laustsen on The Shape of Water‘s Fluid Fable

As part of our Oscars week coverage, we’re re-posting our conversations with some of this year’s Oscar-nominees, as well as publishing new interviews with those vying for Oscar gold this Sunday. Cinematographer Dan Laustsen is nominated alongside Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049), Bruno Delbonnel (Darkest Hour), Hoyte van Hoytema (Dunkirk) and Rachel Morrison (Mudbound). The full list of the Oscar nominees can be found here.

Danish cinematographer Dan Laustsen worked alongside Guillermo del Toro on and off for two decades,

Cinematographer Neville Kidd on Visualizing Netflix’s Epic New Sci-Fi Series Altered Carbon

In sci-fi series Altered Carbon (streaming Friday, Feb 2, on Netflix), the streets of San Francisco 350 years in the future teem with pulsating 3D ads, flying cop cars, prostitute holograms and “sleeves,” formerly known as human bodies, embedded with “cortical stacks” of consciousness that enable rich people to live forever. Inhabiting one of those sleeves is recently resurrected rebel soldier Takishi Kovacs (Joel Kinnamen of The Killing),