How “Sanctuary” Cinematographer Ludovica Isidori Turned a Single Room Into a Dynamic Psycho-Emotional Arena

How do you make a single location subliminally consume an entire story? That was the question Italian cinematographer Ludovica Isidori had to answer in director Zachary Wigon’s sophomore film Sanctuary.

Starring Christopher Abbott (Girls) as Hal, an heir to a luxury hotel empire, and Margaret Qualley (Maid), a dominatrix named Rebecca who is equal parts seductive, smart, and clever, Sanctuary is a slow-burn psychological thriller that reveals the intimacy of their unorthodox relationship with delicious restraint.

“Haunted Mansion” Cinematographer Jeffrey Waldron Gathers Ghostly Delights in Frame

Directed by Justin Simien, Disney’s Haunted Mansion has an all-star cast, a funny, touching script, killer New Orleans scenery, and for a wellspring of inspiration, the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland, which holds particular sway over the movie’s aesthetic. The original ride veers from comedic to creepy, which for cinematographer Jeffrey Waldron (Little Fires Everywhere, The Morning Show), worked well as a starting point for designing different aesthetics for Haunted Mansion’s various astral planes. 

How “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” DP Fraser Taggart Pulled Off That Insane Train Sequence

Editors’ Note: This story contains mild spoilers.

The action in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One rolls out like a conveyor belt of delicious candy, leaving you wanting more. And director Christopher McQuarrie delivers those highs again and again. The global affair treks from Abu Dhabi for a swirling desert shootout and on to Rome for a goosebumps-inducing car chase, in, of course, an adorable yellow FIAT.

“The Last of Us” Cinematographer Ksenia Sereda on Shining a Light in the Darkness

The Last of Us, HBO’s thrilling, best-in-class adaptation of Naughty Dog’s critically acclaimed video game, provided 2023’s first certifiable must-watch series. Co-created by the video game’s mastermind, Neil Druckmann, and Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin, the series followed a pair of intrapersonally opposed survivors of a fungi-borne apocalypse as they picked their way across a devastated American landscape crawling with the terrifying permutations of the mindless infected and the almost equally dangerous humans who had,

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” DP Phedon Papamichael on Capturing That Iconic Indy Look

Days before the theatrical release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, its director James Mangold and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael watched the final version of the film with original franchise helmer Steven Spielberg and his long-time cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, who lensed Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). Afterward, there was nothing but praise. “Hearing how great it was from them and them being generous about it was a really good feeling,” says Papamichael during a phone call with The Credits.  

“The Blackening” Cinematographer Todd A. Dos Reis on Lensing a Horror-Comedy Romp

It’s almost hard to believe The Blackening is cinematographer Todd A. Dos Reis’ first feature film. He’s been in the business for decades, having shot a variety of television shows, including Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Bosch: Legacy, and Entourage. Before becoming a cinematographer for a long list of hit shows and music videos, he even worked on two Jean-Claude Van Damme classics, Hard Target and Double Impact,

“Arnold” DP Logan Schneider on Shooting Schwarzenegger

What more can be said about Arnold Schwarzenegger that hasn’t already been said? Plenty, as it turns out. Arnold, the three-part documentary (streaming now on Netflix), includes loads of archival footage, plus interviews with famous collaborators like Jamie Lee Curtis and James Cameron, but the core story comes directly from the world-famous bodybuilder-turned-movie star-turned-California governor. Filming intermittently over two years mainly at Schwarzenegger’s Brentwood home, director Lesley Chilcott and cinematographer Logan Schneider also visited the Austrian village where Schwarzenegger grew up.

“The Other Two” Cinematographer / Director Charlie Gruet on the Show’s Signature Absurdity

Millennials have been the target of some harsh criticism from all sides, but no other generation has become technologically obsolete quite so quickly. Older generations think we’re whizzes on the computer, but there’s a difference between spending your middle school years figuring out how to instant message your crush and being trained to write code. Yet, going viral over a certain (very young) age almost seems more shameful than being irrelevant. This displacement is brilliantly captured in the comedy series The Other Two,

“You Hurt My Feelings” Cinematographer Jeffrey Waldron on Re-Teaming With Nicole Holofcener

When is it ok to hide the truth from your partner? That’s what writer-director Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said) examines in her latest film, You Hurt My Feelings. The Sundance premiere was scooped up by A24 and reconnects Holofcener with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Beth, a novelist writing her latest book who overhears her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) sharing his no-so-flattering opinion about it. Now, it’s a matter of if and when Beth will confront Don (and what will become of it). 

“Big George Foreman” Cinematographer John Matysiak on Getting Into the Ring for a Legend’s Life

Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World is an epic narrative—even the title spells that out. Filmmaker George Tillman Jr.’s biopic about the boxing champ, preacher, and grill king George Foreman captures the man in full.

The story begins with a young Foreman (Khris Davis) struggling with faith and a temper. Without many other opportunities, he turns to boxing. The young man has natural talent,

“Great Expectations” Cinematographer Dan Atherton Goes Dark with Dickens

How dark is too dark? For fans of Peaky Blinders, the BAFTA-winning period crime series created by Steven Knight, bleak is better. In adapting Charles Dickens’s “Great Expectations,” Knight ramped up the vice and violence for a six-part FX/Hulu series running through April 23) that introduces opium, sadomasochism, attempted suicide, prostitution, F-bombs, and literal butchery to Dickens’ 19th-century novel-centered on the poor but clever orphan Pip. After being groomed by the wealthy Miss Havisham (Olivia Colman) and her chilly adopted daughter Estella (Chloe Lee/Shalom Brune-Franklin),

“John Wick: Chapter 4” Cinematographer Dan Laustsen on the Beautiful Brutality of Lensing Wick’s World

Editor’s Note: Leading up to the release of John Wick: Chapter 4 on March 24, 2023, The Credits is publishing a “Wick Week” of content, weaving stories about the film’s fighting style, stunts, along with an interview with director Chad Stahelski. Some mild spoilers follow.

Cinematographer Dan Laustsen has a way with color.

“Scream VI” Cinematographer Brett Jutkiewicz on Framing Scenes So They Cut Deep

Brett Jutkiewicz wanted the images to cut a little deeper in Scream VI. Inspired by the franchise’s move to New York City, the cinematographer wanted a crueler and harsher mood. To achieve this effect, Jutkiewicz ditched anamorphic lenses and brought a new aesthetic to the long-running series.

Filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, known as Radio Silence, embraced Jutkiewicz’s idea for a new style. The trio collaborated on Ready or Not and the previous Scream film.

“Daisy Jones & the Six” Cinematographer Checco Varese on Evoking 70s Vibe Through a Contemporary Lens

Cinematographer Checco Varese won a 2022 Emmy for his gripping treatment of Appalachia’s opioid epidemic in Dopesick before taking on the relatively innocent place and time dramatized in Daisy Jones & the Six. The 10-episode series (adapted from Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel), now streaming on Amazon Prime, follows the rise and fall of a mid-seventies Fleetwood Mac-like L.A. band fueled by drugs, sex, and rock and roll.

Varese,

“Champions” Cinematographer C. Kim Miles Found Inspiration Everyday on Set

Cinematographer C. Kim Miles has shot everything from TV superhero The Flash and Robert Zemeckis’ miniaturized soldier epic Welcome to Marwen to teen cannibalism drama Yellowjackets and Michelle Yeoh‘s upcoming miniseries The Brothers Sun, which he describes as “Crazy Rich Asians meets John Wick.” But until director Bobby Farrelly’s Champions came along, Miles had never worked with a cast of developmentally challenged actors.

“The Last of Us” Cinematographer Eben Bolter on Episode 4 & More

It took a decade to get there, but The Last of Us’ migration from video game to television paid off big time last month when the post-apocalyptic thriller enjoyed the largest viewership jump in HBO history. Audience numbers increased 22 percent to 5.7 million viewers for the show’s second episode in the wake of its January 15 debut. Already renewed for a second season, the series comes from Emmy-winning writer-producer Craig Mazin of Chernobyl fame in collaboration with Neil Druckmann,

Best of 2022: “Nope” Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema on Capturing the Epic Scope of Jordan Peele’s Latest

It’s that time of year—we look back on a few of our favorite interviews from 2022 in our annual year-end list.

Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema failed to get into two Dutch film schools, so he worked in a soap factory, played in a band, and survived unemployment as a self-described “slacker” before finding his creative footing at a renowned cinema academy in Lodz, Poland. Since then, he’s made up for lost time through collaborations with A-list auteurs,

Best of 2022: “The Batman” Cinematographer Greig Fraser on Finding Light in the Darkness

It’s that time of year—we look back on a few of our favorite interviews from 2022 in our annual year-end list.

At a gripping three hours, The Batman isn’t so much an endurance test as it is a lengthy visual puzzle, one that takes place primarily after hours. Director Matt Reeves’s take on Batman (Robert Pattinson) may be the franchise’s most disaffected nocturnal not-so-superhero yet. Working,

Best of 2022: “The Woman King” DP Polly Morgan on Lensing Viola Davis in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Thrilling Epic

It’s that time of year—we look back on a few of our favorite interviews from 2022 in our annual year-end list.

A sweeping historical epic that blends intimacy and adventure is the kind of movie that The Woman King cinematographer Polly Morgan dreamed about making while growing up in West Sussex, England. 

“My earliest memories were Close Encounters and Empire of the Sun.

“Causeway” Cinematographer Diego Garcia on Capturing Jennifer Lawrence’s Subtly Powerful Performance

“I would like to go back,” says former U.S. soldier Lynsey (Jennifer Lawrence) to her physiotherapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson), who is overseeing her rehabilitation following a traumatic brain injury from an IED while serving in Afghanistan. But her reasoning for returning is more than a flashy comeback story found on the front page of a sports magazine. Her wounds run deeper, and the question of “should she go back” is the resonating theme of director Lila Neugebauer’s (Maid,