He hasn’t been nearly as prolific in his career as others on this list have been, but John Toll has made his mark on a number of visually striking movies over quite an extended period of time. In a way, he has a way of accomplishing that kind of invisible cinematography that filmmakers like to talk about; he’s not the most well-known name among cinephiles, and yet he has been recognized for his work on movies like Braveheart and Legends of the Fall, as well as working frequently with Cameron Crowe, and two works with highly respected visual storytellers, the Wachowskis and Terrence Malick, in Cloud Atlas and The Thin Red Line, respectively.
He also was one of the people responsible for the initial look of Breaking Bad, which Michael Slovis effectively built upon in making that show the most visually compelling in television history. In fact, Slovis will likely be one of the best cinematographers in all of cinema someday. He certainly is at the top of the pack in television right now. Perhaps he’ll take over for Toll with the Wachowskis one of these days, although I can’t imagine him topping the visual feat of Cloud Atlas anytime soon.
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