I’d say just about anyone who knows the name of one professional cinematographer knows Roger Deakins. He is cinema’s elder statesman, even though he’s not all that much older than a lot of people in the game. Of anyone working today, he has to have the most impressive record, possibly the most impressive record of all time in movies, receiving ten Academy Award nominations for cinematography, and racking up several dozen credits over four decades. He’s like if Woody Allen made the best movie of the year every year in terms of proficiency and productivity.
His collaborators owe so much to him, but it’s his work with the Coen Brothers where he’s probably been his strongest. Their relationship dates back to Barton Fink, but they really seemed to come into their own in the desolate winter landscapes of Fargo, the golden fields of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and may have made the most visually beautiful film during their entire run together most recently with True Grit. On top of that, you know, in his spare time, he shot The Shawshank Redemption, The Village (M. Night Shyamalan’s best-looking film), and the sublime Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, surely one of the most gorgeous-looking movies ever made. Having Roger Deakins’ name on your movie basically guarantees that if nothing else (and movies like In Time could certainly be examples of movies with virtually nothing else), it’s going to look amazing. The great part is, when you pair his skills with an outstanding movie like Skyfall, magic happens.
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