11 Cinematographers Who Became Great Directors

1) Barry Sonnenfeld

Among cinematographers working today, Roger Deakins is probably the closest to being something of a household name, although Emmanuel Lubezki’s work on Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity has earned him a great amount of attention recently. Neither, however, has directed a feature film to date. Deakins has done some of his best photographic work on the films of the Coen brothers, such as Fargo, No Country for Old Men and True Grit, and just about every other film over the course of their 30 years in filmmaking. But he wasn’t their first photographic collaborator; on the first three Coen films—Blood Simple, Raising Arizona and Miller’s Crossing—their cinematographer of choice was Barry Sonnenfeld.

Of the handful of cinematographers who have relatively recently made the transition to directing, Sonnenfeld is by far the most prolific. He began with The Addams Family and sequel in the early 90s before going on to helm the Men in Black trilogy as well as another late 90s vehicle for Will Smith, Wild Wild West. He has also gone on to produce a number of films and TV series since then. The parting of ways by Sonnenfeld and the Coens and subsequent success of both parties seems like the model that Nolan and Pfister may want to follow.

Continue reading on the next page…