Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister (“Inception”) is deep into pre-production on his untitled directorial debut, and he claims that he’s “always hearing” the voice of frequent collaborator Christopher Nolan in his head. He’s also, amusingly, finding it a challenge to set aside his DP eye during location scouting, according to a piece by David Heuring on his DP Dailies blog:
“It’s an enormous advantage in decision-making, and that is especially true when we’re scouting,” Pfister says. “I can walk into a room, and really know right away whether it’s going to photograph well. I try to look at the location first in terms of whether it makes sense for the story, for the characters and their personalities, their socio-economic status, and then whether the location will be expensive and time-consuming to light and photograph, and how it will look on film. That is hard to get out of your mind. But I think having that toolset is wonderful, as long as I can compartmentalize it. The one lingering consideration is when I’m scouting exteriors, I can’t help but think about where the sun is going to be. Will the light be good on that building? It’s tough to keep my mind off of that. On the initial scouts, I found myself peeking at my compass. So that’s something I’ll need to purge!”
To read more from Pfister on what he’s learned with Nolan and what he’s trying to do with his own first film, check out the full story. Their “Dark Knight Rises,” which is starting to generate whispers of Oscar glory for both men, opens July 20.
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