PRODUCTION THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK
& Lomb’s Super Baltar lenses, used by Gordon Willis to photograph The Godfather . He knew Super Baltars well, having tested them several times for earlier projects, and Segan agreed they were perfect for what they wanted. For certain shots, he used Harris Savides’ personal set of Standard Baltar primes. “John Turturro has one of the great faces and profiles in movies today,” Levy says. “He looks amazing on camera, especially with these lenses. We had wonderful producers, Katie McNeill and Leopold Hughes, who let me shoot a test on my own and bring John to the location. I had the chance to photograph him before principal photography began, and John was incredibly patient. He’s a real filmmaker who understands the process. I got to shoot him in his character’s apartment, moving in and out of silhouette and really study his face from every angle. It gave me a chance to discover how I wanted to light John and photograph him, but also just to spend time with him while I stood behind the camera, feeling things out together as filmmakers. It was thrilling.” Portraying a bygone New York involved extensive location planning. For the pawn shop owned by Steve Buscemi’s character, Levy sought out a space with windows looking onto the street, giving the images greater depth and creating a dynamic field of view in which everyday New York life could continue outside while John and Steve’s characters went about their mysterious and illicit business. The subway scenes required more technical planning. Levy initially explored shooting on a live subway, although he admits that has become increasingly
MAN OF STEAL DOP Sam Levy (below left) says working with John Turturro before principal photography was a bonus, which included figuring out the apartment scenes (below right)
prohibitive in New York. “There’s a train that the transit authority uses specifically for filming,” he says. “There are several stations it can run between, and you can dress it however you want. We timed how long the train took to travel from one station to the next, and Noah, our wonderful AD Laura Klein and I used those windows as part of our shot-listing process, breaking down the scenes we had set throughout the city subway.” Levy has filmed extensively on the New York subway throughout his career, and says that shooting there is never quite the same experience twice. The practicalities and restrictions continually evolve, depending on what is happening in the city and the team working at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But for Levy, the unpredictability of the subway is also part of what makes it such a compelling place to photograph. “The subway is the main artery of New York, constantly pulsing with life and an incredible sense of theatre,” he says. “For a character like John’s, who doesn’t own a car, it’s how he moves through the city, but it’s also where he works as a pickpocket. He’s surrounded
by a constantly shifting cast of people. Observing them, moving among them and looking to steal whatever he can get his hands on.” The pickpocket sequences feel convincingly real, something Levy attributes to Turturro’s commitment to making the sleight of hand seem authentic. “We had a pickpocket consultant who was incredibly helpful to John, and they spent a lot of time practising and rehearsing together. So much of it comes down to hand-eye coordination. John is very athletic and has an extraordinary understanding of choreography, blocking and where the camera is. He has tremendous control over his physicality, so the precision and sleight of hand involved in stealing an object from someone played beautifully to his strengths.” The film was shot over 24 days, making consistency and control particularly important. Working closely with his gaffer, Jason Velez, and key grip, Chris Keenan, Levy found lighting Harry’s apartment scenes presented a particular challenge. Located on the top floor of a co-op building in the Bronx, the space
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