SHOOT STORY | THE FAVOUR I TE E ven before its UK release on the first day of 2019, The Favourite was a front- runner on the awards circuit, with 14 nominations in the Critics’ Choice Awards and ten wins from 12 nominations at the British Independent Film Awards. One of those awards was for the cinematography of Robbie Ryan, BSC, ISC, whose involvement with the film begins all the way back in 2016. Robbie discussed The Favourite during a day off in Spain, far from the chilly UK where the film was shot and finished. “I’ve been doing it a long time,” Robbie begins. “I started in my teens, making short films, then went to film school and followed where it was taking me.” That was in 1993. Since then, Robbie’s credits have grown to include a varied mix of documentary, shorts and drama, perhaps most notably including three of Ken Loach’s films ( I, Daniel Blake , The Angels’ Share and Jimmy’s Hall ) and the 2013 film Philomena , directed by Stephen Frears. DARK COMEDY The Favourite can be fairly described as a particularly dark sort of comedy. Set in the early eighteenth century, during a long period of Anglo-French rivalry, the story follows Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) during the infirmity of her last years on the throne. Given the Queen’s illness, her authority is effectively wielded by Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) who falls into competition with a recently arrived member of the household staff, Abigail, played by Emma Stone. The film was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and shot in early 2017, though
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actually Robbie’s involvement predates the start of principal photography by more than 12 months. “I was involved with it in 2016, then the casting went a bit awry and they had put it on hold for over a year. The one he wanted to hold out for was Olivia Colman because he was convinced she could be the queen.” Lanthimos, Robbie says, is not a filmmaker that easily cedes creative control. “The execs might have said that we couldn’t get them all together at one time, but Yorgos is not good at making compromises.” With the ideal cast of Colman, Weisz and Stone in place, the production shot from 20 March to 13 May, a 40-day shoot – and on film. “I’ve been lucky,” Robbie says. “Out of the last five features, four of them have been on film. This one I’m on now is the first time I’ve done a digital feature in a couple of years.” He accepts that a track record in the medium helps: “because you shoot on film, maybe people get in touch with you.
“When we were getting rushes back every day, the lab had graded the rushes,” says Robbie. “One day, all the candelight came back pink. Yorgos and I were like, ‘what’s going on here? I don’t remember seeing pink candles!’ We got paranoid about whether it was something we did wrong. It turned out the grader had made a mistake, but for a couple of days we were scratching our heads as to whether it was a lens or the stock we’d used. You’re at the mercy of the person grading your dailies at 3am. You have to trust yourself with the fact that the film stock is a very, very good rendition. The colours that come back with film are so brilliantly distinct.”
ABOVE Yorgos Lanthimos concentrates on directing and shooting The Favourite.
34 DEF I N I T ION | JANUARY 20 1 9
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