FEATURE | ROBERT R I CHARDSON I NTERV I EW
ROBERT RICHARDSON’S BODY OF WORK: • Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (2019) • A Private War (2018) • Adrift (2018) • Breathe (2017)
In truth I do not take photographs any longer other than with my iPhone “Quentin stands beside the camera next to the actors, there is no video village, there is a tiny monitor on my camera that he looks at periodically to make sure I am composing as he wants. For me the best way to operate is with your eye to the eyepiece, and have that interaction with the camera. That stems from my documentary experience. I need a one-on-one relationship with the actor, rarely do we utilise a remote head unless there is a specific need.” I ask Robert, does he still take photographs? “In truth I do not take photographs any longer other than with my iPhone. I live in a cave with cinema and I haven’t the space for more.” Richardson mentions Robert Frank as the photographer who inspired him the most, but others include Weston, Minor White, Capa, Arbus, Cartier-Bresson, Bill Brand, Siskind, Stieglitz, Man Ray, Strand, Lewis Hine, Steichen, Garry Winogrand, Walker Evans, Cindy Sherman, Salgado, Eugene Smith, Sally Mann, Penn, O Winston Link, Susan Meiselas, Dorothea Lange, Yamamoto, Eggleston, Beaton. “European films were the centre of my upbringing with Bergman, Truffaut, Godard, Dreyer, Pontecorvo, Carne, Renoir, Costa-Gavras, Cocteau, Malle, Resnais, Forman, Kieslowski, Bunuel, Lang, Herzog, Wenders, Ophuls, Melville, etc… American films were only bursting open with De Palma, Scorsese, Coppola, Lucas, Milius, Cassavetes, Bogdonavich, Rafelson, Altman, Pakula, Malick, Lynch, Burnett. “One of the rewards of getting sent to the college in my late teens, was discovering Bergman. I found Seventh Seal, Persona, Wild Strawberries, Winter Light . Other films that inspired me were: The Conformist directed by Bertolucci and shot by Storaro, The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2 . There is no particular order of importance in this list starting with Lawrence of Arabia, Battle of Algiers, Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Peeping Tom, Aguirre: The Wrath of God , Citizen Kane , Touch of Evil , 2001 A Space Odyssey, Paths of Glory, Sunrise, 81/2, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, Seven Samurai, Le Samourai, Le Cercle Rouge, Persona, Rules of the Game , The Grand Illusion , Breathless , 400 Blows , Mirror , One From the Heart , An American in Paris ,
• The Return (2017) • Live by Night (2016) • The Hateful Eight (2015) • Wild Horses (2013) • World War Z (2013) • Django Unchained (2012) • Hugo (2011) • George Harrison: Living in the
Material World (2011) • Eat Pray Love (2010) • Shutter Island (2010) • Inglourious Basterds (2009) • Standard Operating Procedure (2008) • Shine a Light (2008) • The Good Shepherd (2006)
• The Aviator (2004) • Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) • Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) • The Four Feathers (2002) • Powder Keg (2001)
• Bringing Out the Dead (1999) • Snow Falling on Cedars (1999) • The Horse Whisperer (1998) • Wag the Dog (1997) • Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997)
• U Turn (1997) • Nixon (1995) • Casino (1995) • Natural Born Killers (1994)
• Heaven & Earth (1993) • A Few Good Men (1992) • JFK (1991) • The Doors (1991) • City of Hope (1991) • Born on the Fourth of July (1989) • Talk Radio (1988) • Eight Men Out (1988) • Wall Street (1987) • Dudes (1987) • Platoon (1986) • Salvador (1986) • Losin’ It: Sex and the American Teenager (1985) • The Front Line (1982) • An Outpost of Progress (1982)
IMAGES Rosamund Pike in A Private War; Robert on set of The Hateful Eight and A Private War
52 DEF I N I T ION | MARCH 20 1 9
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