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TRUSTING TOINSTINCT
ANINTERVIEW WITHROBHARDY
BEHIND THE CAMERA
hen Imelda Staunton Wopened the envelope at last
month’s BAFTA Television Craft Awards and read out Rob Hardy’s name, the
young cinematographer recalls he went into “shock”.
His work on Boy A was the first – followed by editor Lucia Zucchetti and director John Crowley - of three masks awarded that night to writer Mark O’Rowe’s remarkable Channel 4 drama following the presentation of the BAFTA for Best Actor three weeks earlier to Andrew Garfield, who starred in the eponymous role.
As if his own award wasn’t sur- prise enough for Hardy, it was per- haps also a chance to reflect, albeit in rather a daze, on the circum- stances. He admitted since that be- fore he actually took the job, he was not only extremely wary of moving into the television arena but was also feeling “a bit disillusioned” with his career in general.
“When I first got a phone call about Boy A, it was from the de-
Photo: DP Rob Hardy (left) with his gaffer Lee Walters
signer Jon Henson who’d seen a short I’d directed called You Are My Favourite Chair and seemed to like my work. He’d got John Crowley to see it and I was then approached. Anyway, I said I didn’t want to do it. At that time, a lot of my peers from the commercials world were moving into TV, shooting episodes of Spooks and suchlike. Nothing wrong with that, but it wasn’t for me.
“Jon insisted I should read the script and meet John Crowley. Well, I thought it was incredible but I was still reticent. Then I met John having no preconceptions of him or his pre- vious work, and we just clicked. There seemed to be an instant mu- tual understanding. That was it and away we all went – a bit like the Three Musketeers.”
Having become lukewarm about work, which to date had mixed shorts, music promos, commercials, some TV drama and the odd low-bud- get feature, Boy A suddenly “re-ig- nited my passion. It all came together and I felt I was really doing my job. >
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