Page 28 - Fujifilm Exposure_25 Jean Francois Robin_ok

A THOROUGHLY GLITTERING ROMANCE
THE DP VIEW
BBC2 in 1998. We got on immediately and referenced similar aspirations, including
Woody Allen’s Manhattan, in composi- tion and light.
Although it was Ric’s first feature [and Hobson’s second after Michael Winterbottom’s Welcome To Sarajevo] he was a very positive director, deci- sive and very clear-minded. He’d worked closely on the script with the other writers and had a strong sense of what he wanted.
I loved the story to bits. Jewish girl meets gentile boy on the claustropho- bic stage of family expectation where girl is expected to marry Jewish boy. It’s a gentle rendition of Jewishness laughing at Jewishness, well-man- nered, warm and ‘happily ever after.’
Isle of Man money was involved so we shot the interiors there, not the easiest of studios, but it was nice to step outside and look at the moun- tains between set-ups.
We were looking to render strong golden hues for flesh tones yet keep designer Amanda McArthur’s range of greens through magentas.
I used Fuji 500 Tungsten through- out partly because it was winter and partly because I wanted control over depth of field as I shot in Super 35mm for an anamorphic release.
The grain quality is very good and the colour’s excellent. I’d been hanker- ing for a while about trying other stocks. I tested it while I doing a come- dy series for the BBC called Early Doors. Since Suzie Gold, I’ve used it again mak- ing a commercial with Ric for Woolies.
One of the quintessential scenes in the film is a service we had to shoot in a synogogue. It was winter, dark days, the windows were frosted and we had only two days to do it. You know, the usual story. The win- dows were dirty too and we couldn’t get to clean them because they were behind wire mesh.
So I just threw in shed loads of light from outside and left the rest up to Fuji. It really looks lovely. My aspi- ration as a cinematographer is this: ‘We should only light what God would light... if She could be bothered.” ■
DAF HOBSON BSC
R ic had seen Births, Marriages & Deaths which I shot for
Summer Phoenix takes the title role of Suzie Gold in a new romantic comedy set in North London
F
London Jewish family.
It stars Summer Phoenix, 24,
youngest of five American acting siblings, including Joaquin Phoenix and the late River Phoenix, both Oscar nominees.
Summer, whose film credits include The Believer and Dinner Rush, co-starred with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in the West End earlier this year in Kenneth Lonergan’s hit play, This Is Our Youth.
For Cantor, 33, the chance to make his first feature about a subject he knew rather well having grown up in the sub- urbs of Manchester in what he describes as “a middle class Jewish ghetto” origi- nally came about rather fortuitously.
“I went for this meeting with pro- ducer Rebecca Green who wanted to talk to me about a totally different project, in fact so wildly different that I had to say, ‘thanks but no thanks.’ It was a period action movie.
“I told her that I didn’t know any- thing about the period and that I didn’t want to do an action movie. I simply wasn’t the right man to tell that story.
“So they asked me what I would be interested in. ‘How about a British
Jewish comedy?’ I suggested. And Rebecca said she actually had some- thing a bit like that, and why didn’t I look at it. It was a really great idea but needed a lot of work on the script.
“I got my partner Carry Franklin involved. Carry and I re-worked all the characters and re-jigged the story. We spent about six months re-writing it. At that stage neither Rebecca nor I had ever got a feature off the ground so it was all really still a bit pie in the sky.
“We were very familiar with the fact that most scripts don’t get made but it was a good experience anyway; even if it didn’t eventually get made, we’d have learned a lot about scriptwriting.”
rom first time British fea- ture director Ric Cantor, Suzie Gold is the story of a young woman trying to establish herself outside the social conventions and traditions of her North
Photos main: Suzie Gold star Summer Phoenix; above: Directing Suzie Gold
26 • Exposure • Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video