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MOTION PICTURE & PRO-VIDEO interview
A surprise smash hit at the American box office, Hero
is the latest film shot by Australian-born, Asian- based cameraman Christopher Doyle HKSC. In collaboration with
Chinese director Zhang Yimou - a for- mer cinematographer himself - this stunning Jet Li vehicle will be a seri- ous contender for nominations at awards time next year.
Yet it arose from the contrasting styles between the director and his DP. Where the serious-minded Chinese filmmaker tends to create classical images, meticulously composed in films such as Raise The Red Lantern and Red Sorghum, the flamboyant Doyle prefers to shoot on the move, discovering the film as he goes.
Whatever the compromise these two stylists reached to make this Rashomon- style story, it works wonderfully.
“For me, it was a great celebration of the visual aspect of our work,” explains Doyle, “Film is not just about some actor getting 20 million dollars for their next film, or some super script that took two million to get the rights for. It’s a visual medium, and we should celebrate that.”
Doyle is himself celebrated in all corners of the filmmaking world, with invitations regularly offering him new challenges in different countries.
“I was in Istanbul earlier this year and was very proud to be approached by some Turkish filmmakers. And peo- ple in India are calling me all the time. The proximity that people seem to feel to me is extremely rewarding.
“And I don’t think they’re asking me because I’m so great, I think it’s because we feel a similar engagement. That’s what I’m most proud of, that we are having that, the thought that we’re all in the same boat really.”
In the four years since he last appeared in the pages of Exposure, Doyle has shot another ten features, including Phillip Noyce’s Rabbit Proof Fence, which offered him the rare chance to return to his native Australia,
Although this was followed by the higher profile remake of The Quiet American for the same director, it was the low key, lower budget drama that touched Doyle’s heart the most.
“Given the resonance of the film I think it was one of the most important things I’ve ever done. To go home to do a film like that I think is not just gratify- ing but something to be extremely
proud of. To me it was a very Asian experience actually. The indigenous values were very familiar to me.”
Down to earth and unfussy in a way that seems at odds with the tech- nical rigour he brings to bear on his films, Doyle is best known for his col- laborations with Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai.
Their working relationship extends to a dozen different projects, with films including Chunking Express, In The Mood For Love and the forthcoming 2046. Working with Zhang Yimou on Hero was, Doyle explains, quite different.
“Everyone is informed by their own culture, and he comes from a very different culture from my own. It’s informed by his extreme aestheti- cism. He is much more centred than I usually am. I think he’s much more likely to pursue an idea pursued to its limits, and has much more diligence than I usually have.
“I think that comes through in the film, which is a bit more rigorous than, for example, a film I would have made with Wong Kar-wai.”
Working with a new director for the first time might have caused a more diffident personality than Doyle to rein back his creative input, or rau-
cous sense of humour. But, typically, he was his own man throughout. “You think they can hold me down?” he chuckles. “I don’t think so.”
Less likely to convey great para- graphs of technical information than deliver a telling piece of Zen-like wis- dom that evoke his adopted Asian home, Doyle reflects on the differ- ences between working with Zhang Yimou and his friend Wong Kar-wai.
“I think that all film is an encounter, whether it’s with the money that you need to make the film,
Christopher Doyle HKSC
on close encounters of a Chinese kind
CELEBRATING
THE CULTURE
Acclaimed globe-trotting cameraman
Christopher Doyle preparing a shot on location in Baltimore on Barry Levinson’s Liberty Heights;
Scenes from Chungking Express and Happy Together (courtesy Moviestore Collection);Anne Heche in the shower scene from Gus Van Sant’s 1998 remake of Psycho
28 • Exposure • Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video