Page 14 - Fujifilm Exposure_16 Bob The Builder_ok

CHAMPION
HURDLER An interview with Andrew Dunn BSC
A s a teenager at grammar school in North London,
Andrew Dunn told his careers master that he wanted to be a cinematog- rapher. “Since I was a child it’s all I ever wanted to
do,” confesses the three-time BAFTA winner (from five nominations) as well as recipient in 1994 of the BSC
Best Cinematography Award for
The Madness Of King George. Considering that at 18 months
he had sat on Freddie Young’s knee and then spent much of his childhood on and around film sets at the now defunct MGM Studios in Borehamwood, his early ambi- tion doesn’t suddenly now seem quite so precocious.
Watching high up in a gantry while, say, Kubrick filmed 2001- A Space Odyssey was just part of a youthful if strictly informal film ‘education’ complemented by his own fascination in making home movies with his family and friends.
His father, who ran the power house at MGM, had given up smok-
ing to buy his first stills camera and
that single-mindedness - not to mention a proximity to production - was passed on to Dunn Jr who started with stills before graduating to 8mm then 16mm, complete with editing and sound synch. He also owes part of his passion for photography to his mother who worked for various photographers painstakingly retouching photographs often directly from the black-and-white negative.
Now 50, and after more than 20 years of cutting-edge TV drama (Tumbledown, Edge Of Darkness, Life Story etc) and films here and Hollywood (The Bodyguard, L.A. Story, The Crucible, Ever After), Dunn still retains an infectious wide-eyedness about the business which drives him on constantly to seek new challenges.
Photos main: Andrew Dunn (by Peter Iovino) above: Anthony Borrows as Liam
Dunn, who is about to start work on the all-star Gosford Park, Robert Altman’s first film in the UK, confides he’d like to have a tee-shirt printed which says something like “One day, I’ll learn to do the job properly... and to my proper satisfaction.” But there’d be a rider, probably on the back, adding,”... but when I’m satisfied that’s probably the time to give up”.
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EXPOSURE • 12 & 13