Page 28 - Fujifilm Exposure_44 Damned United_ok

ON RELEASE
AKINDOFMAGIC
Set in 1987, Is Anybody There? tells the semi-autobiographical story (by screenwriter Peter Harness) of 10-year-old Edward
(Bill Milner) growing up in a seaside retirement home run by his parents (Anne-Marie Duff, David Morrissey). Among the unlikely cast of characters who populate the place is newcomer Clarence (Michael Caine), a peppery retired magician. DP Rob Hardy, re-united with director John Crowley with whom he made the BAFTA award-winning Boy A, recalls some of the film’s challenges.
The lights go out. It’s dark. I can’t see a thing. Somebody coughs. A chair squeaks. Then an image on the screen
“in front of me flickers into view. It’s the first shot of Is Anybody There? I’m sitting at Deluxe labs in the viewing theatre with di- rector John Crowley next to me and we are about to watch a new print of the film.
More than a year has passed since we shot it. It’s winter again and the familiar image of leafless trees and Christmas din- ner tables adorned with cheap decorations stares back at me. Anne-Marie Duff launches into her wonderful opening speech to a table of old timers; among
them are Leslie Phillips, Sylvia Syms, Peter Vaughan and Thelma Barlow.
I am watching a new version of the film, with some extra added scenes, which I graded the week before. It’s better, tighter, funnier, gentler.
And there’s Michael Caine, head bobbing backwards and forwards, tricky to shoot at T1.3 on a Master Prime at close range, I can see the familiar image of Ritchie Donnelly, the focus puller, sweating next to the camera knowing that he only has two or three chances at this as Caine generally doesn’t go beyond three takes, especially on Fridays. After two weeks I started shooting at T2.8.
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