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photo Dean Morin
it turned out that digital was going to be more
expensive for us than film.
Were you generally shooting single camera
setups, or were you often on two cameras?
NP: For the London shoot we always shot
with two cameras, if not three, although we
never compromised the first camera. That
could be frustrating for the B- and C-cameras
because for about 90% of the time in London
the A-camera was using a 14mm and was
about a foot away from the actors. The other
cameras would have to use extremely long
lenses by Terry’s standards – a 32mm or
40mm – and steal little moments when they
could. On the visual effects portion of the
shoot we mainly used a single camera
because each shot had been budgeted for,
although we often had two stages going at
the same time in order to accommodate the
schedules of the guys who came in [to
replace Heath Ledger].
When Heath died it must have seemed
impossible that you could go on.
NP: First and foremost Heath was a really
close, dear friend and it was a big blow. I
was on DON QUIXOTE and I couldn’t stand
the idea of yet another of Terry’s movies
going down the drain, especially when in
my opinion we had a great movie in the
can up to that point. Within the grief of the
moment, my first thought was that we can’t
let the movie die as well because Heath was
really in love with the whole project and it
would have betrayed his memory to let it
drop that easily.
Where you having to shoot wide open on
the London night shoots?
NP: There were certainly situations where
we had to shoot wide open, but I relied a
lot on the Kodak stock. I knew the Vision2
5218 pretty well, but the [Vision3] 5219
came out just as we started preproduction,
C a m e r a
so I got a few rolls. We tested it and it is
superior – not in terms of [dynamic] range
but in how clean it is – although we wanted
London to look really gritty so I used the
5218 for London and the 5219 for all the
stage work in Vancouver. I never put any
filters in front of the lens; I love the Zeiss
lenses and the way they capture everything,
and the more texture you have, the more
you can do in the DI afterwards.
You also had the Ultra Prime 8R; what did
you use that for?
NP: There are many shots made with the 8R
in the movie. We used it inside the [theatre]
wagon because the wagon was so small;
we also used it for stage work – for live
action elements that we knew were going
to be framed in a very wide shot in our
models. It’s fantastic, the work they’ve done
on that lens; I’m in love with it.
Mark Hope-Jones
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