Please share your thoughts about going back to shooting on film? We looked at some of Charlton Heston’s big moments in Ben Hur as well, but that was about it. We looked at the choreography and camera work in clips from Ether Williams’ movies… and Gene Kelly’s movies too. So we decided that the Roman epic, cowboy Western, drawing room drama, swimsuit movie, song-and-dance picture, and surreptitious Hitchcockian Soviet submarine elements, should all be restrained somewhat.ĭid you look at any particular creative references? This was a drama more than it was a tribute to Hollywood filmmaking of the time. Ethan was quite keen that the films-within-the-film were not too far removed or different from the look of the main picture, so they wouldn’t jump out. How closely would we mimic the films being made in 1952? And how extreme we would go? For example, the Roman epic might have been shot on 70mm or CinemaScope. Without doubt the most important conversations we had first were about how to go about shooting the films-within-the-film. But then, Hail, Caesar! became the one to fall next. But they usually have several scripts going at the same time, and I began to believe it was all hype. RD: Joel and Ethan had been talking about this movie for at least 15 years, and often talked about George playing-an-actor-playing-a-Roman-centurion. What were your initial creative conversation with Joel and Ethan? ![]() It’s similar to the way it was in the 1950’s and we were able to get some nice shots of the long avenues of stages. They were amazing, cleaning out all of the paraphernalia – trailers, electrical hook-ups and other modern fixtures – from between the stages. The locations were great, and I especially enjoyed working on the Warners’ backlot over one weekend. LA is fine to shoot in if you leave early and return after rush hour. RD: Yes, absolutely! It was unusual to shoot in my hometown, and I was able to stay at home every night. Shooting in LA, I imagine you were home every night at a decent hour? Ron Prince caught up with the cinematographer on a sunny morning at his home in Santa Monica to discover more about Hail, Caesar!. Other locations included Bronson Canyon, in Griffith Park, the Hollywood Palladium, the Fonda Theatre, as well as private houses in the Los Feliz area of the city. Locations for scenes beyond Capitol Pictures included the Appian Way scenes, which were shot at the Big Sky Movie Ranch in Simi Valley, and the Western sequence, which was filmed at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park. The synchronized swimming scenes with Scarlett Johansson were choreographed and shot on Stage 30 at Sony Pictures Studios, the same tank that was used for Esther Williams’ original films. ![]() Union Station in Downtown LA was also used for some studio exteriors. ![]() Warner Bros.’ studio, which has retained its vintage buildings, stood in for most of the fictitious Capitol Pictures studio scenes. Principal photography began in Los Angeles on November 10, 2014, and took place at locations around the wider LA conurbation until February 2015. But, with classic Hollywood themes and different movie genres appearing with the main body of the Coen’s latest project – films-within-the-film – celluloid became an obvious choice and Deakins agreed to give it another whirl. It was the first movie that Deakins had shot on celluloid since True Grit in 2010, after which he famously declared he would only shoot digital from then on. Teaming up with the Coens to lens the production was their longtime cinematographic collaborator Roger Deakins CBE BSC ASC. ![]() Written, produced, edited and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, the $22m Working Title/Universal Pictures comedy production of Hail, Caesar! stars Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum, with narration by Michael Gambon.
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