INTERVIEW
His “tough”, “stubborn” nature always helped him to never give up, even when the scenery became “complicated”, between capricious stars or insufferable directors. And with an overwhelming tension, “I always ask myself: what am I doing here? I want to go home.” Dante Spinotti he laughs heartily as he relaxes at his home in Carnia, a place where the soul can return to “recharge its batteries” and spend time with its family. Long Italian summer for one of the greatest world cinematographersbeloved by such directors as Michael Mann, Curtis Hanson, Bruce Beresford, Sam Raimi and who is now, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, on August 22, is described in his autobiography,Cinema dream. My life, one movie at a time(Nave di Teseo), written with the participation of Nikola Luchka and with a foreword by “his friend Tony” (Hopkins), which will be released just in time for his birthday, with a preview presentation on PordenoneLaw September 17 at 17:30.
A breathtaking journey through a life that truly feels like a movie, from his birth in Carnia to his childhood in Lendinar, with the first Kodak vest pocket given to him by his mother, which led him to what he became, at 11 years old, “the official photographer of Lendinara football, with my photos displayed in the bars: I developed everything in my room under the bed.” And then the experience Ethiopia with his uncle Renato, documentary filmmaker, life in Milan, landing in Paradise in the first television productions, up to the dream of cinema in Rome, together with directors such as Sergio Chitti, Liliana Cavani, Lina Wertmüller, Ermanno Olmi. Then the turning point, meeting with Dino De Laurentiis and arriving at Hollywood Near Michael Mann in “Manhunter”, which then launches him to the Olympus of world cinema.
This is life born into the world.
“It is from darkness that light is born: it is like witnessing the birth of something.”
Camera, reminder of ancestors.
“It’s true. I always had this talent, since childhood. In the eighth grade I had all sixes, I was miraculously promoted, but in drawing I had an eight. I was very good at chiaroscuro, I had an instinctive sense of color, which helped me the most with time.”
How can you give light a “narrative function”?
“As Mann says, light has to be functional: for the story, for the emotions, for all the elements of the film. There must be a tone. It is important to set the language from the beginning of the movie. And you need harmony with the director. But like Storaro said, if you don’t get the film in the first few weeks, you won’t get it again.”
He had a reputation for making stars look 10 years younger.
“It happened with Beresford’s Crimes of the Heart with Jessica Lange, Diane Keaton and Sissy Spacek. But with Bette Midler, it was my first film in Hollywood, the audition didn’t go well. I was trying to figure out how to solve the problem and while walking down Sunset Boulevard I went to a historical bookstore and found a book called How to Photograph Beautiful Women with all the tricks I read it in one night. And the new auditions went really well.”
What about other divas? Michelle Pfeiffer for example?
“I met her again in Ant-Man and the Wasp, we met 25 years ago on the set of Pora d’Amare with Pacino: at that time she asked me to make her ugly, which was very difficult on the other hand. I reminded her, but she immediately interrupted me: “No, no, now make me as beautiful as you can.”
He also followed Sharon Stone in Raimi’s Die Quick.
“Exceptional sympathy, also because she spoke a little Italian: wherever you put the light, she seems extraordinary.”
But with Streisand, he refused to shoot “Love has two faces.”
“Eh, Barbra is very nice, but when she is unhappy and unhappy, she becomes annoying and disrespectful.”
Even with Bodganovich, the meeting was not successful…
“Yes, annoying knowledge and lack of imagination.”
And we come to Michael Mann, an important link: Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Insider.
“Great friend. He is serious, strong, confident.
He also turned down Spider-Man with Raimi. repented?
“Not so much, I was in Bandits with Barry Levinson, that suited me better, and then there was Cate Blanchett, a great actress with a lot of charisma.”
And Bigelow too.
“Yes, Point Break, but I had to return to Italy for a while to keep my family together.”
What happened to Spielberg?
“One day we met to talk about a project that never came to fruition, he set up a meeting for me at Van Nuys airport, just outside of Los Angeles, he flew in his private jet and they booked us a room, he spoke to me three quarters of an hour. an hour about his hatred of the green color of Monet’s painting, which he didn’t buy because it was too green. Everyone has their own tastes, Mann likes green instead of green, Manhunter was flooded with green light.
His cinematography in Mann’s Insider and Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential was nominated for an Oscar.
“It was nice even if I didn’t win it: you live in a bubble for a month, everyone is looking for you, you are called, you are glorified and revered.”
Major stars that impressed you the most? Starting with his friend Hopkins, who signed the preface to the book.
“A giant who can keep you entertained for hours with anecdotes that happened during the movie has a unique ability to bring such detailed characters to life. I met him at Red Dragon, then he called me and asked me to take care of the photography of his directorial film Slipstream, what an honor.”
What about other actors?
“There are many: in addition to Pfeiffer, Blanchett and Sharon Stone, I include Elizabeth Holsen, beautiful and carefree. Trudy Styler, Sting’s wife, a dear friend since I met her at Mamba, worked with her producer on My Journey to the Edge of Naples. And then Diane Keaton, the fantastic Natasha Richardson, Jodie Foster, who gets a little bored. And then Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert De Niro…”
And Al Pacino?
“I’m always late for a shoot. With the exception of The Insider, he made a deal with Mann, told him, “I don’t call you until 11, but when the time comes, you should be there.” Legend to see him and De Niro together in “Fight”.
Many of his Italian friends.
“Starting with Cavani, one of the people I really enjoyed working with. And also with Lina Werthumüller, a force of nature. Salvatores, Tornatore, and then Olmi, the master of simplicity, but also the person closest to the author’s intention.
Have you ever wanted to quit everything?
“Let’s just say that with this last film with Barry Levinson coming out next year, I’ve gotten better: a lot has changed since I retired. Finally, when you reach security, choose to work with another spirit. This movie, which is due out next year, intrigued me, in which De Niro plays two characters together, and it occurred to me to conceptualize old photos taken with flashes, as it was in the 1950s, when everything was lit by the front soft light , with the foreground clear, and everything behind in the dark.
His secret?
“After all, I have always relied on my hard-headed karnic being. And I trust my abilities: I want to enjoy stage lighting. Entertainment that will help in difficult times.
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