Special Forces: Lioness hasn’t been renewed for a second season yet, but a second year would likely be a safe bet given recent Taylor Sheridan The show started off with strong ratings and continued to perform well for Paramount+ over its eight-episode run. Much of the credit for the series’ success, of course, goes to Sheridan and the war drama’s stellar cast, which includes Leisla de Oliveira, Zoe Saldana, Morgan FreemanAnd Nicole KidmanBut Paul Cameron also deserves big props.
The renowned filmmaker is behind films such as Steal in 60 seconds And Pledgeplus he worked for HBO Westworld. He is no stranger to realizing ambitious plans. For Special Forces: Lioness, he came on board during the show’s formative stages, directing the first two episodes and also directed the fifth and sixth episodes. Cameron recently took the time to talk to Below the Line about his extensive and hard work on the hit series.
Below the Line: Go back in time. When did you start to really pay attention to the images you saw in movies and on TV?
Paul Cameron: I lived with my brother in New York in the late 60s, early 70s. He was an off-Broadway actor. He introduced me to many films such as A Clockwork Orange, The Conversation, The Godfather, it was all along the way. When I lived in New York, I saw a lot of films and theater. That’s the whole point.
BTL: When you started learning the craft of filmmaking – and cinematography in particular – what was the steepest learning curve?
Cameron: When you start working as an operator, you will go through a lot of formal instruction at different levels. I went to a school called SUNY Purchase near New York City. This is a public school. My first year we went to the New York Film Festival; we just started classes. I have seen American friendwhat operator Robbie Mueller shot. That was incredible. It had a lot of mixed light and it was very bold. This made me realize that it was about making some pretty big decisions about location, style and approach right off the bat. This was a wake-up call for me.
BTL: Your work began in the early 80s when you were a camera assistant. Tough question, but how do you think cameras and lenses have evolved over this 40+ year period?
Cameron: It took cinema almost 100 years to reach an elegant state. I was very fortunate to finish school and make some films and take them to the lab to really evaluate it. Of course, the transition to Pledge in some ways it was an accident because it wasn’t like figuring out how to shoot things digitally. It was an opportunity to film something using a certain camera system that recorded light at night that was invisible to film.
No matter how hard you stretch the film, no matter how fast you use the lenses, you won’t be able to see the night. This was the decision to film Pledge; we tried to use it. Regardless of whether they’re shot digitally, it’s all stock to me. These are all possibilities, part of the medium that gives you the ability to choose how you want to photograph it. We embarked on this large-scale development of modern lenses, and lenses for the full-frame format. Nowadays everyone relies on lenses from 30, 40, 50 years ago. This is the irony.
BTL: Not every DP can or should be a director. What gave you the confidence that you could not only create the characters we see on screen, but also help shape the acting?
Cameron: This comes from having an extensive career as a cinematographer, having the opportunity to work on a lot of very interesting songs and working with top level talent. The transition went very smoothly, working on Westworldof course, working with Evan Rachel Wood, Aaron Paul, Jeffrey WrightAnd Ed Harris. I’ve been so passionate about stories throughout my career, and being able to really talk about that story and shape a performance with an actor came naturally to me. This is something that you, as an operator, don’t really talk about, but maybe want to say from time to time. Of course it was a good opportunity.
BTL: What did you learn from your experience? Westworld?
Cameron: I shot the pilot and a bunch of footage. I filmed another episode for Jonathan Nolan, but then I shot a lot of material about Western Utah, and then about Singapore overseas. Opportunity to work with Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy came out at a conceptual level. Opportunity to work with Jonathan and Nathan Crowley, the production designer… (participates) talks about how we’re going to build this world and how we’re going to shoot it virtually where we’re not using a lot of green screen. “Let’s bring some of the scenery to Utah or around the world. Let’s use video walls.”
Before any volume even appeared, we inserted our own mini-volume into it, took it down, and photographed it. It’s part of a whole story: the storyline comes together, they create a season, then they appear and disappear and finally return. I was immediately asked to direct, but I was busy working on the film, so I came back for the third season, directed an episode, then another in the fourth season. crew.
BTL: How did you contact Lioness?
Cameron: It was a phone call from John Hillcoat. I met John on a couple of films he was making. I desperately wanted to make a film for him. I love his work. He is a consummate professional and an excellent director. He called and said, “Hey, I have a show we’re going to do.” He explained that he knew this because Taylor had only written two scripts at the time, plus there had been a small transition from the previous showrunner and director.
I found out that John was leaving in a couple of days and he needed me there in a week. I got an idea of the series and realized they didn’t have any other directors, so I contacted Tom Prince at 101 Studios and he connected me with Taylor. Taylor was very familiar with my work and I was very familiar with his work. We phoned and I said that I was very interested. He said, “Okay, it’s okay. Why don’t you do episodes 5 and 6? Let’s go,” very quickly. There were no scripts. It was just trust in the script and the nature of the show. Everything worked out.
BTL: How important is it for you now to be on the show from the beginning?
Cameron: For me, I love being on the ground floor of the show because it’s world-building. This is where a lot of the most interesting work gets done, be it filming, directing, or both in this case. This is a great opportunity to be in the room with the creators, writers and producers early on and make all the decisions. “How do we want to do the show? What do we want this show to look and feel like?” There are a lot more creative conversations to be had than just the role of episode director or alternate cinematographer. Again, the world building aspect is the most interesting thing to me and I would like to do more on that level.
BTL: What was your contribution to Lioness?
Cameron: I would say that developing a photographic style with John Hillcoat was probably one of the main challenges. When the show was in production, some actors showed up a little late, like Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman, so they changed the schedule. That was integral to figuring out, “Hey, how can we block filming of this thing? How can we use this space more? This is a powerful location. Let’s make sure we don’t lose that on the next episode.” This is the experience of knowing the length of the season and knowing how to trade cards; “Let’s put our energy or money here, not somewhere else here. That way, we can take advantage of the pieces that we think are more powerful or stylistically better for the season.”
BTL: You directed the first two episodes and then returned to direct episodes 5 and 6. How willing were other cinematographers and directors to use the same cameras and lenses?
Cameron: Part of creating the world with John was putting together a lookbook of 50 pages of images outlining what we wanted to explore photographically, visually and stylistically in the show. It is expected that new directors and DPs will come – in this case Anthony Byrne And Eric Koretz for episodes 3 and 4 – we showed them the material and they went.
Hopefully they used what they saw and were inspired by what John and I put together. I did 5 and 6. When John came back and did episodes 7 and 8, he used a different DP – Nicholas Karakatsanis – who he worked with before on Triple 9. Nicholas worked with us while we pitched the film to him, but by then we had already filmed and watched everything together.
BTL: Are you looking at this show as a one-season show or is it expected to continue? It’s impossible to tell early on whether this is a limited series or the first season.
Cameron: Honestly, there is hope for more seasons of the series. In terms of structure, I don’t know which characters Taylor intends to keep. I certainly think he will want to maintain leadership; I don’t know which characters will come and go.
BTL: Let’s discuss the violence in the series. Your camera isn’t afraid to capture it…
Cameron: For Taylor, John and I, it all comes down to the script and the writing. Taylor was very detailed about how we filmed. We shot the script and it’s the Bible. If there is something additional – if time allows – we do it. As for violence, it is written very specifically here. There’s no room for interpretation: “Well, maybe there’s a way to not show it or make it less intuitive.” It’s written that way, that’s why we shoot it that way.
It’s an ugly world, the whole world of terrorism and ISIS and what these characters go through in these sting operations. It’s amazing when you sit down and talk to Special Forces advisors about this and realize the level of violence that they endure on a daily basis. In a show like this, it’s important to show some of that reality. At the very beginning, they kill a hostage, and Zoe Saldana decides to blow up the ISIS facility with everyone there. That’s a damn good way to start the show.
As part of Cruz’s character Leisla’s training, violence is used as she is pushed to her limits to see where her limit is. It’s never fun to watch someone be pushed to the edge, but for Zoe’s character it was important to see where she would break. Showing it to the public like this? This is the reality of what these people go through during training before they get into these situations, and it’s beyond extreme.
BTL: But if this story continues, will you want to come back?
Cameron: I was on this show from early August to early March. I’m spread out. John directed episodes 7 and 8. I went to Morocco to prepare the material that I was going to shoot for John in episodes 1 and 2, then they realized that we wouldn’t have time to do all this – all the scenes that they wanted. you have to do all the action scenes – so I directed and filmed episodes 1, 2 and 8 over a week in Morocco. When you’re part of a show that’s distributed like that, it becomes part of your psyche. in a lot of ways, so I’d love to see how Taylor wants to do that next season. Of course, I would be interested in seeing this through to completion. All the actors are just wonderful to work with.
BTL: Did you do anything before the strikes? How do you use your downtime?
Cameron: Luckily, when I finished the show, I did a few commercials. I’m currently developing the show overseas with hopes of starting it in 2024. Unfortunately, it has slowed down a bit due to the situation with the writers and actors. It’s another world-building show, and in this case it’s an opportunity to do multiple episodes, so I’m really excited about that.
Special Forces: Lioness streaming now on Paramount+.