Words with Willis
I spoke this morning to dp Gordon Willis, a.k.a. the legendary "Prince of Darkness" whose films include the Godfather trio, Alan Pakula's All The President's Men and The Parallax View and Woody Allen's Manhattan, Annie Hall and Interiors. We spoke for 20 or 25 minutes, but I could have easily kept this master of light and shadows occupied for three or four hours.
The phoner happened in part because of my somewhat surprised, very positive response to the restored Coppola/Harris Godfather DVD. Even on a crummy DVD, which delivers about 15% of the visual data contained in the Blu-ray version, this classic film, which I've probably seen a good 25 or 30 times, looks significantly better. Warmer, yellower, redder, possibly a bit sharper, much inkier blacks and brighter here and there.
I now can't wait to watch The Godfather, Part II, which Willis seemed especially enthusiastic about during our chat.
Oh, and I love the supplementary docs -- Emulsional Rescue (about the work that went into the restoration), Godfather World (about the general cultural lore that the films have created over the last 30-plus years) and a slew of others. As well as the deleted scenes that were put into in The Godfather Saga, which never went to DVD.
Early this morning I called Robert Harris, who supervised the restoration, to convey my complete satisfaction with the regular DVD version, and he reminded me again that I won't be seeing the restoration until I watch the Blu-ray version on a 46" or 50" LCD or Plasma screen. He then offered to put me in touch with Willis, to which I said thanks much. I wound up phoning the blunt-spoken cinematographer sometime around 11 am.
I told Willis about my very first viewing of The Godfather in a theatre in Boston way back when, and particularly how the theatre showed it in 1.33 to 1 instead of 1.85. I was under the impression that the film was intended to be shown this way in order to reflect the standard Academy ratio of the 1940s and early '50s. I later realized I was wrong about that. Willis told me that the film had been shot with a protected 1.33 to 1 aspect ratio (i.e., a version that was shown on TV for decades). He said that Coppola wanted it to be shown in this aspect ratio and that he answered, "Where do you think that's going to happen...Russia?"
One of the distinctive differences in the restored Godfather is that the outdoor wedding-party scenes are bleachy looking -- flared whites, over-exposed. The way the sunny outdoors might look to a person who's been sitting in a dark and shuttered room. That was a deliberate choice, of course, although Willis took some heat for it at the time.
I asked Willis if he's seen David Fincher's Zodiac, which is partially set in the late '60s-early'70s and seems reminiscent of the shooting and lighting style that Willis used on All The President's Men. No, he said. I asked if he's seen Children of Men, which I feel is a bona fide classic due to Emmanuel Lubezski's action photography. He hasn't seen that either. He has, however, seen Burn After Reading, "the Brad Pitt movie," and didn't think much of it.
Willis can talk technical photography and projection issues until the cows come home, but his primary interest and deep-down concern, to hear him tell it, is with story skills or rather the lack of. The art of storytelling is falling away, very few present-tense filmmakers know how to tell a story, etc. He's quite a fellow, and I love his occasionally blunt way of putting things. Serious artists rarely use namby-pamby phraseology. Willis is a sterling example of this.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 24, 2008 at 2:49 PM
comment #1
Deathtongue_Groupie
says ...
Entirely Off Topic, but you must be thrilled - Che will be at The Landmark in December before they roll out the 2 part version in January.
Press release said "intermissions," plural. That's some serious ass-time when you have to have more than one.
Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie
at September 24, 2008 4:24 PM
comment #2
lazespud
says ...
Man, to talk with Robert Harris and Gordon Willis on the same day... cinema-nerd heaven. I am incredibly jealous.
I haven't listened yet, but did you ask him what the hell he's been doing for the last decade? Did he retire? Did hollywood tire of his idiosyncrasies?
One of his last films was this so-so thriller with Nicole Kidman called Malice, which felt almost like a great movie thanks to Willis dark photography. I think one of the worst things to happen to Willis was the invention of the fast film stocks of the late 80s and early 90s because Willis's carefully nuanced darkness gave way to way too much detail in the dark.
Since you're getting excited about the new Baader-Meinhof movie, you might want to check out Wills' sole foray into TV movies; it's called "the lost honor of Kathryn Beck," which was an Americanized version of the Heinrich Boll Baader-Meinhof-inspired novel the Lost Honor of Katharina Blum. Its suffers from having Marlo Thomas of all people in the lead. But it sure looks great...
Posted by lazespud
at September 24, 2008 4:30 PM
comment #3
bmcintire
says ...
His work on BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY is brilliant as well: A rather reserved color palette stabbed through with insane '80s nightclub hues.
Posted by bmcintire
at September 24, 2008 4:53 PM
comment #4
The Bandsaw Vigilante
says ...
Willis shot Sorkin's "Malice"? Holy shit...didn't even know that, for some reason. Liked that flick, though I think mainly for Alec Baldwin's shithead doctor character (Bancroft was pretty awesome too, though).
Last time I saw it was seveal years back -- now I'm gonna have to check it out again, soonish.
Posted by The Bandsaw Vigilante
at September 24, 2008 5:00 PM
comment #5
Mr. Peel
says ...
Saw the restored GODFATHER I & II at the Cinerama Dome over the past few nights, which was absolutely thrilling. And speaking of BRIGHT LIGHTS, the new DVD contains a commentary by Willis. Weird that it would be for this out of all the films he's shot but it is of course a very informative listen.
Posted by Mr. Peel
at September 24, 2008 5:36 PM
comment #6
VoiceOfReason
says ...
Ashby's THE LANDLORD. Perfection. Perfection. PERFECTION.
Posted by VoiceOfReason
at September 24, 2008 6:05 PM
comment #7
Dr. Smith
says ...
Klute is an absolute masterpiece of moody photography. Stunning work. This man is a genius.
Posted by Dr. Smith
at September 24, 2008 6:59 PM
comment #8
lazespud
says ...
Since we're naming the hits; of course he did all the president's men, which was the perfect marriage of cinematography and set design. Of course you had Hal Holbrook in his Godfather-like shadows, but those newsroom scenes were just so right. Despite his reputation for being the "prince of darkness," he could really do cold, bright interiors about perfectly too.
Posted by lazespud
at September 24, 2008 7:26 PM
comment #9
Richardson
says ...
"The art of storytelling is falling away, very few present-tense filmmakers know how to tell a story, etc."
I have a lot of respect for his art, but I question how informed his opinion is. If he didn't make a point of seeing a highly acclaimed David Fincher movie, nor the higherly acclaimed 'Children of Men', then how would he know?
I'm not saying he has to like them, I don't think either one is great, but they were both very well received movies.
Posted by Richardson
at September 24, 2008 7:46 PM
comment #10
Dr. Smith
says ...
Also: this would be the perfect year to give Willis an honorary Oscar. His cinematography was criminally overlooked by the AMPAS.
Posted by Dr. Smith
at September 25, 2008 5:38 AM
comment #11
actionman
says ...
Shocked to hear that he didn't see Zodiac or Children of Men. It's sort of inexcusable.
I have loved his work for years. The last movie he shot was The Devil's Own (another Pakula film), in 1997, an underrated movie in my estimation. Great cinematography in there, and one of the best fist fights of all time. I really liked that film the more I think about it.
Posted by actionman
at September 25, 2008 6:01 AM
comment #12
NotImpressedYet
says ...
Without taking away anything from a career with some truly magnificent work, I think Gordon Willis is woefully out of touch. Love 'em or hate 'em, Children of Men and Zodiac are important films for filmmakers. I don't know what's worse, for Willis to have not seen Children of Men, or to have seen it and not remember.
For 90% of films today though, his criticism is right on point. Basic storytelling seems to be a lost art.
Posted by NotImpressedYet
at September 25, 2008 6:23 AM
comment #13
madskrilla
says ...
Mr. Willis doesn't need to watch CHILDREN or ZODIAC because Picasso, if he were alive today, could easily avoid going to a Jim Dine or a Alex Katz exhibit.
And I love Dine and Katz.
Mr. Willis is a maestro and owns post-WWII cinematography the way only four or five others ever did (Nykvist, Rotunno, etc). Others need to watch his stuff, it's not the other way around.
Posted by madskrilla
at September 25, 2008 10:24 AM
comment #14
Richardson
says ...
madskrilla - the point is not that Gordon Willis *needs* to see those movies... the point is that, without seeing those movies, Gordon Willis's comment about the state of movies today comes off as uninformed. (Especially 'Children of Men', where the cinematography is completely integrated into the storytelling.)
NotImpressed - I agree with you, and 90% may be being kind. But I disagree with Willis that this statistic has changed significantly over time. I would argue that the high quality of '70's movies (where maybe only 80% of movies made by Hollywood were crap) is a fluke; other than the '70's (which is surely debatable anyway), Hollywood tends to average around 90%.
Maybe you could argue that this 90% is worse than that 90%, but that seems like splitting hairs.
Posted by Richardson
at September 25, 2008 10:48 AM
comment #15
janee
says ...
Si vous etes interesses par le dossier, ou desirez en savoir plus, contactez-moi par mail, et je vous mettrai en contact.
Best regards,Jane, CEO of hyper v high availability
Posted by janee
at May 18, 2011 3:57 AM