What does a cinematographer actually do? What are they responsible for? Where do they stop and the director begin? Honestly, there can be a few answers to those questions, depending on the type of production being staged. A studio product with good budgets and big crews will tend to have a more defined hierarchy and specified roles, whilst a small independent feature or documentary may have more flexibility in who does what. In instances of the latter examples, we can look at the likes of Robert Rodriguez’s almost one-man army approach on El Mariachi or Nick Broomfield’s multi-headed director/producer/writer/interviewer/sound recorder stance on something like Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer.
Now, there are certainly film directors who have a very specific aesthetic they wish to attain with their films, and are able to do so because they themselves a great deal of expertise and knowledge of the world of photography. For example, Stanley Kubrick is one of the most famous directors who was also, for lack of a better way of putting it, a massive photography nerd in his formative years, which led him to knowing exactly how he wanted his films to look. Similarly, Michael Bay was a gifted photographer years before becoming Hollywood’s premier slinger of mega budget blockbusters… and yes, that may be the only time you will ever see Stanley Kubrick and Michael Bay be regarded in such a close proximity.
Every now and then, though, a cinematographer will want to expand beyond simply determining the film’s visual tone (as if such a thing could be regarded as simple) and look to have a greater control over the entire production. So, inspired by the release of Transcendence, cinematographer-turned-director Wally Pfister’s first film in the chair, here we look now at twelve other cinematographers who have previously made that same leap to film director, and the results that came with that transition.
The Dutch cinematographer who held the camera for some of the most distinctive thrillers of the late 80s and early 90s, who then hit onto the directing scene with solid actioner Speedand enjoyable adventure Twister. His work since then has been less successful, and his output has dropped significantly, working on only a handful of projects in any capacity in the new millennium.
As Cinematographer: Cujo; Die Hard; Black Rain; The Hunt for Red October; Basic Instinct
As Director: Speed; Twister; Speed 2: Cruise Control; The Haunting; Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
Barry Sonnenfeld
From his early jobs filming for porno films, Sonnenfeld eventually became the original cinematographer for the Coen brothers, progressing to work with the likes of Rob Reiner and Danny DeVito, before finally landing his first directorial gig: The Addams Family. Since then, Sonnenfeld has had a career of ups and downs, managing to strike success and critical acclaim (Get Shorty, Men in Black) and failure (most films since Men in Black). He has had more success in later years through TV work, though.
As Cinematographer: Blood Simple; Throw Momma from the Train; Big; When Harry Met Sally...; Misery; Miller's Crossing
As Director: The Addams Family; The Addams Family Values; Get Shorty; Wild Wild West; the Men in Black trilogy
Ernest R. Dickerson
Dickerson was Spike Lee’s go-to cinematographer right up until their final filmic collaboration Malcolm X. After that, Dickerson turned his skills towards directing, some for film (a lot in the horror vein), but mostly for television (the guy has worked on nearly every major TV show for the past 20 years). His work directing episodes of The Wire also garnered much attention, particularly in its similarity in style to that of old friend Spike Lee.
As Cinematographer: Malcolm X; Jungle Fever; Mo' Better Blues; Do the Right Thing; School Daze; She's Gotta Have It; Tales from the Darkside (TV series)
As Director: Surviving the Game; Juice; Bones; Bulletproof; Tales from the Crypt Presents Demon Knight; The Wire (TV series)
A Greek-born American filmmaker who had an introduction to the world of movie-making at an early age when his father was given a set designer job by John Cassavetes. His work as director has been decent, but limited as the bulk of his contribution to cinema comes as cinematographer on dozens of films, which have seen him work with everyone from Carl Franklin to Diane Keaton to Wim Wenders to Oliver Stone to George Clooney. He’s probably one of the most consistent, and consistently working, cinematographers today.
As Cinematographer: Nowhere to Run; Cool Runnings; While You Were Sleeping; Phenomenon; The Million Dollar Hotel; Identity; Walk the Line; W.; Nebraska
As Director: Dark Side of Genius; From Within; Arcadia Lost
Zhang Yimou
A highly stylised and colourful aesthetic is the primary image conjured by the films directed by Zhang Yimou. One of the Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers, he began as a cinematographer on landmark films that not only opened the door for his own career as director, but opened up the filmic works to a global audience. His work has become more and more stylised over the years, helping to define the wuxia films of the early 21st Century. He’s also the one who directed the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Yeah, you’re impressed now, huh? Now go watch Red Sorghum.
As Cinematographer: Red Elephant; One and Eight; Yellow Earth; Old Well; The Big Parade
As Director: Red Sorghum; Ju Dou; Raise the Red Lantern; Hero; House of Flying Daggers; Curse of the Golden Flower; The Flowers of War
Haskell Wexler
Easily one of the most famous and influential cinematographers in the history of the medium, as was decided by the International Cinematographers Guild in 2003. An incredibly versatile cinematographer, whose work is still studied in great depth by those looking to enter the field, his directorial work seems to show a sense of the iconoclastic in him, a fiercely political mind who found voice in his documentaries on progressive political and social subjects, such as nuclear testing and civil rights.
As Cinematographer: America, America; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; In the Heat of the Night; The Thomas Crown Affair; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Coming Home; Days of Heaven; Colors; Mulholland Falls
As Director: The Living City; Medium Cool; Brazil: A Report on Torture; War Without Winners; Who Needs Sleep?; Four Days in Chicago
What makes Jack Cardiff one of the most unique names in the film world is that he began his career in the world of silent films and carried on all the way into the 21st Century. During his lifetime as a cinematographer, he worked on everything from surrealist melodrama to big Hollywood actioners, and was a regular collaborator with Powell & Pressburger. His work as director seems just as disparate, moving from the highly successful drama territory to the highly controversial world of exploitation. Gorgeous beauty; graphic horror. Cardiff really was unique.
As Cinematographer: A Matter of Life and Death; Black Narcissus; The Red Shoes; Under Capricorn; The African Queen; The Vikings; Death on the Nile; Conan the Destroyer; Rambo: First Blood Part II
As Director: Web of Evidence; Sons and Lovers; The Long Ships; Young Cassidy; Dark of the Sun; The Mutations
Nicolas Roeg
Roeg is one of the most visually distinctive and narratively unrestrained filmmakers Britain has ever produced. His work as cinematographer also displays some of his great use of colour and clashing imagery. When he moved to Australia to begin his first job as director (on Walkabout), it was to be the beginning of a highly influential career as a storyteller who worked in narrative disarray, fractured structures and very provocative images of sex, alienation and identity.
As Cinematographer: The Masque of the Red Death; Fahrenheit 451; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Performance
As Director: Walkabout; Don't Look Now; The Man Who Fell to Earth; Castaway; The Witches; Two Deaths
Michael Chapman
His work as a director is somewhat notable (giving Tom Cruise one of his first starring roles), but limited and spread out. However, his role as cinematographer has seen him produce some of the most distinctive films throughout the decades, working regularly with Martin Scorsese to create some of the director’s best work, such as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. And, as you’ll notice below, the cinematographer responsible for Raging Bull is also responsible for Space Jam… let that sink in.
As Cinematographer: The Last Detail; Taxi Driver; The Last Waltz; Invasion of the Body Snatchers; Raging Bull; The Lost Boys; Scrooged; The Fugitive; Space Jam
As Director: All the Right Moves; The Clan of the Cave Bear; The Viking Sagas
You’re damn right you should know his name. Bava is one of the two biggest names in Italian horror cinema, the other being Dario Argento. Bava began his career as a cinematographer throughout the 40s, 50s and 60s before sort of falling into directing by circumstance. Since then, he has become a seminal horror filmmaker, creating early examples of both the slasher genre and the giallo genre.
As Cinematographer: La Famiglia Passaguai; Papà diventa mamma; Villa Borghese; Graziella; Ulysses; Città di notte; Hercules
As Director: Black Sunday; Twitch of the Death Nerve; Planet of the Vampires; Kill Baby Kill; The Girl Who Knew Too Much; Rabid Dogs
Tom DiCillo
DiCillo came through in the rise of the independents in the early 1990s, alongside the likes of Spike Lee and Jim Jarmusch, the latter of whom he would work with regularly as cinematographer. As a director, he frequently works with Steve Buscemi, and has somehow managed to keep an element of that independent sensibility throughout the years. His Living in Oblivion remains a cracking black comedy on the sheer annoyance of the filmmaking experience.
As Cinematographer: Permanent Vacation; Burroughs: the Movie; Stranger Than Paradise; The Beat; End of the Night; Coffee and Cigarettes
As Director: Johnny Suede; Living in Oblivion; The Real Blonde; Double Whammy; Delirious; When You're Strange
Freddie Francis
His work as cinematographer won him two Academy Awards (for Sons and Lovers and Glory) and collaborated with the likes of David Lynch and Martin Scorsese, but his work as director earned him cult status through his association with horror houses Hammer and Amicus during the 1960s and 1970s.
As Cinematographer: Mine Own Executioner; Sons and Lovers; The Innocents; The Elephant Man; Dune; Glory; Cape Fear; The Straight Story
As Director: The Evil of Frankenstein; Dr. Terror's House of Horrors; The Psychopath; Dracula Has Risen from the Grave; Tales From The Crypt