Cinematographer Lawrence Sher Dishes on Marvel, Shotdeck, Directors, and Comedy

Joker and Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Lawrence Sher dropped a ton of knowledge bombs on the debut episode of the FILM CRUX Podcast with Host DiAnté Jenkins.

Here are just a few of the gems he had to share in the episode:

ON HIS PROCESS

• “I try to find any opportunity to test something.”
• “I went to the actual locations, at night, brought a camera, shot some film…”
• “Anything you test is an opportunity to like, start to figure out the language of the movie you’re making.”
• “When I would break down movies in prep, one of the things that I would write in the notes was always what the color of that scene would be, and what the emotional sort of impact of that color would be.”

ON MAKING SHOTDECK

• “I built it (shotdeck) because I needed it to exist.”
• “There was a moment in time where I went, ‘Well, maybe this will just be a really expensive program that I built just for myself.’”
• “At one point I asked my dad who was retired - I said, ‘Hey, if I paid you ten grand, could you just like… keyword all these images?’”
• “I figured, if I needed this, other people would need it as well...”

ON WORKING WITH TODD PHILLIPS

• “This new Joker that we start on Wednesday is our 7th film together, I think, in 15 years.”
• “He’s more of like an actor’s director in that he’s always writing with a mindset towards casting…”
• “He loves darkness, but his spirit is to be funny.”

ON DIFFERENT DIRECTING STYLES

• “A really visually like, dominant director… I generally tend to like, be better suited with those sort of writer/directors…”
• “I was probably a director that I wouldn’t have wanted to shoot for.”
• “Fincher and Cameron could do the job themselves.”

ON PREVIS

• “There are movies in which directors come on, and previs has already been created.”
• “I like just writing out a little shot list the night before shooting.”
• “I can’t stand storyboards. I much prefer previs than storyboards, ‘cause previs is actually like you’re making the movie in advance.”

ON MARVEL

• “That assembly line works. They make some really good cars.”
• “I almost marvel, pun intended … at sequences, that are so good, and all I do is go, 'CG, CG, CG, CG, real shot. CG, CG, CG…' and, by the way, the best one of that is the final 20-minute climax of Endgame, which is phenomenal, right?!”

ON COMEDY

• “I think the movies I like the most, are movies that combine tragedy and comedy… that’s what life is, right?”
• “It’s hard to do comedy because here’s the thing, everyone knows when you miss.”
• “The same silence that exists on a drama that’s working exists in a drama that’s not working. But silence in a comedy, you know you missed.”
• “I’ve always contended, the hardest thing to do, on Earth, is to be a stand-up comedian.

Sher also shared his secret camera and makeup/hair test, the difficulties of directing his own film, and teases what we might look forward to in the upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux!

Watch the full video above.

Let us know what you think in the comments! 

Source: FILM CRUX Podcast with Host DiAnté Jenkins