You are viewing the archive: “Wally Pfister”

Morgan Freeman Boards Wally Pfister’s ‘Transcendence’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday April 11, 2013 @ 2:22pm PDTTags: Mogan Freeman, Transcendence, Wally Pfister, Warner Bros

Morgan Freeman is in final negotiations to join Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Rebecca Hall and Kate Mara in Wally Pfister’s directorial debut Transcendence ahead of a scheduled May start date for production. Freeman, repped by CAA, was in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, all of which were lensed by Pfister. Alcon Entertainment is financing and producing Transcendence, with Warner Bros already settled on an April 25, 2014 release date. The team has done a solid job keeping a tight lid on the plot of the script, written by Jack Paglen. The screenplay was developed by Annie Marter and Straight Up Films, whose company principals include Marisa Polvino, Kate Cohen and Regency Boies. Polvino, Marter and Cohen will produce with David Valdes, and Alcon’s Johnson and Kosove. Boies will co-produce. Pfister, Nolan and producing partner Emma Thomas have worked on seven films including Inception, which won Pfister an Oscar. Nolan, Thomas and Aaron Ryder are executive producing this one.

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Kate Mara Joins Johnny Depp Alcon Pic ‘Transcendence’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday March 27, 2013 @ 10:50am PDTTags: Alcon Entertainment, Big Deals Film, Kate Mara, Transcendence, Wally Pfister
Mike Fleming

Kate MaraBREAKING: The directorial debut of Christopher Nolan’s longtime DP Wally Pfister continues to get more interesting. He’s added Kate Mara to the cast of Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany and Rebecca Hall in Transcendence. The pic is being … Read More »

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Paul Bettany Joins Johnny Depp in Wally Pfister’s ‘Transcendence’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday February 28, 2013 @ 3:11pm PSTTags: Alcon Entertainment, Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Transcendence, Wally Pfister
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Paul Bettany is in negotiations to star opposite Johnny Depp in Transcendence, the Alcon Entertainment film that marks the directing debut of Wally Pfister, Christopher Nolan’s cinematographer on Inception and many other films. Alcon … Read More »

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OSCARS Q&A: Directors Of Photography

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday December 26, 2012 @ 6:09pm PSTTags: Awardsline, Claudio Miranda, Oscars, Wally Pfister

Thomas J. McLean is an AwardsLine contributor.

Steven SpielbergDon’t write that obituary for film just yet. The traditional moviemaking format remains a vital tool for the top cinematographers in the field, even as digital technology improves and offers exciting possibilities for the future. AwardsLine caught up with the men who shot some of the year’s top contenders to talk about how they shot their current films, working with the top directors in the field, and how to make it all come together in the end.

Taking part in our mock roundtable are Mihai Malaimare Jr., who used large-format 65mm film to shoot the majority of Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master; Claudio Miranda, who shot the sole digital and 3D picture of this bunch, Ang Lee’s Life of Pi; Wally Pfister, who mixed IMAX and 35mm in wrapping up Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy on The Dark Knight Rises; Rodrigo Prieto, who stitched together multiple formats for Ben Affleck’s Argo; Ben Richardson, who relied on 16mm to capture Beasts of the Southern Wild for Benh Zeitlin; and Robert Richardson, who reunited with filmophile Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained.

AwardsLine: How did you go about choosing cameras and formats for your current projects?
Rodrigo Prieto: We wanted to differentiate the different segments of the film. We were going to intercut and wanted as soon as you saw an image, say, in Tehran that you would know that’s where you are just by the texture of the image, especially because we were shooting in very different locations.
Mihai Malaimare Jr.: From the first meeting we had, we were discussing using a larger format for The Master. The reason is when you think about iconic images from that period, like from the ’30s and right after World War II, you are mainly thinking of large-format still photography. We started with VistaVision, but because the difference wasn’t that big from 35mm to VistaVision, we switched to the next bigger format which was 65mm, and that was giving us kind of the feeling that we wanted.
Life Of PiClaudio Miranda: Ang (Lee) was really interested in 3D. He said, “I’ve been really interested in 3D for almost 10 years now. Even before Avatar, I really wanted to see how to bring a new language to cinema.” It had to be digital, because with 3D it had to be really precise.
Wally Pfister: Chris (Nolan) sat back and said, “Here’s the deal: This film will stand on its own, but we are wrapping up a trilogy.” We had discussions early on about shooting in IMAX, and I said, “Dude, we should shoot the whole movie in IMAX.” But we pushed up against the limitations of IMAX, which is you can’t record synched sound with an IMAX camera — they’re just too noisy.
Ben Richardson: We instinctively knew that the only viable way for our budget and to get the kind of imagery we wanted was to go to 16mm. The great thing about a 16mm camera, obviously, is that as long as you have a couple batteries and a roll of film and a changing tent, you can keep shooting. Read More »

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Johnny Depp In Talks For Wally Pfister-Helmed ‘Transcendence’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday October 24, 2012 @ 9:07am PDTTags: Alcon Entertainment, Big Deals Film, Johnny Depp, Wally Pfister
Mike Fleming

Johnny Depp Transcendence MovieBREAKING: Johnny Depp is negotiating to star in Transcendence, the directorial debut of Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister. The project is being put together for an early 2013 shoot by Alcon Entertainment co-founders and co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove. Alcon will release through its output deal with Warner Bros.

The screenplay, written by newcomer Jack Paglen, was developed by Annie Marter and Straight Up Films, whose company principals include Marisa Polvino, Kate Cohen and Regency Boies. Polvino, Marter and Cohen will produce along with David Valdes (The Book Of Eli), Johnson and Kosove. Boies will co-produce. The plot of Transcendence is being kept under wraps.

Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are serving as executive producers and Alcon is financing. Pfister won an Oscar for his cinematography on the Nolan-directed Inception. He has done seven films with Nolan and Thomas, including The Dark Knight Rises and Memento. He was also cinematographer on Moneyball and The Italian Job. Read More »

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WME Signs Wally Pfister As Film Director

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday June 27, 2012 @ 1:33pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Christopher Nolan, Wally Pfister, WME

EXCLUSIVE… UPDATE: Hollywood’s major agencies have found great success repping below-the-line talent, and especially cinematographers transitioning into directors like Wally Pfister. Wally Pfister WMEWME‘s recently arrived agent Dan Aloni made this high-profile sign since the … Read More »

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Claire Julien Joins ‘The Bling Ring’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday March 16, 2012 @ 8:30am PDTTags: Sofia Coppola, The Bling Ring, Wally Pfister
Mike Fleming

Claire Julien The Bling Ring Sofia CoppolaIt has been a good two weeks for the Pfister clan. Shortly after renowned cinematographer Wally Pfister was set to make his feature directing debut on an untitled film for Alcon Entertainment, his … Read More »

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Alcon Sets Helming Debut For ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Cinematographer Wally Pfister

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday March 6, 2012 @ 6:08pm PSTTags: Alcon Entertainment, Wally Pfister
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Alcon Entertainment has acquired an untitled screenplay written by newcomer Jack Paglen that will mark the feature directorial debut of Wally Pfister, the Oscar-winning cinematographer whose credits include Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, and Moneyball. The deal was made by Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, who’ll start pre-production immediately for an early fall shoot.

The logline is being kept under wraps, but the screenplay was developed by Annie Marter and Straight Up Films, whose principals include Marisa Polvino, Kate Cohen and Regency Boies. Polvino, Cohen and Marter will produce along with Johnson and Kosove. Boies will co-produce. Read More »

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Cinematographers Award Wally Pfister For ‘Inception’, Jonathan Freeman-’Boardwalk Empire’, Stephen Windon-’The Pacific’

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday February 13, 2011 @ 9:46pm PSTTags: Boardwalk Empire, Inception, Movies, The Pacific, Wally Pfister

LOS ANGELES, February 13, 2011 – Wally Pfister, ASC, Jonathan Freeman, ASC and Stephen Windon, ACS claimed top honors in the three competitive categories at the 25th Annual American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Awards celebration here tonight

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ASC Announces Awards Film Nominations

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday January 10, 2011 @ 6:46pm PSTTags: American Society of Cinematographers, Movies, Roger Deakins, Wally Pfister

January 10, 2011 – Matthew Libatique, ASC (Black Swan), Wally Pfister, ASC (Inception), Danny Cohen, BSC (The King’s Speech), Jeff Cronenweth, ASC (The Social Network), and Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (True Grit) have been nominated in the feature film

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