The cinematographer Gordon Willis has died at age 82. Willis was a particularly singular filmmaker who often broke new ground and often made movies that looked much different from movies made before. Although three of the films he shot won the Best Picture Oscar, he was unrecognized by the Academy Awards until he received an honorary Oscar in 2009.
To understand the impact a cinematographer can have on a movie, just check out these examples from among Willis’ 34 feature films. The first is The Godfather, for which he received the nickname “The Prince of Darkness”. (Willis shot all three Godfather films). The convention of the time held that a filmmaker always had to show the eyes of the movie star. Willis argued that, by not showing Marlon Brando’s eyes, you could actually see into his character’s soul.
The second example is All the President’s Men, a paranoid thriller enhanced by the contrast between the stark brightness of the Washington Post newsroom and the menacing darkness of the parking garage where Bob Woodward met his secret source Deep Throat.
And, finally, there’s Woody Allen’s 1979 masterpiece Manhattan. Why make a black and white movie in 1979? New York City was never a more stirring backdrop.