|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Flinn looks back on his Magnum days with fondness. “Working with Selleck and understanding his character and having so much fun with all of it was beyond comparison,” he says. “We came back from lunch one time, and I was on the set, lighting the interior, and the door opened and all this loud music was playing. Here came Selleck, his buddies, his wardrobe guy and his driver. I said, ‘Come on, guys, we gotta go to work!’ Then I realized they all had their hands behind their backs. All of a sudden, they unload with huge squirt guns, nailing everybody on the set. That started a water fight that was so big and lasted so long that we had time to go to the drugstore 10 minutes away to get balloons, fill them with water and send stunt guys up on the rafters to throw water balloons. Finally, Selleck called out, ‘That’s a wrap!’ Those are the kinds of things he would pull. Just magic.”
Flinn’s directing break happened on Magnum. “The directors really depended on me,” he says. “I kept things moving for them because they were our guests and they didn’t know the crew. We had a schedule to keep, and I knew how long it took to get from A to B. I had great relationships with those directors, and it was awfully kind of them to go to the producers and say, ‘This guy Flinn really helped me out.’ In the end, they let me direct a show, and they gave me another one the next season. That was such a compliment.” Magnum also brought Flinn his first Emmy nomination (for the episode “Unfinished Business”).
When the series ended its run, in 1988, Flinn returned to the mainland and hit the golf course with his dad. Between the ninth and 10th holes, he ran into Mike Motor, the senior vice president of Viacom. Motor asked him how he liked Hawaii. When Flinn responded very favorably, Motor hired him on the spot to shoot the crime-solving series Jake and the Fatman, which was about to move to Hawaii. Flinn’s belongings were still en route to California in a container ship, and he had to get the ship and his family turned around and headed back to the islands immediately. “Can you imagine being stuck in Hawaii for 7½ years?” he asks jokingly. “I’d wake up at about 6, take a run on the beach, shower, go to work, then go home and play with my kids in the ocean. It was the best. Every day I felt lucky to be there.”
Flinn’s work on Jake and the Fatman brought him an ASC Award (in 1993, for the episode “Nightmares”), two additional ASC nominations (in 1991 and 1992) and two Emmy nominations (in 1989 and 1990). In 1990, he notched a second Emmy nomination for the telefilm The Operation.
Flinn racked up two more Emmy nominations in the mid-1990s for his cinematography on Babylon 5, a sci-fi series on which he also did some directing and acting. (One character of his was even named Mr. Flinn.) After years of working on Westerns, crime shows and dramas, Babylon 5 was his first taste of science fiction, and his efforts endeared him to a rabid fan base. “Space — what’s out there?” he asks rhetorically. “I get the old palette out and say, ‘Give me every gel we’ve got and test this and that.’ It was fun. What planet are we on today, and what colors are on it? Production designer John Iacovelli and I had a great communication. He did a great job on such a small budget.”
The series also was his first that featured extensive visual effects, and it occurred during the rapid sea change from optical to digital. “In the old days, it would take a whole day to do greenscreen or bluescreen,” he says. “But with computers, I could have the whole thing lit and ready to go in half an hour. Every day that whole process was changing so fast and for the better. I’d shoot a day or two of just greenscreen with light effects.”
Flinn notched another Emmy nomination for the 2003 telefilm Hunter: Back in Force, which was based on the 1980s Hunter series and starred the original leads, Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer. The telefilm jumpstarted a Hunter series reboot, which Flinn also shot. In 2005, he signed onto Gilmore Girls, which became a breakout hit, and in 2009, he began shooting the critically acclaimed series Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter. “Holly is one of the most incredible actors I’ve ever worked with,” says Flinn. “We spent nine hours on this fight scene with her being thrown against the wall and doing this and that with intricate slo-mo. We had another scene to do after it. They gave Holly 45 minutes to clean up and get ready for the next scene. She came back looking rested and like a million bucks. We finished our day in 12 hours. When I went to my car, I noticed her car was still by the trailer, and I wondered if she was okay after being slammed against the walls so much. The next morning, I asked the director about it, and he said, ‘Oh, yeah, she was in the editing room for another two hours after we left.’ That’s how she is. That show stood out. The way the directors, producers and writers all worked together was really something, and I’m glad I was part of it.”
Flinn became a member of the ASC in 1987 — he was proposed for membership by James Crabe, Gene Polito and Charles Wheeler — and the achievement still amazes him. “It meant so much. I remember when I first started as a second assistant, I was filling out the slates, and the first assistant said, ‘Make sure you put ASC there.’ From the very beginning, I understood the American Society of Cinematographers to be the elite group. Every time I walk into the Clubhouse, I think about the history of everyone who has been inside. Talk about an honor!” As for his latest award from the Society, he says, “I just don’t have the words! It’s a tremendous honor.
“I put everything I’ve got into every shot I do,” he muses. “I don’t care how simple the shot might seem to somebody; each shot means a lot to me. I do everything I can to prepare and to make it all happen on that set in the right amount of time. When I’m on a series, I make 22 of the best movies I can per season. The worst part about it is not being able to do it all the time. I hate downtime!”
|
|
|
|
<< previous || next >>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
