Vittorio currently uses a black-and-white monitor set up with great care to be, in effect, his contrast glass, so as he plays the dimmers he can judge the ratios from the screen. Incidentally, the preferred video tap on Bulworth was the CEI color tap, because of its more accurate gray-scale rendition in black-and-white.
The use of 220 volts for all lighting reduces the diameter of copper needed for the cable runs, and the dimmers yield a great saving of time and energy—fewer trips up ladders to throw in scrims, less heat on the set and longer life for globes and gels. Plus, everybody is visibly energized when the lights go up, and can relax when they go down. It's a great change from the timeless, perpetually-lit studio sets that are so enervating after the 20th hour.
Is Vittorio fast? I think so. With the right pre-rig, the system can be very speedy. I asked if being fast was important to him. Vittorio said, "No. I understand that it can be very useful for the assistant director to know how long it will take if an actor needs to be called, or if they want to break for lunch—you have to tell them a number. But the process of changing from one shot to the other is very fast, so you can tell any number and everyone will be happy. Anyway you will wait for the weather, for the director, for something. I don't care if they tell me I'm the fastest or the slowest. Hollywood, to me, exaggerates everything."
Storaro's work ethic was the subject of much discussion. Key grip Bill Young observed that Vittorio was the hardest-working cameraman he had ever known. On scouts three months before shooting, Vittorio handed out diagrams marked with the location of lamps, generators and cable runs—not just for the location, but for each scene and every potential turnaround. In addition, the respective film stocks needed were listed in advance for the camera department.
Storaro's laboratory practices are scrutinized throughout the industry. Tandrow says, "On Bulworth he used the ENR process. It makes the blacks blacker but it also desaturates color, which I didn't know until working on this film. So he overlights with color—he oversaturates. Rosco has made double CTOs and double CTBs, and they are working on a triple lavender that he particularly likes."
Storaro saturated the back wall of one office set with a remarkable deep green, to the extent that the mountainous black bodyguard and the flowered sofa on which he is seated become so camouflaged against the wallpaper that he rivets your eye when he moves—an amazing shot. I am convinced that Vittorio perceives the color spectrum with much greater intimacy than I do. Tandrow agrees: "He's the only cameraman I've ever worked with who can tell perfect greens and magentas. He can walk into a place and say exactly what it needs. We had to shoot under fluorescent conditions and match it, and he knew we needed more green. I couldn't see it with my eye."
Incidentally, Storaro says that Bulworth will be his last film shot for ENR. Kodak and Technicolor (which he humorously charactizes as his "mother and father in the creative world"), both have technology in the pipeline that could make ENR unnecessary. Kodak is developing a new print stock with blacks that are said to be as rich as those in an ENR print. Technicolor, however, is reviving a version of the inbibition three-strip process, which provides ultimate color and contrast control and ensures longevity for the original prints. Vittorio told me happily that this new inbibition system may indeed be used for the U.S. release of Bulworth.
"Photo-Graphy"
Movie stars, senators and popes (one of whom told me he had never even been inside a cineplex), have similar perks and powers. The Julius II/Michelangelo idea isn't entirely whimsical: as co-scenarist, producer, director and star, Warren Beatty has virtually total control of his world and a correspondingly acute need for the right kind of feedback and advice. But helping the pope is tricky—all of the constituencies normally served by a cameraman are here wrapped up in one individual. The Warren/Vittorio relationship was well-managed by both men, and it became a cornerstone of the movie. They have learned how to check and balance one another.
"After four pictures you have a shorthand. I can say, 'Do you want to do that?' and it will be examined," said Warren. "Vittorio respects my seriousness in pursuing the theme of the movie. And if it's me, I'll see the flicker of an eyelash and know what he means. Vittorio will wait, and then he'll put it in the form of a question: 'Warren, do you think it might be possible that. . .' and I'll belligerently say, 'Why? What do you think,' and so on. What is absolutely spectacular about Vittorio is that he never loses interest in the process. He never phones it in."
Warren Beatty is an actor's director—he sees the story from inside, from the character's point of view. Vittorio works from the outside in terms of script, direction, cinematography, production design. Warren distrusts big wide shots and angles that aren't "seen" through a character's eyes, and "interesting" shots that are more interesting than what is happening or what is said. Vittorio is interested in "What" happens on screen. Warren is more interested in "When."
Vittorio prepares a complete offering—beautifully lit, rehearsed, ready to roll. Warren says that he needs to shoot it from the other side. Vittorio's face lights up and he says, "Watch this!" and quickly turns it around. I asked him how he could do that and he said, "I like to light."
He continued, "Don't get me wrong—sometimes I am very susceptible, in the sense that if Warren touches me in the principle, I am ready to leave I am still very young and can't completely control myself, but I trust Warren and I know that in the end, if the director is not convinced about my idea, I have to follow his. You stay with your principle and you defend it but you shouldn't be its prisoner." (I have to say, I never actually saw Warren touch Vittorio's principle, but anything is possible in Hollywood.)
[ continued on page 4 ]