Wally Pfister, ASC, is a four-time Best Cinematography Oscar nominee, winning in 2011 for director Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Pfister’s other three noms were also for Nolan films: Batman Begins, The Prestige, and The Dark Knight.
Now Pfister is embarking on a new career chapter, having wrapped his feature directorial debut, Transcendence, a sci-fi thriller and love story meshed into one, raising questions about the human condition and the ethics issues raised by Artificial Intelligence and its impact on society. The Alcon Entertainment film is a Warner Bros. Pictures release and features a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara, Cole Hauser, Clifton Collins, Jr. and Morgan Freeman.
Pfister is no stranger to directing. He has helmed some 25-plus commercials over the years in-between his feature lensing gigs. Among those ad endeavors was a Montana Meth campaign consisting of four PSAs telling stories based on composites of real testimony from addicts and those close to them across the State of Montana. The spots tell the heartbreaking tales of people who saw their friends consumed by addiction–and who recall with guilt, regret and sadness not having said anything when informed their friends were going to try meth for the first time. The campaign’s centerpiece PSA was in SHOOT’s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery in 2010.
Fast forward to today and Pfister plans to continue to direct spots in-between his feature helming exploits. Again, it’s a new chapter in that Pfister has just joined Reset, the commercial/branded content house founded by exec Dave Morrison and filmmaker David Fincher.
As a DP, Pfister’s filmography with Nolan dates back to 1999 with the drama Memento. Pfister earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his work as a cinematographer on that film.
Pfister has also shot for such directors as Bennett Miller (Moneyball), Lisa Cholodenko (Laurel Canyon) and F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job). Pfister won the ASC Award in 2011 for Inception and was nominated in 2009 for The Dark Knight and in 2006 for Batman Begins.
SHOOT: What led you to select Jess Hall as the DP for Transcendence? Was it difficult for you to let go of the cinematography on this film?
Pfister: The answer is yes and no to whether I found it difficult to let go of the cinematography. I’ve reached a point in my career where I wanted to explore other aspects of filmmaking and storytelling, to focus on the narrative and performance. I really wanted to shift my focus. However, I come from a visual background, 25 years behind the camera. Certainly I had ideas about the look of Transcendence. So I discussed those ideas with Jess, Chris Seagers—who was production designer on Tony Scott’s films—and my visual effects supervisor Nathan McGuinness. I trusted my collaborators and their talent.
I found Jess Hall through a mutual friend, [director] Rupert Sanders. I met Jess years ago at Rupert’s house and really liked him. Then Rupert recommended him to me. I started looking at his work and I found how he shot Brideshead Revisited to be strangely relevant to what I wanted for Transcendence. I loved his sense of naturalistic lighting. It reminded me of the sensibility I had when I worked with Chris [Nolan]. Then I happened to be looking at Paul Bettany’s work and saw Creation which he starred in. I loved what I saw and lo and behold it was shot by Jess.
SHOOT: What was the biggest creative challenge of Transcendence?
Pfister: What I obsessed about and what kept me awake at night was doing everything possible to maintain the story’s credibility for the audience. We are asking them to take a leap of faith. The subject matter doesn’t exist right now—being able to upload a human brain to a computer. So I had to overcome that challenge by grounding the picture in reality, the relationships of the people, retaining the humanity in their lives and conveying it so the audience could identify with the characters and what they were feeling and dealing with. This is more than a story about humanity vs. technology. It’s the humanity I wanted to tap into, to understand the journey and pain of the characters. And having such a great cast was a blessing in being able to realize that.
SHOOT: What lessons did you learn from shooting for great directors over the years, most notably Christopher Nolan?
Pfister: I did seven films with Chris Nolan. But there were others who also provided valuable lessons. I was a camera operator for Robert Altman on Tanner ‘88. Altman wanted to do the show verite style.
Working with him for six months was an education. We were invited to dailies and he would critique the work. I went in as a documentary cameraman and working with Altman was my entree to dramatic filmmaking.
Shooting for directors Chris Nolan, Lisa Cholodenko, F. Gary Gray and Bennett Miller were all great experiences. I am proud of the films I did with all four of those directors. I did the most work with Chris and he was the most influential on my approach. Chris taught me the precious nature of your time on the set, the value of that time and how not to waste a minute.
SHOOT: How did your experience directing commercials prepare you for directing your first feature?
Pfister: It helped me enormously. I directed 25 to 30 commercials over the years. That was my primer to directing on a movie set. I got the opportunity to work with actors, to be in charge, to run a set. It provided a comfort factor when I started directing Transcendence. Still it doesn’t prepare you for being on set with Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Hall and Paul Bettany in one scene. But thanks to commercials, I had a foundation to work from.
SHOOT: What’s next for you?
Pfister: I’m looking at scripts and developing my own original stories but I’m not in a hurry to do my next feature. I want to be selective. I just signed with Reset which I think is the best commercial production company out there. They have incredible visual talent—David Fincher, Jonathan Glazer, Joseph Kosinski, directors I have enormous respect for. I want to be active in spots and branded content, which offer great storytelling and visual opportunities.
