Cinematographer Roger Deakins has been named as the next recipient of the American Society of Cinematographers Life Achievement Award, to be given during the ceremony this coming February.
The English-born Deakins began his career int he 1970s, mostly documentaries, before breaking through with some feature film projects in the UK including Michael Radford's 1984 (1984) and White Mischief (1987), Defense of the Realm (1985), Alex Cox's Sid & Nancy (1986) and Mike Figgis' Stormy Monday (1988). Bob Rafelson's Mountains of the Moon (1990), though shot in Africa, started his working with American directors and Studios. After working with David Mamet on Homicide (1991) he began the most enduring collaboration of his career. When Barry Sonnenfeld left Joel & Ethan Coen as their Director of Photography to become a director himself, they turned to Deakins for Barton Fink (1991). They all worked so well together that they have worked with him exclusively ever since, including the upcoming True Grit (2010). He would continue to work with other filmmakers, including John Sayles on Passion Fish (1992), Martin Scorsese on Kundun (1997), Frank Darabont on The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Tim Robbins on Dead Man Walking (1995) and Norman Jewison on The Hurricane (1999). But it was his work with The Coen Brothers that was his true calling card in the industry.
In this new century he has averaged a couple projects a year, the non-Coen ones including A Beautiful Mind (2001), House of Sand and Fog (2003), The Village (2004), Jarhead (2005), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), and Doubt (2008). He has been nominated for eight Oscars, though somehow never won one yet (Shawshank, Fargo, Kundun, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn't There, Assassination of Jesse James, No Country for Old Men and The Reader).
Now sixty-one-years-old, he is one of the most respected artists in the industry.
Congrats, Roger!
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra
Last edited by Holden Pike; 02-15-24 at 05:09 PM.