Movies

New Releases • A-D • E-H • I-P • Q-Z • Articles • Festivals • Interviews • Dark Knight • Indiana Jones • MCU

Lighting the Knight:
Wally Pfister
Page 5

Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own

Collaboration is a key ingredient in Nolan's movies and it's an approach that has no doubt helped foster strong relationships.

"Chris Nolan gets up on that stage and the first words out of his mouth – to accept an award or whatever else – are about Emma, his wife and producer, or Nathan, his production designer, or me, or Lee Smith. It's about his team, he talks about it as being a collaborative medium. A New York Times journalist said, 'You guys are kinda like a little jazz ensemble.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, we are.'"

Pfister sees two great metaphors about Nolan's collaborative style. There's the jazz ensemble, wherein Nolan is the group's Dave Brubeck. "He's a better musician than the rest of us," Pfister said of Nolan. "We follow, we augment, we jump in."

The other goes in a different direction, comparing the moviemaking team to an army, with Nolan as commander in chief and Pfister as something like a field general.

"That's a man who acknowledges collaboration and whose ego can handle it and whose humility is in a place where he's comfortable," Pfister sums it up. "That's the mark of a consummate artist and a brilliant artist."

Perhaps a third metaphor would be a symphony, with Nolan serving as the conductor. That metaphor is particularly appropriate given the collaborative nature of Dark Knight's two score composers, Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.

In the early going of Oscar buzz, the duo was disqualified for Oscar consideration (as they were for Batman Begins), apparently being penalized for giving five people credit on the cue sheets.

"If you know these guys and the way they work," Pfister said, "it's not really fair because every composer does that. They just are sharing credit with their guys and they're sharing the money with their guys, which is fantastic."

Fortunately, the Academy's decision was recently reversed and Zimmer and Howard are now eligible to have their work contend for the golden statue.

"33" Snitch

With 2008 coming to a close, Pfister can look back on a year of incredible accomplishments, a year in which The Dark Knight took center stage while other projects kept things humming along at home.

The commercial opportunities, including work for Verizon, Toyota, Subaru and Rolling Rock, have helped him stay close to home and his wife and three children - as well as a large house undergoing renovations. And those opportunities have also helped continue his working relationships with the likes of Nolan and Rupert Sanders, who directed the Nike commercial they shot up in Broomfield and who's tapped to direct a remake of The Wild Geese.

For now, Pfister is exploring possibilities and checking out projects that might be of interest, while also keeping the door open for more work with Nolan ("if he's kind enough to hire me back again") and Sanders.

Like any great artist, Pfister himself draws from a number of sources for inspiration.

On moi!

"I think a great script inspires me, when I read a narrative that I'm really drawn to and I think the material is engaging and I think the characters are real. I'm inspired by music as well; I play music, I play guitar and sing so music gets me interested and motivated."

His guitar playing focuses on hardcore electric blues and, at the other extreme, acoustic music such as Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

"I'm motivated by painting and still photography as well. I think that is really inspirational to me. Every time I go to a gallery and see some great still photography, I can't help myself and I'm out in the street the next day with my camera taking pictures."

That still photography interest spilled over to the professional life, with his photographs appearing in some Rolling Rock print ads.

And there's still one more career avenue, one that's a lot more obscure. In the Batman Begins videogame, Pfister was immortalized as a "snitch" within the game.

"My son loved the idea because he got to kick my ass in a videogame," Pfister said with a chuckle. "He managed to make it to the level where you get to me then he beat me up."

A slightly edited version was published at MovieHabit.com.