Adventures in the Film Trade
Cathy Henkel of Brisbane-based company Virgo Productions is the writer, director and producer of IF award-winning documentary The Burning Season.
Henkel is in production on the feature documentary Show Me the Magic about master cinematographer Don McAlpine. Henkel joined McAlpine (both pictured) in Canada, where he is shooting his 50th film, Wolverine with Hugh Jackman, and writes about her experience for Onscreen:
Vancouver Diary
A few days before Christmas, I received a call from veteran cinematographer Don McAlpine saying that he was heading to Vancouver in January to film the final scenes of the Hollywood blockbuster Wolverine, and did I want to come? The film, starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Oscar winner Gavin Hood, tells the backstory of the tortured X-Men character Wolverine. Even if it meant shooting outdoors in minus five-degree temperatures in Vancouver's Stanley Park in the snow, this was hard to say no to.
It's over four years since I started making a film about Don McAlpine. I met him during the shooting of a Spike Milligan documentary I directed in 2004. Don was the DOP on the Barry McKenzie films with Bruce Beresford in the mid 1970's and Spike had a small scene in that film. During my visit, Don showed me some of his archive from Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge. It was stunning, compelling and fascinating to watch him at work on those classic films. I asked him why no-one had ever made a film about him, and Don said, in his now familiar, quiet, self-deprecating way: "no-one has ever asked me". "Can I make a film about you?" I asked. He looked at me, paused and smiled and said: "Why not?"
We agreed that the core of the film would be Don shooting his 50th film, and we had to wait a couple of years for that to eventuate. When he took the job on Wolverine, my filming began.
The first sequences were shot in New Zealand in February 2008, and then on Cockatoo Island in Sydney in April. Watching Don at work up-close on the set of a big-budget Hollywood film was one of the most unexpectedly exciting and fascinating experiences of my life (which hasn't been lacking in the unexpected, exciting or fascinating).
Most people have no idea what a cinematographer actually does, except that they are responsible for "the look" of the film. But how do they achieve this, and what is their relationship with the director and the stars of the film? Show Me the Magic will reveal some of the secrets behind the mystical and magical work of a master cinematographer who has worked consistently in the industry for the past 35 years.
Don, Gavin and Hugh gave me extraordinary access, and I was able to capture the wonderful humour, camaraderie and genuine enjoyment of their work, and the magic secrets of how some of the more dramatic scenes were shot.
I borrowed a lot of winter clothes, bought some boots and ended up enjoying the cold. I can't wait to watch the rushes, and feel that this film will provide a window into a world that is very much off-limits to the general public. Show Me the Magic will hit cinemas at the time the Wolverine DVD is released.
I am now in Los Angeles to film Don receiving the 2009 ASC International Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers at a gala ceremony on Sunday February 15. He is the first Australian to receive this prestigious award.
To read an interview with Don McAlpine published in the February edition of American Cinematographer,
click here.