DP Greig Fraser on the Biggest Challenge Shooting ‘Dune 2’, How He Manages New Tech and Why Denis Villeneuve Thinks ‘He’s a Pioneer’
“One doesn’t come out of the womb wanting to be a cinematographer,” says Greig Fraser, the go-to director of photography for such helmers as Garth Davis, Matt Reeves, Denis Villeneuve and more.
Fraser has swiftly become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after cinematographers after receiving critical acclaim for his work on “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “Dune: Part One, “Dune: Part Two” and “The Batman.” Variety is honoring him as a Billion Dollar Cinematographer at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
He has also become one of the most influential DPs, especially to aspiring filmmakers and film lovers alike.
“You learn about filmmakers,” he says. “I remember being 7 or 8, writing a script about a war film, and we had some toy guns and army jackets, and we thought, ‘Why can’t we make it?’” he says over the phone as he walks home from a shoot in the U.K. on a warm summer evening. One problem: He and his friends didn’t own a camera. “There was this youthful ignorance of why can’t we just make a movie? Not taking into account lack of skill or things to shoot with,” he says.
“Grease,” Steven Spielberg and the “Star Wars” franchise broadened Fraser’s interest in film. By the time he got into college, filmmaking as a concept was something he found appealing. “It allowed me that opportunity to have a job that was on one hand solo and [on] the other, communal.”
The 2000 documentary “P.I.N.S,” from Davis, saw Fraser landing one of his first co-cinematographer credits. “Working with Garth was one of the reasons that made me not want to become a director. And that sounds a little negative, but what it showed me was that my brain doesn’t work the same way as Garth’s brain. He’s an extraordinarily good director, and I realized I would never see the world the way that Garth sees the world,” Fraser admits. Along the way, Fraser has spent thousands of hours on sets “trying to create the most concise, simple, focused image that I can for any given moment,” he says of his evolution over the years.
In a world saturated by imagery, Fraser says, “We have become very sophisticated as an audience and as a society about images.” He adds, “What I’m learning about myself is that actually, I’m needing to understand those images better than anybody else that consumes them. What I’ve learned about that process is trying to instill sometimes very complicated ideas into very simple images.”
So what makes him say yes to a project these days? Being able to contribute to a director’s vision remains the most important element. But he’s still looking for growth. “Not financially,” he laughs. Growth in the craft. “Does it help me grow technologically? What skills does it give me to be able to pass on to my next director to solve their visual dilemmas?”
Working on “The Mandalorian” and with Lucasfilm provided both.
“That massive problem was, how do we create a workable, meaningful technology that helps filmmakers become more efficient and put their stories on the screen in a more efficient manner,” he says. “Building the Volume [stage] and figuring out how to do that was really important to me because I didn’t think I could do it, let alone anybody else.”
Armed with the knowledge of shooting the Volume and using virtual production, Fraser found it helped problem solve on both “The Batman” and “Dune: Part One.”
His innovation and creativity has Villeneuve calling him a “phenomenal artist who doesn’t put his ego in the way of his creativity. He has a fierce appetite and a beautiful curiosity for exploring new ways of making cinema. In many ways, he’s a pioneer.”
Fraser has swiftly become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after cinematographers after receiving critical acclaim for his work on “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “Dune: Part One, “Dune: Part Two” and “The Batman.” Variety is honoring him as a Billion Dollar Cinematographer at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
He has also become one of the most influential DPs, especially to aspiring filmmakers and film lovers alike.
“You learn about filmmakers,” he says. “I remember being 7 or 8, writing a script about a war film, and we had some toy guns and army jackets, and we thought, ‘Why can’t we make it?’” he says over the phone as he walks home from a shoot in the U.K. on a warm summer evening. One problem: He and his friends didn’t own a camera. “There was this youthful ignorance of why can’t we just make a movie? Not taking into account lack of skill or things to shoot with,” he says.
“Grease,” Steven Spielberg and the “Star Wars” franchise broadened Fraser’s interest in film. By the time he got into college, filmmaking as a concept was something he found appealing. “It allowed me that opportunity to have a job that was on one hand solo and [on] the other, communal.”
The 2000 documentary “P.I.N.S,” from Davis, saw Fraser landing one of his first co-cinematographer credits. “Working with Garth was one of the reasons that made me not want to become a director. And that sounds a little negative, but what it showed me was that my brain doesn’t work the same way as Garth’s brain. He’s an extraordinarily good director, and I realized I would never see the world the way that Garth sees the world,” Fraser admits. Along the way, Fraser has spent thousands of hours on sets “trying to create the most concise, simple, focused image that I can for any given moment,” he says of his evolution over the years.
In a world saturated by imagery, Fraser says, “We have become very sophisticated as an audience and as a society about images.” He adds, “What I’m learning about myself is that actually, I’m needing to understand those images better than anybody else that consumes them. What I’ve learned about that process is trying to instill sometimes very complicated ideas into very simple images.”
So what makes him say yes to a project these days? Being able to contribute to a director’s vision remains the most important element. But he’s still looking for growth. “Not financially,” he laughs. Growth in the craft. “Does it help me grow technologically? What skills does it give me to be able to pass on to my next director to solve their visual dilemmas?”
Working on “The Mandalorian” and with Lucasfilm provided both.
“That massive problem was, how do we create a workable, meaningful technology that helps filmmakers become more efficient and put their stories on the screen in a more efficient manner,” he says. “Building the Volume [stage] and figuring out how to do that was really important to me because I didn’t think I could do it, let alone anybody else.”
Armed with the knowledge of shooting the Volume and using virtual production, Fraser found it helped problem solve on both “The Batman” and “Dune: Part One.”
His innovation and creativity has Villeneuve calling him a “phenomenal artist who doesn’t put his ego in the way of his creativity. He has a fierce appetite and a beautiful curiosity for exploring new ways of making cinema. In many ways, he’s a pioneer.”