Roger Deakins? Incredible.Wally Pfister? No question. But when we detail the cinematographers who have defined, redefined, and straight up transformed the invention of our favorite pieces of contemporary cinema, there’s one man who’s name we must all know.
Bill Popeis one of the GOATs working today, period. For over 30 years, the Kentucky-born DP has made fruitful partnerships with some of your favorite directors —Sam Raimi,Edgar Wright,The Wachowskis— while crystallizing, heightening, and pushing not only their trademark styles, but what we expect from movies moving forward. Pope’s works are technical powerhouses, achieving clarity and cleanliness while smothered in style. His use of shadow and color are always immersive, his techniques able to communicate subjectively what the characters are emotionally going through, and he has given contemporary film culture more iconic images than I can personally shake a stick at. And I’m pretty good at shaking sticks!
To celebrate this underrated powerhorse of cinematography, here’s a guided tour of Bill Pope’s 10 best movies so far (with the caveat that there are so many more!), and how they revolutionized cinema. For more on the best DPs in the game, here’s our chat withGreig Fraser.
Director: Sam Raimi
Writers: Sam Raimi, Chuck Pfarrer, Ivan Raimi, Daniel Goldin, Joshua Goldin
Cast: Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake
For his first major studio film,Sam Raimi, fresh off the indie missiles ofEvil Dead 1and2, chose Bill Pope, fresh off music video missiles forMetallica,Peter Gabriel, andJanet Jackson, as his DP. What a fruitful pairing this turned out to be. InDarkman, Pope picks up, calcifies, and expands Raimi’s stylistic tics and passions onto the widest, most splendid canvas the budding auteur had seen thus far. Universal Pictures gave Raimi and Pope a surprising amount of money and confidence in developing the visual look and language of the original, tortured superhero who has more in common with the Phantom of the Opera than Spider-Man. The final product, even in its post-production-mangled form (Universal clearly lost some confidence along the way), moves and feels like no other superhero film since. Pope’s choices are grand, often opulent, eager to rattle the viewer with melodramatic splendor — all the while radiating with the electric, “how are we getting away with this?” energy of a young artist bustin' shit out for the thrill of it. We get some classic Raimi-isms (or are they Pope-isms?) of dramatic camera push-ins, following objects across blurring backgrounds, canted angles, and distorted images cross-fading atop each other. There’s also the phenomenal moment at thefairgroundwhere Pope weaponizes all of these techniques, which we’ve thus far seen “seriously,” into a force of darkly silly comedy, of the highest possible visual stakes played for the lowest possible narrative stakes (asFrances McDormandsays, “Why does it always have to be so dramatic?") until they all fuse together, inextricably. InDarkman, Pope proved how much creative flexing and ingenuity one can and should bring to superhero cinema, began one of his many fruitful creative director partnerships, and reminded us that the thrill of movies should be crafted seriously while nottakenseriously.
Closet Land
Director/Writer: Radha Bharadwaj
Cast: Madeleine Stowe, Alan Rickman
Released in 1991, the barely findableCloset Landwas met withunsure shrugsby most critics at the time. But if youcansnag a copy, you will find a startlingly unique picture that resonates now more than ever — and features incredible work from Mr. Pope.Closet Landis an experimental two-hander, an allegorical drama set in an unspecified police state starringMadeleine Stoweas a children’s author accused of smuggling subversive messaging into her work, andAlan Rickmanas a ruthless interrogator who will do anything to get a confession. FilmmakerRadha Bharadwajstages these psychological battles in avant-garde tableaus full of sparse marble and ancient-feeling columns that make the performers feel like chess pieces on a literal board. It ain’t exactly a subtle picture,Closet Land. And Pope uses this opportunity for provocative, even didactic storytelling to go HAM. Pope covers scenes with widely different lens lengths, swaths his performers in ever-oppressive shadows, and uses a variety of intense color temperatures. It’s all in the service of making a psychologically subjective film, of putting us in the mindset of what it means to exist in an oppressive, violent, authoritative state of being for eternities on end (not that we need much help with that these days). It’s a fascinating, watchable, beguiling, and startling showpiece for Pope, one I hope gets picked up for a spotless Blu-ray release sooner rather than later.
Fire in the Sky
Director: Robert Lieberman
Writer: Tracy Tormé
Cast: D. B. Sweeney, Robert Patrick, Craig Sheffer, Peter Berg, James Garner
An underappreciated addition to the alien film genre,Fire in the Skyis a quiet, patient, and uncommonly emotional film — and it happens to become devastatingly frightening when it needs to. Based on the (ostensibly) true story ofTravis Walton’s alien abduction,Fire in the Skyfeatures some of Pope’s most empathetic, character-driven work in his entire career; a perfect touchstone of him fusing his sometimes performative style with a more invisible, classical style, all in the service of the inner truths of the people on screen. As an example: When police lieutenantJames Garnerfirst learns about all the players in this alleged abduction incident, we cut to a swirling Steadicam shot, moving across every person Garner hears about. But the shot doesn’t play like a show-off; it plays like a necessary move to orient us to the souls we need to know, and more specifically, their varying expressions of pained emotion.Fire in the Sky, as its title suggests, uses red constantly to pop and hint at a new world of burning invention within its dusty-old normal browns. But when we — with the lightest possible spoiler warning — do make it into the actual spacecraft, the color scheme turns disquietingly white and bright, disorienting us casually and effectively before our hero is disoriented more explicitly. All of this wonderful work doesn’t mean Pope has lost his sense of humor, however — one brilliant visual gag involves a character staring at the sky through his car window, bright red lights moving down, obviously indicating an alien invasion! Except — the wide shot reveals it’s simply a railroad crossing light lowering, revealing Pope knows how to use his tools so masterfully, he can play us all for fools.
Directors/Writers: The Wachowskis
Cast: Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano, John Ryan
The low budget debut feature of theWachowskis,Boundis a queer neo-noir classic with phenomenal cinematography from Pope.Jennifer TillyandGina Gershonteam up in crime, and in love, to cheat Tilly’s small-time crook boyfriendJoe Pantolianoout of some cash. Pope takes this premise — kind of aDouble Indemnityon much stronger whiskey — and honors both the classical Hollywood visual tropes we’d expect in a noir thrillerandthe wide-open, queer, performative future that the Wachowskis wished to explore. Pope’s constructions are long, flowing, complicated numbers, always on the move from moment one, always searching and yearning just like its central characters. Even when his camera is still, to capture a “simple” conversation, he’ll place the characters hard off center, or in otherwise unorthodox positions, to communicate the strange situations and burgeoning “othering” going on inside of our characters. The Wachowskis truly did not have much money to make this picture, but Pope’s work feels more expensive than any big-budget work today. His color temperatures are rich, lived in, and tactile, and he understands that lighting, composition, and purposeful intention are the key to making a film’s language pop, not dollars and cents.Boundis also infamous for its intimate sex scene between Tilly and Gershon. Pope frames this act of passion and discovery in unbroken compositions, aided by the sex-positive choreography from feminist authorSusie Bright. There is desire and “gaze” in this sequence, but it does not feel problematic, exploitative, nor designed to appease straight, male viewers. It feels like a necessary catharsis, an act of listening to oneself, a moment of realistic love in extraordinary circumstances, lensed with grace and empathy by Pope.
The Matrix
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano
It’s no exaggeration to say Bill Pope’s work onThe Matrixchanged action, blockbuster, and sci-fi filmmaking forever. The Wachowskis were interested inblending all kindsof genres, tones, influences, and filmmaking modes into their art-pop masterpiece; so, too, did Pope. Pope takes his cue from Hong Kong action cinema to construct the gripping martial arts fights in fluid, unsparing takes (the dojo fight betweenLaurence FishburneandKeanu Reevesis a thing of beauty, Pope givingYuen Woo-ping’s choreography gift after gift). In the dark blacks and greens of the Matrix, coupled with the G-man black suit looks of the evil Agents, Pope again refines his and the Wachowskis' love of classic noir and gangster picture aesthetics — this time, with the budget to expand it out in all its shadowy goodness. In the metal greys, dead blues, and occasional popping reds of Zion and the Nebuchadnezzar, Pope successfully aestheticizes the chillycyberpunkworlds of classic anime. Many moments in the film remind me of stark German expressionism, especially in Pope’s usage of shadows, of architecture made terrifying, of purposefully distorted angles (think the terror of Reeves climbing out of his office window, looking down at the ground).
And then, of course, there’s Bullet Time. To achieve a clear communication, both subjective and objective, of what it’s like to slow down time within the Matrix, Pope and the Wachowskis used a technique involving tons of still cameras surrounding the performer, snapping pictures in sequential order of the performer doing their action, and then blending them together in post-production. The final aesthetic result, seen first in an earth-shatteringCarrie-Anne Mossjump kick and most notably in the Reeves bending backward to dodge bullets scene, feels like a pausing of environment movement (objective) and an emphasis on character movement (subjective). Nothing else matters except for the power, skill, and grace of these characters' ability to manipulate their surrounding programs. Pope’s work here shows it all, combining effortlessly with the rest of his work on the Matrix to inspire and infect the aesthetics of big-budget filmmaking to this day. It’s also just, still, so freaking cool as heck.
Spider-Man 2
Writers: Alvin Sargent, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Michael Chabon
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, Donna Murphy
Our very ownHaleigh Foutchmay disagree, but I maintainSpider-Man 2to be not only the superiorSpider-Manfilm in Raimi’s trilogy, but perhaps the best superhero film made to date. After Pope and Raimi turned heads withDarkman, they collaborated again on theEvil Deadoriginal trilogy conclusionArmy of Darkness, a wild genre-melding fantasy-horror-comedy that felt both zanier than anything Pope had ever done and, somehow, full of safe choices. It’s full of the wild moves you’d expect from a movie in this franchise with these creators, but not many “new” choices within its framework of “genre strangeness.” You knew exactly what you were signing up for.
Not so much withSpider-Man 2, a big budget superhero sequel to Raimi’s smash first film, chock-full of visual risk and bold storytelling choices. I imagine certain temptations that could come in crafting a big studio sequel of a well-known, family-friendly property — overstuffed with villains, saturated with empty CGI setpieces, lazily disregarding the need for intelligent screenwriting (see:The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and to a lesser extent, Raimi/Pope’s ownSpider-Man 3, a much weirder, riskier film than we give credit for). But all of these potential pitfalls are swung over carefully, patiently, and in deeper ways than we could’ve expected. Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) starts the picture in a “friendly neighborhood” sort of way, but it quickly slides into a world of devastating choices, crushing revelations, and borderline Shakespearean tragedies. Pope’s work here is a study in extreme contrasts that eventually collapse into each other, a melding of nearly every style and joy he’s perfected over the years disseminated into an accessible package. The bright blues of New York City give Spidey ample opportunity to pop visually against them as he swings around — but the dark warmth of fire and shadow lurks around every corner, in every private moment (especially regardingJames Franco’s inner paternal torment), until it explodes into the public with a particularly charged emotional and action climax between Spidey and Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina). And speaking of Doc Ock — there just hasn’t been as good a superhero film set piece as the moment he (or should I say “his tentacles”) wake up in an OR and devastate a bunch of hapless doctors. It’s an incredibly pure sequence that combines the best of Raimi’s style with the best of Pope’s experiences. It feels like horror, dark comedy, neo-noir, German expressionism, subjectiveandobjective (especially when we switch to gnarly tentacle POVs). Its usage of color and aggressive shadow terrify, and its final frame feels like a devastating painting. I have no idea how Sony let this sequence make into a movie about a nice young man who shoots webs, but I’m so grateful they did.
Team America: World Police
Director: Trey Parker
Writers: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Pam Brady
Cast: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Kristen Miller, Masasa, Daran Norris, Phil Hendrie, Maurice LaMarche, Chelsea Marguerite, Jeremy Shada, Fred Tatasciore
I, frankly, would be surprised if literally any joke inTeam America: World Policeheld up under modern day scrutiny. From theSouth Parkcrew’s racist-on-purpose voice performances, to the blatantly homophobic acronym spelled out by an organization of ineffectual liberal actors we’re supposed to dislike,Team Americais a film of its time (the second Bush administration) walking a razor-thin line (problematic views being expressed satirically, ironically, from the invisible point of view of problematic Hollywood action cinema) that I’m not sure it stays on the right side of.
But one thing is for certain: Bill Pope’s work on this wild, wild film is an audacious triumph. If you didn’t know,Team Americais a big-budgetJerry Bruckheimer-styled action film filtered through a low-budget satirist’s perspective — all filmed with literal marionette puppets as the main characters. This resulted in a number ofbehind-the-scenes frustrations, but you don’t see a resulting lack of ingenuity or invention on the screen. Pope mimics and parodies the aesthetics of jingoistic action cinema — some of which he may have inadvertently helped codify — to a T, staging each sequence, gag, or character beat with a joyous level of detail and a craftsman’s level of color intrigue. I’m particularly fond of Pope’s varying between focal lengths; some DPs may have been afraid of wide shots in a puppet movie for fear of revealing too much behind the curtain, but some of the funniest (and most earnestly effective!) moments come from a sudden cut to a splendid set and its miniature character in all its glory. Plus: The looney sex scene’s lensing inTeam Americarivals onlyBoundin Pope’s canon of “imaginative lovemaking.” Just, like, for a lot of different reasons.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Director: Edgar Wright
Writers: Michael Bacall, Edgar Wright
Cast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman
InSpaced,Shaun of the DeadandHot Fuzz,Edgar Wrightcemented his status as a comedy auteur atypically concerned with impeccably crafted, dynamic visuals. InScott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Pope entered the game as Player 2, and helped Wright level up.Scott Pilgrim, simply, is a visual smorgasbord. It’s stuffed with invention, delightful framings, immersively shifting aspect ratios, shots that both surprise and feel inevitable when cut together, and frenetically accurate apings of video game, anime, and martial arts culture. I have no idea how Pope and Wright managed to make all of this clear and coherent amidst their “throw everything at the wall” visual grammar, but I suspect it has to do with the sheer level of intention and control in their wall-throwing arms. The choice for a traditionally covered comedy scene ofMichael Cerapeeing to melt away into a one-shot fantasy sequence reminding me both ofThe Big Lebowskiand, quite explicitly,The Legend of Zelda, is not an arbitrary show-off choice, but instead organic to the pop culture-saturated POVs of the film’s characters. The fact that it, and the rest of the film, also feels like a giant, gleeful show-off speaks wonders to Pope’s inventionandpatience.Scott Pilgrimblew the lid off of what we can expect in cinematic storytelling representations of video game culture, and no other film has come close in replicating its visual energy in its wake.
Men in Black 3
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Writer: Etan Cohen
Cast: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emma Thompson
I often wonder what it’s like to shoot a film for a DP-turned-director.Barry Sonnenfeld’s work as a cinematographer (Raising Arizona,Big,When Harry Met Sally) often skews big, bold, and broad. Center-punched wide angle lenses and sharply fluid movements turn characters into live action cartoons inhabiting bright areas with wide depths of field; a style calcified in Sonnenfeld’s earlier directorial works likeThe Addams Family. In Sonnenfeld’s first big-budget blockbuster,Men in Black(one of my very favorite movies), DPDon Petermantempers some of the director’s more performative impulses with some appealingly gritty, tactile, shot-on-film grammar. But in the supremely underratedMen in Black 3, Pope synthesis Sonnenfeld’s previous impulses into as streamlined, clean, and accessible a final product as I’ve ever seen in a contemporary blockbuster.MiB 3moves! It’s a bright, colorful puzzle designed to look like a thrill ride. The camera moves on this sucker are choreographed within an inch of their life, the color temperature is boldly saturated, and the whole thing feels peerlessly in control. Pope seems to have looked at Sonnenfeld’s previous “live-action cartoons,” and thought, “I can do ya one better.” If you wrote off the franchise after the first one, I implore you to giveMiB 3another chance, particularly for the pure professionalism of Pope’s work.
Baby Driver
Director/Writer: Edgar Wright
Cast: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Eiza González, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal
There are so many perfectly crafted set pieces in Edgar Wright/Bill Pope’sBaby Driverit’s hard to keep track (“track”) of them. Luckily, the movie kicks off with not one, but two showstoppers in a row; it’s as if Pope himself was assembling a mixtape with the unspoken rule that a first banger can only be topped by a second banger. Our first banger, set to"Bellbottoms"by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion? A clean, slinky car chase lensed with revving excitement and, most importantly, pristine clarity. So many car chases these days are shot with incomprehensible close-ups and cut within an inch of their life. Conversely, Pope understands the power of letting images breathe in unbroken wides; A shot with not much performative camera movement, where Baby’s (Ansel Elgort) car slides sneakily underneath a truck and we see it all happen, provides immense thrill in a way a lesser hand would’ve over-covered.
As for the second banger, set to"Harlem Shuffle"by Bob & Earl? How about a bravura one-take sequence in which Baby literally dances his way through Atlanta to get his criminal buddies some coffee and back? I’m not just in awe of this sequence on a macro, sequencing level, but on every micro level, too. It’s a balletic work of steadicam wonder, a technical powerhouse in which every camera componentmustalign with literally every single other component of the sequence. But it’s also, like the rest of Pope’s best work, a celebration of cinema, a scream of glee and joy, and a burrowed-in subjective expression of the world and character.
May the Pope continue his reign for some time to come. Amen.
