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[Nakharar]

Cinematography

December 6, 2004

Sarossy & Egoyan bring Truth to light

Marise Strauss

The director/DOP team of Atom Egoyan and Paul Sarossy are back together again, on a bigger scale than ever, with Where the Truth Lies (aka Somebody Loves You). Boasting an A-list cast and $30-million budget, Truth, having wrapped in early November, is the seventh feature for the frequent collaborators.

"Paul consistently surprises me with the quality of his work," says Egoyan. "He gives it a sense of definition and attention that is mysterious to me, because I don't see light the way he does."

Sarossy shares the love. "Atom is very organized as a director, and clever with his use of time," says the Barrie, ON-born cameraman. "Coming from smaller films, he's very efficient and conscious of using limited resources. Those talents have translated even as the productions have grown in budget."

Where the Truth Lies, a noirish period drama, is a Canada/U.K. coproduction between producer Robert Lantos' Serendipity Point Films and First Choice Film that commenced shooting on Aug. 30, dividing locations among Toronto, Los Angeles and London, Eng.

Flashback to the 50s

Egoyan adapted Rupert Holmes' fictitious novel of the same name about entertainers Lanny and Vince (portrayed by Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth, of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason), who had a successful run as a comedy duo in the late 1950s, a la Martin and Lewis. Nearly 20 years later, they become the subject of an investigation by journalist Karen O'Connor, played by Alison Lohman (Matchstick Men), who attempts to unravel a mysterious affair in their past involving a woman's murder.

Sarossy says Truth's visual design largely focused on the story switching back and forth between the 1970s and the 1950s.

Achieving looks for the different periods began with costumes and makeup. "The entire time that we're showing Lanny and Vince in the '50s, they're dressed in black tuxedos, which, on a practical level, is difficult to shoot, since the characters would melt away into the background," Sarossy explains. "So it had to be lit very carefully."

To further enhance separation, the DOP used filtration to create a glowing effect and add a certain lustre to the '50s footage.

Egoyan adds that it's the first time he and Sarossy have used this much filtration and stylized movements and composition. "It's really a collaboration between Paul, production designer Phillip Barker, costume designer Beth Pasternak and myself in trying to create a unified look. If you are making a film that deals with popular culture, you have to make believable the world that these characters live in."

The 1970s period, set mostly in L.A., serves as a distinct departure from the ritzy lifestyle of the 1950s scenes set in Miami and New Jersey. "Our characters are older, and the look shifts to a more contrasty, less glamorized, very clean and crisp image," Sarossy says. "They lived in this glamorous bubble at the height of their careers, whereas later they're faced with the harsher reality of life."

Director and DOP opted to film the 1970s L.A. sequences using front light instead of back light, which Sarossy says tends to beautify the look.

"Front light was much more effective in creating this sun-bleached, harsher realism, showing the characters as part of the world," he notes. "Whereas with back light, you can isolate people and keep them in their own world, something that lent itself more to the 1950s [scenes]."

While the bulk of the 40-day shooting schedule took place in Toronto, the crew also filmed at Venice Beach and at architect Pierre Koenig's modernistic 1960 Stahl House in L.A., also capturing the city's recognizable exterior landmarks. Barker recreated the inside of Stahl House at London's Pinewood Shepperton Studios; there he also reconstructed an airplane and a retro Miami hotel.

Sarossy found working with a mix of Canadian and foreign crews challenging, especially when trying to maintain a continuity of look.

"You encounter a lot of different approaches, both technically and logistically," he says. "In Britain, no grip department exists, so the lighting department does the work of the grips, and if you're accustomed to the American system, it can be quite an adjustment. The trick of it is to respect local ways and make the appropriate adjustments to make it work."

The production used Panavision cameras, partly because the film is being shot in a 2.35:1 widescreen anamorphic format, which Sarossy says has been great for capturing the period locations and sets. "This has been a happy return to the more glamorous frame shape of widescreen."

Egoyan adds he's not a huge fan of the standard 1.85:1 aspect ratio. "It's a compromise between the two - I'm happy with either 'Academy,' which is 1.66:1, as used on Ararat, or the 2.35:1 used on The Sweet Hereafter, Felicia's Journey and now Where the Truth Lies."

Truth was shot mostly on Kodak Vision 5279 500T and Vision 5246 250D stocks. Sarossy adds that Fuji Reala 500D stock also came in handy when they were filming interiors and experienced a mixture of daylight and fluorescent lighting.

"We were filming in the Toronto Dominion Tower on the 14th floor, and control over daylight was minimal," he recalls. "It was a foggy day, so the light available was dark, which is unusual in those towers."

Sarossy manned the single camera, which remained on a dolly with the exception of some broader scenes. Two cameras were used for a scene filmed at Toronto's art deco Carlu event venue involving many extras recreating a big 1950s telethon broadcast.

Manning the camera

The DOP prefers operating the camera himself, explaining that it's part of the relationship he and Egoyan have enjoyed for many years. "It's a tremendous pleasure to shoot a film through the eyepiece. A lot of people prefer working with an operator, but I find I light through the viewfinder, and it's much more efficient to do it from the operator's seat."

Sarossy recalls a "fabulously complicated" Steadicam shot at Valhalla Inn - Toronto that involved a bar scene below a swimming pool. Steadicam op Tim Merkel followed the two main characters through the entire bar, filled with extras.

"The purpose of the shot was to showcase our characters and reveal their status as entertainers," the DOP explains. "The location had a low ceiling, and the challenge was to hide the lights while also dealing with a lot of extras. I just put lights in nooks and crannies wherever I could. But also, with a moving camera, you can get away with disguising lights in the camera movement."

Sarossy's lighting kit was fairly comprehensive, since the crew worked both on location and in studio.

"In the airplane, for example, we had a 20k tungsten light on a Pegasus Crane for simulating the sun as the airplane is moving," he explains. "We put the light on the crane so you feel the movement of the aircraft."

Sarossy is currently back in Toronto, where he'll soon begin shooting Black Widow, a musical drama for CBC.

Post-production is being done at Toronto's Deluxe Sound & Picture. A release date through distrib ThinkFilm has not yet been set.

More on "Where the Truth Lies":

http://www.firth.com/truth.html

[dianjan]

The director/DOP team of Atom Egoyan and Paul Sarossy are back together again, on a bigger scale than ever, with Where the Truth Lies (aka Somebody Loves You). Boasting an A-list cast and $30-million budget, Truth, having wrapped in early November, is the seventh feature for the frequent collaborators.
...

Do you know when the movie is coming out?


Fixed long quote - nairi

Edited by nairi, 07 December 2004 - 11:01 AM.

[Nakharar]

The film shooting was going to end on November 5th according to the schedule. It's now in the post-production stage. I think it's going to be released next summer.