Alexander Witt

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Alexander Witt
Alexander Witt.jpg
Witt in 2016
Born (1952-04-10) April 10, 1952 (age 72)
Occupation(s) Film director and cinematographer

Alexander B. Witt (born 1952) is a Chilean-American filmmaker and cinematographer mostly known for his work as a camera operator and second unit director, including regular collaborations with director Ridley Scott.

Contents

Life and career

From a 2004 interview on IGN, he says this about his history:

"I was born in Chile, the third generation of Germans there. And, we moved to Mexico, from Mexico in '73 I moved to Europe, where I started working in film. I started with Arriflex, the company that makes the cameras. I was there for a year and I did kind of a trainee type of year where I was in the sound department, in the lab, in the studio working with the actual productions and also assembling cameras. And then I moved to Europe, where I lived three years, and then, back in '76, I did my first movie as a camera assistant, which was 21 Hours at Munich . And then, I kept on going, I moved up to focus puller or first AC, and then operating and then DP-ing. And then I was DP-ing commercials and then I started directing commercials in the late 80's and beginning of [the] 90's. I was working with Jan de Bont and doing his second unit as a DP while he was a DP. He is the one that really gave me the break on Speed to start directing second unit." [1]

Witt works mostly as a second unit director and cinematographer and has worked on a plethora of films ranging from Gladiator to Cinderella. He is a frequent collaborator of director Ridley Scott, and served as the director of photography on his 2007 film Body of Lies. He made his directorial debut in 2004 with the video game adaptation Resident Evil: Apocalypse . Witt also served as the second unit director on the James Bond films Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2020).

Filmography

Second unit

YearTitle2nd unit director2nd unit DoPDirectorNotes
1985 The Jewel of the Nile NoYes Lewis Teague
1990 The Hunt for Red October NoYes John McTiernan
1992 Lethal Weapon 3 NoYes Richard Donner
Chaplin NoYes Richard Attenborough As Alex Witt
1994 Speed YesNo Jan De Bont
1995 Money Train YesYes Joseph Ruben New York unit
1996 Twister YesYesJan De Bont
1997 Speed 2: Cruise Control YesYes
The Postman YesNo Kevin Costner
1998 The X-Files YesYes Rob Bowman Creature unit
1999 Forces of Nature YesYes Bronwen Hughes
Inspector Gadget YesYesDavid KelloggUncredited
2000 Gladiator YesYes Ridley Scott
Remember the Titans YesYes Boaz Yakin
2001 Hannibal YesYesRidley Scott
Black Hawk Down YesNo
2002 The Bourne Identity YesYes Doug Liman
XXX YesYes Rob Cohen
2003 Daredevil YesYes Mark Steven Johnson
The Italian Job YesNo F. Gary Gray
Hollywood Homicide YesYes Ron Shelton Additional photography
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl YesYes Gore Verbinski
2004 Hidalgo YesNo Joe Johnston
2005 Æon Flux YesNo Karyn Kusama
2006 She's the Man YesNo Andy Fickman
Casino Royale YesYes Martin Campbell
2007 American Gangster YesYesRidley Scott
2008 Fool's Gold YesNo Andy Tennant
2009 The Taking of Pelham 123 YesYes Tony Scott
2010 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time YesYes Mike Newell
Robin Hood YesYesRidley Scott
The Town YesYes Ben Affleck
2011 Fast Five YesYes Justin Lin Train heist sequence
X-Men: First Class YesYes Matthew Vaughn
2012 Safe House YesYes Daniel Espinosa
Skyfall YesYes Sam Mendes
Code Name OracleYesNoMax Bartoli
2014 Hercules YesYes Brett Ratner
2015 Cinderella YesYes Kenneth Branagh
Terminator Genisys YesYes Alan Taylor
Spectre YesYesSam Mendes
2017 First They Killed My Father NoYes Angelina Jolie
2018 Avengers: Infinity War YesYes Anthony and Joe Russo
Bird Box YesYes Susanne Bier
2021 No Time to Die YesYes Cary Joji Fukunaga
Jungle Cruise YesYes Jaume Collet-Serra
2023 Fast X YesYes Louis Leterrier
Ferrari YesYes Michael Mann

Other work

Director

Cinematographer

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References

  1. Otto, Jeff (August 23, 2004). "Interview: Alexander Witt". IGN . Retrieved 2009-02-10.