Erik Messerschmidt | |
---|---|
Born | Portland, Maine, U.S. | October 23, 1980
Alma mater | Emerson College |
Years active | 2001–present |
Organization | American Society of Cinematographers |
Spouse | Naiara Eizaguirre-Paulos (m. 2020) |
Website | Official website |
Erik Messerschmidt, ASC (born October 23, 1980) [1] is an American cinematographer.
He is best known for his collaborations with director David Fincher on the films Mank and The Killer (as director of photography) and Gone Girl (as gaffer), and on the Netflix series Mindhunter .
He has also shot episodes of the TV series Fargo , Legion , and Raised by Wolves . [2]
His work has been nominated for an Emmy. In April 2021, he won the top ASC Award and the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Mank. [3]
After relocating to Los Angeles, Messerschmidt served as a gaffer on TV series such as Bones , Everybody Hates Chris , and Mad Men .
He also gained experience as a director of photography during this time, shooting commercials, short films, and documentaries. Messerschmidt had a working relationship with cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, who recommended him to director David Fincher. Fincher hired Messerschmidt as a gaffer on Gone Girl and, later, as director of photography for most episodes of Mindhunter and Mank . [4] [5] [6]
With Mindhunter, Messerschmidt explained that the color palette, "has a desaturated green-yellow look... [it] helps give the show its period feel". He stated the effect is achieved through production design, costumes and filming locations—not necessarily through lighting used on set. [7] [8]
Messerschmidt was born in Portland, Maine, and grew up in Cape Elizabeth. [9] [10]
He studied film production at Emerson College in Boston, where he was a classmate of filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar and served as co-director of photography on Zagar's award-winning indie documentary In a Dream (2008). [11]
Documentary film
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | In a Dream | Jeremiah Zagar | Shared credit with Mark Stetz |
Feature film
Year | Title | Director |
---|---|---|
2020 | Mank | David Fincher |
2022 | Devotion | J. D. Dillard |
2023 | The Killer | David Fincher |
Ferrari | Michael Mann | |
Television
Year | Title | Director(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2017–2019 | Mindhunter | David Fincher Andrew Douglas Asif Kapadia Tobias Lindholm Carl Franklin Andrew Dominik | 16 episodes |
2018–2019 | Legion | Noah Hawley Dana Gonzales John Cameron | S2.E9 - Chapter 17 S2.E10 - Chapter 18 S3.E8 - Chapter 27 |
2020 | Fargo | Dana Gonzales | S4.E11 - "Storia Americana" |
Raised by Wolves | Sergio Mimica-Gezzan James Hawes | S1.E5 - "Infected Memory" S1.E6 - "Lost Paradise" S1.E9 - "Umbilical" | |
2024 | Sinking Springs | Ridley Scott [14] | |
Year | Award | Category | Title | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | Camerimage | Golden Frog | In a Dream (Shared with Mark Stetz) | Nominated | [15] |
2020 | Academy Awards | Best Cinematography | Mank | Won | [16] |
American Society of Cinematographers | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | Won | [3] [17] | ||
Satellite Awards | Best Cinematography | Won | |||
BAFTA Awards | Best Cinematography | Nominated | |||
Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Cinematography | Nominated | |||
Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Cinematography | Nominated | |||
Florida Film Critics Circle | Best Cinematography | Won | [18] | ||
Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Cinematography | Mindhunter (For "Episode 6") | Nominated | [19] | |
2023 | Camerimage | Golden Frog | Ferrari | Nominated | |
Satellite Awards | Best Cinematography | Nominated | |||
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film director. His films, most of which are psychological thrillers, have collectively grossed over $2.1 billion worldwide and have received numerous accolades, including three nominations for the Academy Awards for Best Director. He has also received four Primetime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
Janusz Zygmunt Kamiński is a Polish cinematographer and director.
Sir Roger Alexander Deakins is an English cinematographer. He is the recipient of five BAFTA Awards for Best Cinematography, and two Academy Awards for Best Cinematography from sixteen nominations. He has collaborated multiple times with directors such as the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes, and Denis Villeneuve. His best-known works include The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Fargo (1996), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Skyfall (2012), Sicario (2015), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), and 1917 (2019), the last two of which earned him Academy Awards.
Darius KhondjiAFC, ASC is an Iranian-French cinematographer, known for works from a number of high-profile directors, including David Fincher, Woody Allen, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and James Gray.
The following is a list of cinematographers who have won and been nominated for the American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Releases, which is given annually by the American Society of Cinematographers.
Harris Savides was an American cinematographer. Nominated for a BAFTA Award and five Independent Spirit Award, he is most known for his collaborations with director Gus Van Sant including Finding Forrester (2000), Gerry (2002), Elephant (2003), Last Days (2005), Milk (2008), and Restless (2011).
Claudio Miranda, ASC is a Chilean cinematographer. He is best known for his work on the Ang Lee-directed film Life of Pi (2012), for which Miranda won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and for the David Fincher-directed film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which was the first film shot entirely digitally to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and the American Society of Cinematographers Award. He is also known for his collaborations with American director Joseph Kosinski. He is the second Chilean person to win an Academy Award.
Kirk Baxter is an Australian film editor. He has worked with director David Fincher and editor Angus Wall several times, winning Academy Awards for The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Ceán Chaffin is an American film producer who has frequently collaborated with her husband, director David Fincher. She and her fellow producers were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010), and Mank (2020). She won American Film Institute's AFI Awards for these films as well as for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). Chaffin was nominated for Producers Guild of America's Producers of the Year Awards for the three aforementioned films and was also nominated for a British Academy Film Award for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Social Network.
Mindhunter is an American psychological crime thriller television series created by Joe Penhall, based on the 1995 true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The series debuted in 2017 and ran for two seasons. Executive producers included Penhall, Charlize Theron, and David Fincher, the latter of whom served as the series' most frequent director and de facto showrunner, overseeing many of the scriptwriting and production processes. The series stars Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, and Anna Torv, and follows the founding of the Behavioral Science Unit in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the late 1970s and the beginning of criminal profiling.
James Hawkinson is an American cinematographer known for his work in television, music videos, and film. He is best known for his critically acclaimed work on the Hannibal and The Man in the High Castle television series', for which he has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award and a nomination for an ASC Award.
Chung Chung-hoon, ASC is a South Korean cinematographer and filmmaker, best known for his collaborations with director Park Chan-wook. He is also known for his other work in film and television, including Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, It, Zombieland: Double Tap, Last Night in Soho, Uncharted, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Wonka.
Mank is a 2020 American biographical drama film about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his development of the screenplay for the 1941 film Citizen Kane. It was directed by David Fincher based on a screenplay written by his late father Jack Fincher and was produced by Ceán Chaffin, Douglas Urbanski, and Eric Roth. It stars Gary Oldman in the title role, alongside Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Sam Troughton, Ferdinand Kingsley, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Burke, Joseph Cross, Jamie McShane, Toby Leonard Moore, Monika Gossman, and Charles Dance.
Polly Morgan is a British cinematographer who has worked on the studio feature films Lucy in the Sky (2019), A Quiet Place Part II (2020), Where the Crawdads Sing (2022), and The Woman King (2022). She was also the cinematographer for multiple episodes of the TV series Legion (2017–2019). Morgan is accredited by the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) and the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). To date, she is the only woman to be a member of both, and she is the youngest member of ASC.
The Killer is a 2023 American action thriller film directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker. It is based on the French graphic novel series The Killer written by Alexis "Matz" Nolent and illustrated by Luc Jacamon. The film stars Michael Fassbender alongside Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Kerry O'Malley, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, and Tilda Swinton in supporting roles. Fassbender plays an assassin who embarks on an international vendetta after a hit goes wrong.
The American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Motion Picture, Limited Series, or Pilot Made for Television is an annual award given by the American Society of Cinematographers to cinematographers working in the field of television film, limited series or television pilots. It has been awarded, in some capacity, since 1986. From 2009 to 2013, pilot episodes were moved in competition with regular series, but returned in 2014, where it has since remained.
The American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in an Episode of a One-Hour Television Series – Commercial is an annual award given by the American Society of Cinematographers to cinematographers working in commercial television. It was first awarded in 2016, when the awards separated it Regular Series award, splitting ad-sponsored television programs and non-sponsored, cable or streaming series into two categories. In 2020, the distinction of "One-Hour" was added, as half-hour programs were given their own categories.
The American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in an Episode of a One-Hour Television Series – Non-Commercial is an annual award given by the American Society of Cinematographers to cinematographers working in non-commercial television. It was first awarded in 2016, when the awards separated it Regular Series award, splitting ad-sponsored television programs and non-sponsored, cable or streaming series into two categories. In 2020, the distinction of "One-Hour" was added, as half-hour programs were given their own categories.
The American Society of Cinematographers Spotlight Award is an annual award given by the American Society of Cinematographers to cinematographers working in features and documentaries that are typically screened at film festivals, in limited theatrical release, or outside the United States. It was first awarded in 2014.
Ari Wegner, ACS, ASC, is an Australian cinematographer. Her work includes films such as Lady Macbeth (2016), True History of the Kelly Gang (2019), and Zola (2020). In 2021, she served as cinematographer on The Power of the Dog for which she received widespread critical acclaim including an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography, becoming only the second woman to do so in the award's 94-year history.