Peter Suschitzky

Peter Suschitzky ASC
Peter Suschitzky at Louis Lumière's ciné-club in January 2018
Born	(1941-07-25) 25 July 1941 (age 83) London, England, UK
Years active	1966–2020
Organization	American Society of Cinematographers
Spouse	Ilona Suschitzky
Parent	Wolfgang Suschitzky
Website	http://petersuschitzky.com

Peter Suschitzky, A.S.C. (born 25 July 1941) is a British cinematographer and photographer. ^[1]

Among his most known works as director of photography are The Rocky Horror Picture Show , The Empire Strikes Back, and Mars Attacks! and many of David Cronenberg's films.

Suschitzky has been the recipient of four Genie Awards for Best Achievement in Cinematography, and a David di Donatello Award for Best Cinematography. He is featured in the book Conversations with Cinematographers, published by Scarecrow Press.

In 2015 he was selected to be a member of the jury for the Critics' Week section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. ^[2]

Life and career

Suschitzky was born in London, England, ^[3] the son of BAFTA Award-nominated cinematographer Wolfgang Suschitzky. ^{[4] [5]} His father was an Austrian of Jewish descent. ^[6] Although music was his passion, he chose to pursue a career in cinematography while studying at Institut des hautes études cinématographiques in Paris, France. He became a clapper boy at age 19 and a camera operator at age 22. ^[7]

Among his first films as DP was It Happened Here , a mockumentary-style World War II film about life in the United Kingdom, following a hypothetical Axis victory in World War II. The film was shot on handheld, 16mm film in order to give it a gritty, realistic look inspired by wartime newsreels. Due to the film's independent nature and unusual subject matter, its production lasted a total of eight years.

In 1975, Suschitzky shot The Rocky Horror Picture Show , a comedy musical film that, while initially unsuccessful, has since become a massive cult film, with regular midnight screenings ^[8] attended by dedicated, cosplaying fans. ^[9] He shot the 1977 biopic Valentino for director Ken Russell, for which he received a nomination for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Cinematography. ^[10] Three years later, he would lens the second entry in the long-running Star Wars film series, The Empire Strikes Back , considered to be the best in the series. ^[11]

Suschitzky replaced Mark Irwin as David Cronenberg's regular director of photography after Irwin left Dead Ringers during pre-production. ^[12] Their collaboration lasted until 2014, with Maps to the Stars , and Douglas Koch then became Cronenberg's regular since 2022.

Filmography

Feature film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1964	It Happened Here	Kevin Brownlow Andrew Mollo	With Kevin Brownlow
1966	The Christmas Tree	Jim Clark
1967	Privilege	Peter Watkins
	Charlie Bubbles	Albert Finney
1968	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Peter Hall
1969	Lock Up Your Daughters!	Peter Coe
	Gladiators	Peter Watkins
	A Touch of Love	Waris Hussein
1970	Figures in a Landscape	Joseph Losey	With Henri Alekan and Guy Tabary
	Leo the Last	John Boorman
1971	Melody aka SWALK	Waris Hussein
1972	Henry VIII and his Six Wives
	The Pied Piper	Jacques Demy
1973	That'll Be the Day	Claude Whatham
1975	The Rocky Horror Picture Show	Jim Sharman
	Lisztomania	Ken Russell
1977	Valentino
1980	The Empire Strikes Back	Irvin Kershner
1983	Krull	Peter Yates
1984	Falling in Love	Ulu Grosbard
1988	In Extremis	Olivier Lorsac
	Dead Ringers	David Cronenberg	1st collaboration with Cronenberg
1990	Where the Heart Is	John Boorman
1991	Un homme et deux femmes	Valérie Stroh
	Naked Lunch	David Cronenberg
1992	The Public Eye	Howard Franklin
1993	The Vanishing	George Sluizer
	M. Butterfly	David Croenenberg
1994	Immortal Beloved	Bernard Rose
1996	Mars Attacks!	Tim Burton
	Crash	David Cronenberg
1998	The Man in the Iron Mask	Randall Wallace
1999	eXistenZ	David Cronenberg
2000	Red Planet	Antony Hoffman
2002	Spider	David Cronenberg
2005	A History of Violence
	Shopgirl	Anand Tucker
2006	The Stone Council	Guillaume Nicloux
2007	Eastern Promises	David Cronenberg
2011	A Dangerous Method
2012	Cosmopolis
2013	After Earth	M. Night Shyamalan
2014	Maps to the Stars	David Cronenberg
2015	Tale of Tales	Matteo Garrone

Television

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1961	Mächte des Glaubens	Peter von Zahn	Episode "Das Judentum"
1993	Fallen Angels	Tom Hanks Tom Cruise	Episodes "I'll Be Waiting" and "The Frightening Frammis"

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1966	The War Game	Peter Watkins	Uncredited
	Francis Bacon Fragments of a Portrait	Michael Gill	Documentary film
1975	All Creatures Great and Small	Claude Whatham

Awards and nominations

BAFTA Awards

Year	Title	Category	Result
1977	Valentino	Best Cinematography	Nominated

Canadian Screen Awards

Year	Title	Category	Result
1988	Dead Ringers	Best Cinematography	Won
1991	Naked Lunch		Won
2006	Crash		Won
2007	Eastern Promises		Won

Accademia del Cinema Italiano

Year	Title	Category	Result
2015	Tale of Tales	Best Cinematography	Won

References

1. "PETER SUSCHITZKY". www.cinematographers.nl. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
2. "Ronit Elkabetz, President of the 2015 Critics' Week Jury". Semaine de la Critique de Cannes. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
3. "Peter Suschitzky". Peter Suschitzky. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
4. cinematographers.nl. "Peter Suschitzky, ASC".
5. "Peter Suschitzky Biography (1941?-)".
6. "Moving to Holland and working as a photographer".
7. "PETER SUSCHITZKY". www.cinematographers.nl. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
8. "Rocky Horror Picture Show - Blue Mouse Theatre". bluemousetheatre.com. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
9. "TRHPS Official Fan Site: Participation". www.rockyhorror.com. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
10. Aftab, Kaleem. "DP Peter Suschitzky on The Empire Strikes Back, Collaborating with David Cronenberg and the New Wave's "Boring Light" | Filmmaker Magazine". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
11. "From a Certain Point of View: Is The Empire Strikes Back Really the Best Star Wars Film? | StarWars.com". StarWars.com. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
12. Burgess, Steve, Salon.com (30 November 1999). "David Cronenberg".

External links

• Peter Suschitzky at IMDb