Robert Elswit

Robert Elswit
Born	Robert Christopher Elswit (1950-04-22) April 22, 1950 (age 74) [1] Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Southern California (BFA) American Film Institute (MFA)
Years active	1977–present
Title	ASC

Robert Christopher Elswit, ASC (born April 22, 1950) is an American cinematographer.

He has collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson from 1996 to 2014, winning the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for There Will Be Blood . ^[2]

Elswit has also collaborated with directors and screenwriters Tony and Dan Gilroy on all of the six films that either brother directed.

Biography

Elswit was born in Los Angeles. ^[3] An early short film he worked on was the 1982 television adaptation of Ray Bradbury's short story All Summer in a Day . Elswit worked as a visual effects camera operator at John Dykstra's Apogee Productions Inc. on each film, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture , The Empire Strikes Back and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , ^{[4] [5]} before shooting made-for-television films and shows. Elswit has been a fierce defender of shooting on film, and whenever possible avoids using digital cameras. Images shot digitally, he said, have "no texture, no grain." ^[6] He started shooting digitally, starting with Nightcrawler . Elswit has worked with George Clooney several times. He shot his black and white, multiple-Oscar nominated film Good Night, and Good Luck . Elswit shot the film in color, and converted the film into black and white in post production. According to Elswit, the technique preserved the subtlety of the colors (as complex shades of blacks and greys) and made the overall look much richer in the final film. ^[7] Elswit was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Good Night, and Good Luck, but lost to Dion Beebe for Memoirs of a Geisha . Elswit won the award for There Will Be Blood in 2008. ^[8] Elswit has cited early independent filmmaker John Cassavetes as a major influence. ^[9] Elswit is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and worked there as a teaching assistant. Elswit is the godfather to the actor Jake Gyllenhaal. ^[10]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1980	CBS Library	Seth Pinsker Sam Weiss	Episode "The Incredible Book Escape"
1985	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Michael Toshiyuki Uno	Episode "The War Between the Classes"
1989	Dream Street	Mark Rosner	Episode "Pilot"
1992	Human Target	Max Tash	Episode "Pilot"
1997	Prince Street	Roger Spottiswoode	Episode "Pilot"
2016	The Night Of	Steven Zaillian	Episode "The Beach"
2024	Ripley		Miniseries [11]

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1982	All Summer in a Day	Ed Kaplan
1983	Tiger Town	Alan Shapiro
1984	A Single Light	Karl Epstein
1986	The Children of Times Square	Curtis Hanson
1987	A Different Affair	Noel Nosseck
	Long Gone	Martin Davidson
	Into the Homeland	Lesli Linka Glatter
1989	Double Exposure: The Story of Margaret Bourke-White	Lawrence Schiller
1990	A Killing in a Small Town	Stephen Gyllenhaal
	Steel Magnolias	Thomas Schlamme
	Opposites Attract	Noel Nosseck
1991	Prison Stories: Women on the Inside	Donna Deitch Joan Micklin Silver	Segments "Esperanza" and "Parole Board"
	The Summer My Father Grew Up	Michael Tuchner
	Paris Trout	Stephen Gyllenhaal
	Vidiots	Howard Storm
1992	A Murderous Affair: The Carolyn Warmus Story	Martin Davidson

Feature film

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1981	The End of August	Bob Graham
1982	Waltz Across Texas	Ernest Day
1983	Summerspell	Lina Shanklin
1985	The Sure Thing	Rob Reiner
	Moving Violations	Neal Israel
	Desert Hearts	Donna Deitch
1986	Trick or Treat	Charles Martin Smith
1987	Amazing Grace and Chuck	Mike Newell
1988	Return of the Living Dead Part II	Ken Wiederhorn
1989	How I Got into College	Savage Steve Holland
	Heart of Dixie	Martin Davidson
1990	Bad Influence	Curtis Hanson
1992	The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
	Waterland	Stephen Gyllenhaal
1993	A Dangerous Woman
1994	The River Wild	Curtis Hanson
1996	Hard Eight	Paul Thomas Anderson	First of 6 collaborations with Anderson
	The Pallbearer	Matt Reeves
	Boys	Stacy Cochran
1997	Boogie Nights	Paul Thomas Anderson
	Tomorrow Never Dies	Roger Spottiswoode
1999	8mm	Joel Schumacher
	Magnolia	Paul Thomas Anderson
2000	Bounce	Don Roos
2001	Heist	David Mamet
	Impostor	Gary Fleder
2002	Punch-Drunk Love	Paul Thomas Anderson
2003	Behind the Red Door	Matia Karrell
	Gigli	Martin Brest
	Runaway Jury	Gary Fleder
2005	Good Night, and Good Luck	George Clooney
	Syriana	Stephen Gaghan
2006	American Dreamz	Paul Weitz
2007	Michael Clayton	Tony Gilroy
	There Will Be Blood	Paul Thomas Anderson
2008	Redbelt	David Mamet
	The Burning Plain	Guillermo Arriaga
2009	Duplicity	Tony Gilroy
	The Men Who Stare at Goats	Grant Heslov
2010	The Town	Ben Affleck
	Salt	Phillip Noyce
2011	Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol	Brad Bird
2012	The Bourne Legacy	Tony Gilroy
2014	Inherent Vice	Paul Thomas Anderson
	Nightcrawler	Dan Gilroy
2015	Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation	Christopher McQuarrie
2016	Gold	Stephen Gaghan
2017	Suburbicon	George Clooney
	Roman J. Israel, Esq.	Dan Gilroy
2018	Skyscraper	Rawson Marshall Thurber
	Write When You Get Work	Stacy Cochran
2019	Velvet Buzzsaw	Dan Gilroy
2020	The King of Staten Island	Judd Apatow
2021	King Richard	Reinaldo Marcus Green
2024	Bob Marley: One Love
2025	Ella McCay †	James L. Brooks	Post-production

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1988	Cadillac Dreams	Matia Karrell
1998	Richard Lester!	Stacy Cochran	Documentary short
2010	Lost Masterpieces of Pornography	David Mamet	Video short
2019	Snowbrawl	David Leitch

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
2005	Best Cinematography	Good Night, and Good Luck	Nominated
2007		There Will Be Blood	Won

American Society of Cinematographers

Year	Category	Title	Result
2005	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography	Good Night, and Good Luck	Nominated
2007		There Will Be Blood	Won

BAFTA Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
2007	Best Cinematography	There Will Be Blood	Nominated

Boston Society of Film Critics

Year	Category	Title	Result
2005	Best Cinematography	Good Night, and Good Luck	Won

British Society of Cinematographers

Year	Category	Title	Result
2007	Best Cinematography	There Will Be Blood	Nominated

Camerimage

Year	Category	Title	Result
2005	Golden Frog Award	Good Night, and Good Luck	Nominated

Chicago Film Critics Association

Year	Category	Title	Result
2005	Best Cinematography	Good Night, and Good Luck	Nominated
2007		There Will Be Blood	Nominated
2014		Inherent Vice	Nominated

Daytime Emmy Award

Year	Category	Title	Result
1984	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography	CBS Schoolbreak Special (For episode "The War Between The Classes")	Won

Houston Film Critics Society

Year	Category	Title	Result
2014	Best Cinematography	Inherent Vice	Nominated

Independent Spirit Award

Year	Category	Title	Result
1997	Best Cinematography	Hard Eight	Nominated
2005		Good Night, and Good Luck	Won

Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Year	Category	Title	Result
2005	Best Cinematography	Good Night, and Good Luck	Won
2007		There Will Be Blood	2nd place

National Society of Film Critics

Year	Category	Title	Result
2002	Best Cinematography	Punch-Drunk Love	3rd place
2005		Good Night, and Good Luck	2nd place
2007		There Will Be Blood	Won

New York Film Critics Circle

Year	Category	Title	Result
2005	Best Cinematography	Good Night, and Good Luck	2nd place
2007		There Will Be Blood	Won

Online Film Critics Society

Year	Category	Title	Result
2005	Best Cinematography	Good Night, and Good Luck	Nominated
2007		There Will Be Blood	Nominated

Primetime Emmy Award

Year	Category	Title	Result
2024	Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie	Ripley (For episode "V Lucio")	Won

San Diego Film Critics Society

Year	Category	Title	Result
2007	Best Cinematography	There Will Be Blood	2nd place
2014		Nightcrawler	Won

Satellite Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
2005	Best Cinematography	Good Night, and Good Luck	Nominated
2007		There Will Be Blood	Nominated
2010		Salt	Nominated
2014		Inherent Vice	Nominated

St. Louis Film Critics Association

Year	Category	Title	Result
2005	Best Cinematography	Good Night, and Good Luck	Nominated
2007		There Will Be Blood	Nominated
2014		Nightcrawler	Nominated

Other awards

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
1988	CableACE Award	Best Cinematography	Long Gone	Nominated
2007	Austin Film Critics Association		There Will Be Blood	Won
	International Online Cinema Awards			Nominated
	New York Film Critics Online			Won
2014	Utah Film Critics Association		Nightcrawler	Won

References

1. Robert Elswit - Biography. Internet Movie Database . Retrieved May 7th, 2010.
2. Eugene Hernandez, "Decade: Paul Thomas Anderson on 'There Will Be Blood'," indieWIRE (December 24, 2009) Retrieved June 4, 2010.
3. Frost, Jacqueline B. (March 17, 2021). Conversations with Contemporary Cinematographers: The Eye Behind the Lens. Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, UK: Taylor & Francis. p. 35. ISBN   9781000359855.
4. "ROBERT ELSWIT". www.cinematographers.nl. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
5. "A Little More Than Luck on Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck - Studio Daily". Studio Daily. 2006-01-01. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
6. "A Little More Than Luck on Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck," StudioDaily (January 1, 2006) Retrieved April 19, 2011.
7. "A Little More Than Luck on Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck," StudioDaily (January 1, 2006) Retrieved April 19, 2011.
8. Robert Elswit - Awards. Internet Movie Database . Retrieved May 7th, 2010.
9. "A Little More Than Luck on Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck". StudioDaily. January 2006.
10. "Conversations with Jake Gyllenhaal". YouTube . 10 March 2014.
11. Dillon, Mark (September 2022). "The Traditionalist". American Cinematographer . 103 (9). Hollywood, Los Angeles: American Society of Cinematographers: 53. ISSN   0002-7928.

External links

• Robert Elswit at IMDb