Cinematographer Robert Richardson Breaks Down His Career, from 'Kill Bill' to 'The Hateful Eight'

Subtitles section Play video

- It's the same way you choose this path of making movies.
If you're going to commit to doing something,
and if you have that fire, that large in your belly,
then you're going to, you're going to destroy everything
in its path to achieve the highest level all the time.
And I wasn't going to let a broken back stop me.
Hi, I'm Robert Richardson
and this is the timeline of my career.
It's a long career, so beware.
[music]
[gunshots]
- I'd gone to El Salvador on a documentary for Frontline
and when I returned,
the sound man that had been working with me
became the assistant director to Oliver Stone on Salvador.
Ramon made a recommendation to meet me.
I went in, met Oliver.
It was sweltering hot,
they didn't have any air conditioning.
And Oliver was wearing a leather jacket.
And he's pouring sweat.
To meet Oliver the first time,
my, you know, I was like...
I was shaking.
To be asked to shoot a feature when you're 28 years old,
And I remember the woman I was with at the time,
who became my future wife.
Uh, the two of us were like,
I can't believe this is already happening.
I felt comfortable because he wanted to attack it
form the perceptive of documentary.
I felt very comfortable with a camera on my shoulder
and instinctively reacting to whatever's taking place
in front of me.
And I always have,
I think that's something that's hidden within my work.
[explosions] [shouting]
[dramatic orchestral music]
[helicopter flying past]
- It was remarkable because at the end of Salvador,
Oliver said to me, you know it'd been tough.
It's a tough shoot.
And learning to work with the director,
you know, a very demanding man.
As you can well expect.
So for me, dealing with him was dealing with
something that I'd never had before.
Somebody so forceful,
who is also an extraordinarily brilliant writer,
and is an extremely precise director.
Then to say, at the end he goes,
I have a project I'm trying to get off the ground
and I'd like you to shoot it.
And it was Platoon.
And I read Platoon,
and I was shocked by Platoon.
It was a film that was very dear
to him because it's historic.
And then to consider how to shoot that movie
so it wouldn't feel like we were replicating Salvador.
There's a documentary element but there was a lot more
on dollies and long lenses, and counter moves.
Also we needed a level of improvisations
to have the shoulder in combination,
because there are sequences within the movie
where Oliver wasn't feeling like
"I'm getting the reaction I need out of the actors".
He would plant gasoline bombs around the action.
And in the middle of the performance,
he'd blow them up, without them knowing.
And of course you'd get this reaction,
cause no one's expecting it.
For the actors it suddenly became: this is real.
It's up in front of me.
And sometimes you get to hear
a lot of shots being fired.
Not live ammo but blanks, things like that
to throw them off.
[explosions]
- If you look back in retrospect,
you've got Johnny Depp, you probably don't even know
Johnny Depp was in the movie.
Forest Whitaker, you have so many actors that are
inside that that went on to find strong careers.
I mean, when you look back in retrospect.
But when I'm in the middle of it I'm not thinking about it.
I'm more in the zone of shooting a movie
and I'm thinking less about where it sits in the timeline.
When I got the nomination, I was...
You got to be kidding me.
And it was my first event.
And I had my first real suit, tie,
I was all dressed up.
I had also a tremendous level of fear about the event.
I have a huge phobia of being in this place,
but I had greater phobia of like,
having to walk up on a stage and deliver a speech.
I'm sitting next to people that I've admired
my entire life in terms of what they've created.
These people were a part of what brought me into
the world understanding how to shoot.
And I'm sitting next to them,
and I'm meeting people that I've held up as gods
for most of my life.
And so for me it was totally fresh, but when I got there,
I started to panic.
I started to yawn, I'm yawning,
and I'm yawning.
I can't stop yawning, cause like,
I'm not getting enough oxygen into my system,
so my body's trying to pull more.
And I feel like I'm going to pass out any second.
And the second, the second,
they said the winner was,
and it wasn't me.
[clapping] - Out
I just had to leave, I could not stay any longer.
And I swore never go back to another Academy Award
because my fear was so great.
Which is why I ended up missing, which will slip by,
but why I missed up, did not arrive at JFK.
Because I was so frightened of the first experience
that I didn't want to repeat.
[orchestral music]
- You really have me consorting
with a sorted cast of characters.
- Please answer the question.
- [Clay Shaw] Of course not.
Such a pity, that assassination.
In fact, I admired President Kennedy.
A man of true panache, wife of impeccable taste.
- Oliver and I formed a bond and,
he was shooting a film a year.
The only time I'd go away was when I could schedule
something that would fit.
And I'd always ask Oliver,
like you know, and he'd tell me,
like I'm going to be doing this.
And so, I would fit in films like you know
whether it'd be Rob Reiner's "A Few Good Men"
or was working with Errol Morris on, you know,
"Fast, Cheap & Out of Control".
I knew Oliver was what and who I wanted and,
I was working with Oliver.
So he had become a brother to me and
keenly responsible for a lot of my personality now.
I'm in love with Oliver, he's like,
we don't see a lot of each other anymore but,
he was a brother.
He made me very aware of the level of
concentration required,
that you have to come with 100% every single day.
He made me very aware of the quality of a word-man,
versus a bird-man.
Eye vs words, what are more important.
For me, when I watch a movie,
I don't evaluate it from the perspective of
what's it look like.
Aww, that was a great shot.
Unless the movie's bad, or unless I'm coming back
to watch and study it for why it's good,
then I think what was central to that particular film
was the recreation.
The 8 mm that was used to shoot, there's a perimeter film.
So we centered everything out on this 8 mm
which we shot in Super 8.
But we tried to move out from that circle to
all the way out to 35.
But if you wondered about selling visually like
Oswald in the cell, when he's burning out so heavy.
It's like, chwooo...
It's like 13 stops over-exposed or whatever it was.
And I remember I was doing A Few Good Men and Rob Reiner
had just seen the movie. [chuckling]
- And he goes
- [Bob impersonating Reiner] "Bob, uh,
I saw JFK it's a great movie.
But I have a question, why was Oswald so over-exposed?"
And I was like, oh the f*cking thing,
I mean love that aspect!
But, you know, it bothered him
and it took him out of the movie.
[chattering and clattering cutlery]
- When's Daddy coming Momma?
- Soon, he's coming soon
["Whip it" by Devo]
- See that?
Dumb Jew motherfucker, grew up together
and he's acting like he don't even know me.
- The AD on JFK was that, a man named Joseph Reidy.
And Joe had done a number of films with Oliver and myself.
And he also did simultaneously work with Marty
on a number of his films.
At one point Marty asked, said that he wanted to
have a meeting with me for Cape Fear.
So I went to New York and met him for Cape Fear.
Now I'd always wanted to work with Marty.
I mean, you know,
why would you not want to work with Scorsese?
It's like, he's a pinnacle.
He's, you know,
the same way that we look at many people now.
It's like, he's a god of cinema.
I wanted to meet him and I went in.
And I had prepared certain thoughts for the movie.
And he very politely sat in the chair,
and I pulled out photographs from Edward and Rebre--
I mean like, all these f*cking strange things.
You know, and,
he looked at me.
At the end he said,
it was a tremendous pleasure meeting you,
but I've actually already made my decision of whom
I'm going to hire.
And I was like, uh, okay...
I'll head back to California now.
And it was like, that, it was like okay, I met him.
But then, when Michael Bahas was not available
to shoot Casino,
he'd already met me and he felt comfortable.
And he brought me in to start that film.
I started, we scouted, I was there for about three weeks,
and Marty was in, um, California,
Los Angeles, doing the final rewrite.
I'd seen all the locations, I didn't know what else to do.
So I asked Joe Reidy and Barbara De Fina if,
who's the producer, if I could just write some notes down
about ideas.
And they said yeah sure.
So I put together these ideas of shots
and things for the film.
And I'd done that my whole career with Oliver.
With Marty, he got these notes
and I was suddenly called into the production office.
And Barbara De Fina, and Barbara was, uh,
head down and behind a table, she looks up.
And she goes:
"Uh, Marty wants to talk to you".
And I met my head went down, like oh f*ck.
Okay, I said about what.
About the notes...
Marty got on the phone.
Very polite, cause he is a tremendous gentleman.
He goes:
"Bob, I got your notes, I have not looked at them.
Nor will I ever look at them.
When I finish writing the script
and I'm happy with my script,
I will give you notes for every shot in the film.
That was it.
And I left, like, oh...
All right.
I guess I'll be operating and lighting on this show.
Some people want more help,
and I like to work in all capacity.
So I like to be a chameleon.
Anyway that was the result of, uh,
my mistake, almost,
I thought was going to get me fired.
But, fortunately it did not.
It's not collaborative with Marty.
It's collaborative in terms of lighting.
Marty will talk about and do,
it's very important, he'll do screenings.
Like, for Casino, it was a number of John Alton's films
that he'd--
and that his photography, John Alton's cinematographer.
And it was a style of lighting.
And it was a noir,
and so for me,
I was learning, like okay, this is where he wants to go.
And he would show films,
and each of the films that we had ever made,
he would put us into a screening room.
Marty would sometimes be there, sometimes not.
If he was there, he would be making comments about
certain shots during the piece to say
what I like here is the level of shadow
and I like this and I like that.
And what he's doing is giving you the ideas of
where he wants you to extend yourself in your lighting.
And to step up into this place.
That's a collaboration.
And uh, also about operating.
He's extremely specific about his operating.
So I had to hone my tools as an operator
to work with him.
And uh, I did, I became a much better operator.
We had to work in the Riviera.
This is old Vegas, new Vegas was only slowly coming.
They were just beginning to take down
a number of the major casinos in Vegas.
But we were on an all night schedule because
we're utilizing the Riviera.
And they would only give it to us in the evening,
from, like I think 5 o'clock.
So then we had to black out all the windows.
We could only work in certain sections.
If there was a high-roller you couldn't work there.
So we would be working like 5 to 5 or 6 to 6,
whatever it ended up being.
So you'd go all the way to dawn.
And that was for many, many months,
so it was a very difficult world to work within.
- I know we're supposed to avoid each other,
but you knows there's ways to do things,
there's ways not to.
[clashing swords] [flamingo music]
- I wanted to do Pulp Fiction cause I knew the key grip
and he was going to talk to Quentin.
But it never took place and I never had a meeting.
So then I went and I got,
I saw the Kill Bill script.
I got through back channel, read it.
I don't know if he knows I read it.
And asked to have a meeting.
And Quentin said sure, I'll meet with Bob.
And we met at a restaurant on I think Hollywood Blvd.
And the way he tells the story is, I had 14 espressos.
Um, now I can believe that might be true.
Fourteen...
That makes sense, it's about my number a day.
And, he said I didn't even eat.
But it was so great to just talk with him.
It just felt like easy chemistry, flooding together.
It was like-- [making explosion sound]
- Solid, solid as a rock.
I learned later that he'd already hired two DPs.
One to shoot China, one to shoot in America.
But he offered me the job.
They originally said, you know,
would you do just America?
And I said I'd like to do the whole movie.
He agreed, I guess so he let both the other DPs go.
And that was the beginning of our relationship.
That kind of fight choreography, I'd never done before.
It was learning experience, obviously.
Now I'd watched a lot of these films that were shot,
and I'd watched what the master had done himself
with his work with choreography.
So I was well aware of what they might do but
once you start to see all the wire work happening,
it was awe-inspiring but also,
it just pushed you higher.
Like I got to reach their level.
I got to do better.
I got to create at a higher level.
And, and working with Quentin is like that as well.
Working with any great director is about
creating at a very high level.
The higher your level, the better it is.
I think I've been extraordinarily fortunate in my life
to have such magnificent directors.
I feel very, very fortunate.
[flamingo music]
- [Announcer] Tonight, he discovered her for this picture
and we think her platinum blond locks
and hot-jazz baby-doll style
are going to make her a big star.
[cameras flashing]
- I got a call to go to Beverley Hills,
and meet with Marty.
And I was with Joe Reidy, who I've talked about before,
as assistant director.
And I had this plan.
I pulled my hair out, put it down,
put, I took one of his white bath robes.
Put it around me.
I took kleenex and I put it between every toe,
as Howard Hughes did in his later life.
I hide in the darkness of the room.
And so, when Joe brought in Marty,
I was hiding in the spot.
And Marty says well where's Bob?
And I go, Marty, I'm over here!
And he turned towards me and I go,
if you need someone to play an old Howard Hughes,
I'm here.
Anyways, we worked and it was,
the script required so much preparation.
But you're working with some of the most
talented people in the business.
Dante is a brilliant production designer.
Yet, you're sitting in that situation where,
it's daunting but you're in a very high league of talent.
You're playing at the very highest level
and you need to provide the highest A-game you can.
And it was a huge reach for me.
Because of the sequences, the music, the colors.
The first time I actually,
when I finally when I started to say,
okay, Bob you need to go, you need to go.
And I was sitting next to Oprah.
I'd gotten two shots tequila.
And that was on top of many others that I'd had.
And I ran into Santana who was out there.
And I was like, oh f*cking Santana.
It's like I was so like,
I don't need to go back to the Oscars.
This is really where I want to go, this is rock and roll.
And I got back in and Oprah leaned over and said
where'd you go?
I said, I went out and got two drinks.
And she looked at me and she was like furious.
That's an insult to the Academy.
And I'm thinking, have you looked at the bar by the way?
That bar is full.
And it's full all the time, but you're absolutely right.
But then, I knew what I wanted to say.
So the the whole issue was,
my mother was in the hospital at that time.
And, they thought she was going to die.
And the nurses and the doctors said I'll take in
extreme care of her.
I had, I just knew what I was going to say,
which is I wanted dedicate with Oscar to the health-givers.
To the healthcare givers, and to the doctors.
Not only that are taking care of my mother
but to all.
And, so I wasn't afraid of having to say a speech.
I did the speech relatively easily in that one.
[cameras flashing] [chattering]
- This is just one of the letters--
[spitting]
[punching]
- What the--
Ah!
- Yah! O.B! [knocking on coach roof]
- Stop!
- [O.B] Whoa! Easy! Whoa [whinnying horses]
- We were going to shoot the film initially
in 35 mm anamorphic.
I was there looking at anamorphic lenses
and we brought her up to Dan Sasaki and Panavision.
And Dan was going through the lens,
we wanted to shift it a little bit.
I wanted an older flavor to it.
And while he was playing with the lens,
there was a curtain on both sides.
Cause he projected it onto a screen.
And I walked back into this room,
and there are these strange shaped lenses.
And we'd pick it up and I'd grab one, he'd grabs one.
We go out to Daniel.
Daniel, what are these?
And he goes "Whoa..."
[laughing]
And that's how we got to shooting in the format
we ended up with.
They hadn't been used in 50 years,
and one by one,
Panavision stuck with us.
We didn't tell Quentin.
If he knew that we could get anywhere near a centerama frame
he would have just exploded.
So I get tasked with him in regular 35 anamorphic.
And then we open the screen,
while he was there.
And we put up the next ones.
And you go--
and he's like
"Oh my god what is this?"
Said, we have these lenses Quentin.
We can't guarantee they'll all be ready in time but...
And it was remarkable, he was so, so happy.
And those lenses are now extremely, extremely hard to find.
Everyone's using them.
They're-- I can't get them.
I should be able to get them anytime I want.
Because you don't have to just shoot wide screen, 279.
You can shoot a small format and just use
the middle section of a lens.
That's very highly technical, who wants that?
That was a very difficult movie for me.
We were in Telluride on Superbowl Sunday.
Two friends asked me to going skiing
and I went with them.
And I went skiing before the game started.
And on about my third or fourth run,
I flipped, I hit a mogul and broke my back.
There were no doctors on duty that day,
cause they're all what-- you couldn't find a doctor.
So I went to work the next day,
not knowing what had happened.
Whether I'd maybe broken a rib.
I ended up going at lunch time
and they did X-rays and an MRI
and they said you have a broken back,
you have to stop working.
The phone rang almost instantly.
Quentin needs you back on the set now!
And I already knew I was going back.
Quentin didn't have to call me back.
I'm going to work with a broken back.
Just give me a brace, give me something.
Give me a small painkiller, give me something.
And I'll just go back and do it.
And I shot the movie in Telluride
and all through the sections we did.
Cause it rebuild it on a stage at Red Studio.
And then I shot in there with the same broken back.
That was complicated, cause I'd often by myself on the floor
or in a position that was extremely hard to accomplish.
The pain was so extraordinary,
I'd just would have tears coming out.
I wouldn't, if I was on a crane I had to do something
and it was bent,
I would sit there for as long as it took get the next take.
I was not going to let my body off.
I didn't move, I just, once I found that position,
even though it hurt, I'd just stay in it.
And I'd just look down at the Earth.
And then wait until the next take.
And then to the next take.
In Telluride, it was cold, in Telluride.
But it was bearable.
In the studio, it was the worst.
Because they had these giant trucks outside pumping in,
so it was always below freezing.
And then on top of that,
they pumped in water.
So that you'd get,
they found the perfect temperature and mixture
that would form breath out of the actors.
We would constantly attempt to sabotage the water.
God it killed us, God it killed us!
It's too cold, you know but.
We were always caught.
They would all go out to lunch.
And it'd be 90 degrees or 100 degrees in California.
And I would just go to a backroom and lie on a cold floor
so that my back would feel better.
It was hell.
- Aww, that stupid--
rip my goddamn arm off!
- Hey!
You're Rick fucking Dalton.
Don't you forget it.
[car engine revving]
- I get called up to go see Quentin,
and this usually happens.
Another film, Bob I want you to come up and read the script.
I said great, I went to his house.
We haven't seen each other in a while,
so usually we'll sit down, have a cocktail.
Usually it's a margarita.
And then he handed me the script.
And he handed me the script, in his living room.
On a small dining room table.
And he didn't leave the room.
I'm reading the script, and talk about daunting,
while he was daunting.
Daunting is standing in front of a writer
while I'm reading his script.
Now I'm making multiple notes.
Because I don't know this, I don't know that.
Who is this?
Cause a lot of it's about television music.
And I'm not-- he's so specific.
I'm just taking my time and you know,
it's a good four hour read.
And Quentin is in there doing a thing,
watching movies, doing whatever.
And I would catch him glancing at me just to see
whether I had a smile on my face
or didn't have a smile on my face.
And it was such a, such a brilliant script.
And I get to the end and I go,
oh, Quentin, where's the final act?
How's this movie end?
"I can't give that out.
You'll get that, later."
Later?
Why, I need to know what the ending is--
"No, you'll get that later".
And it wasn't until we started firmly production,
you got assigned to a room,
someone went to a safe, pulled the ending out,
brought it to you, you read it,
you had to go back, give it to the person
and they would put it in.
Total security.
I don't even know if they allowed me to have my bag
and my phone in there.
Quentin will often be right beside me.
If the camera's on a dolly, he wants to ride dolly.
When we're on a crane, the cranes aren't that capable
of carrying the two of us.
So it's usually me and he just has to
sort of trust that aspect.
But that's about the only time he looks at video,
is when he can't ride something or be there.
When Quentin's there,
they just turn the monitor towards him.
When people ask me what is the movie about,
I said it's about when your career gets to a certain level,
it begins to ebb down.
You know like, if you're Leo,
and then you find that the projects that are coming in
are not nearly as valuable as the previous projects,
then you see this sort of demise
and you begin to take, feel less about yourself.
I always felt that this is what this movies is
and that's how it relates to me.
Is like, are you at this point.
Are you at the point where you're not going to
get any good scripts anymore.
And you know, you never know, it could be.
When I look at my work,
I never thought about the future.
Because I was only thinking about the present.
You got to be moving forward, you're on the express.
And you're fortunate, you want to keep thing going.
That's what's important, is that we keep moving forward.
When you're on it, you're on a wave.
It's like surfing, when you get it,
you're just going hope that wave stays up there
for a substantial period of time.
Which is remarkable and I feel graced by that.