Academy Award-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

Roger Deakins got his start as a director of photography in 1977 on the pulpy British drama Cruel Passion. He's since gone on to collaborate with several well-known directors including Sam Mendes, Ron Howard and the Coen Brothers. He's won two Academy Awards for best cinematography and is nominated for a third for his work on the war drama 1917. Aside from film, he's also a photographer. A couple years back, Roger published his first ever book of photography called Byways. The acclaimed cinematographer joins the show to talk about his extensive career and when he first got behind the camera. He also talks about what it's like collaborating with the Coen Brothers and why he likes shooting films for them. Plus, he breaks down his process for capturing still photos and talks about how photography led to his career in film.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:17.0	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.
0:19.4	My next guest is one of the greatest cinematographers in the world, Roger Deacon's. He got his
0:26.0	start as a director of photography in 1977 on the pulpy British drama Cruel Passion.
0:33.9	Since then, he's collaborated with John Sales, David Mammoth, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard,
0:40.9	Sam Mendez, Denis Villeneuve, and perhaps most famously, Joel and Ethan Cohen.
0:48.6	Roger Deacon's helped shoot more than half of the Cohen brothers films, including
0:53.0	Fargo and O'Brotherware Art Thou and No Country for Old Man.
0:58.1	Deacon's won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 2018 for Blade Runner 2049.
1:05.1	He won again for the war drama 1917. He's nominated for what could be his third Oscar this
1:11.6	year for his part in Sam Mendez Empire of Light.
1:17.0	So let's just agree on this. This man is accomplished in his field, one of the greatest
1:22.7	ever. And if he wanted to try his hand at something else, he'd probably be great at that
1:28.3	too. And it turns out he has. A couple years back, Roger Deacon's published his first ever
1:33.9	book of photography. Byways is a collection of photos Deacon's has taken between 1971
1:40.9	and now. Unlike his meticulously planned on screen work, these are casual street photographs.
1:48.9	And you can tell his gift with the camera isn't limited to motion pictures. Deacon's isn't
1:55.0	just a great picture maker. He is also an incredible talker. It was so great to get to talk
2:02.1	to him. Here's my conversation with Roger Deacon's.
2:08.0	Roger Deacon's welcome to Bullseye. It's so nice to have you on the show. I really enjoy
2:11.8	looking at your book. Thanks, good to be here. In the introduction to your book, you ask
2:17.4	yourself the question of why you are making this book and suggest maybe vanity. But could
	...

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