‘Wicked’ Cinematographer Alice Brooks Seeks a Place in ASC History

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To date, no female filmmaker has received an Oscar for Best Cinematography, and it seems unlikely that this will change in 2025. The reason being, none of the final five nominees this year were women. However, the American Society of Cinematographers could potentially correct this longstanding oversight.

For the very first time since 2014, the ASC’s feature competition field boasts seven nominees, and among them is Alice Brooks, who has been recognized for her exceptional work in “Wicked,” marking only the second time a woman has received this top prize – Mandy Walker did so in 2023 for “Elvis.

For Brooks, the key aim in transforming the popular musical onto the big screen was to create “an exceptionally captivating love narrative featuring Glinda (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), who portray the well-known witches from Oz.”

In this rephrased version, I aimed to maintain the original meaning while using more natural and easy-to-read language.

Brooks is a regular cinematographer that Jon M. Chu relies on, dating back to their days together at the University of Southern California. She has been an integral part of his team, assisting in bringing his visions to life, and working with him on projects such as “Jem and the Holograms”, “In the Heights” and “tick, tick…Boom!”.

Or:

Brooks is a go-to cinematographer for Jon M. Chu, having worked together since their days at the University of Southern California. She has been instrumental in helping him realize his creative ideas, collaborating on films like “Jem and the Holograms”, “In the Heights” and “tick, tick…Boom!”.

She arrived early for “Wicked” and talked about visual themes for the movie. For 18 weeks, she worked on testing colors and lighting. She proposed that the time of day symbolize each character; Elphaba’s scenes would be set during sunsets, while Glinda’s would be associated with sunrises.

To accurately depict Elphaba’s green makeup on Erivo, it was crucial to fine-tune the lighting. Erivo, who invested numerous hours in the makeup chair transforming into a green character, refers to Brooks as the movie’s savior.

Erivo mentions that she was responsible for adjusting the lighting to highlight Elphaba’s appearance. She enjoys the various hues of green that Elphaba assumes, ranging from blue-green to yellow-green and even more saturated shades of green. There’s something captivating about how the light alters the tone of green Elphaba appears as.

As a cinema enthusiast, I can’t help but feel the anticipation brewing as I watch the race for the ASC Award unfold. If Brooks manages to clinch this prestigious honor, she’ll be making history by becoming just the second woman ever to win in the feature film category – quite an achievement indeed! However, the competition is fierce and tough to crack.

Brooks is nominated alongside Jarin Blaschke (“Nosferatu”), Lol Crawley (“The Brutalist”), as well as Stéphane Fontaine (“Conclave”), Greig Fraser (“Dune: Part Two”), Edward Lachman (“Maria”), and Phedon Papamichael (“A Complete Unknown”) for this award. Each of these individuals has previously won at other award ceremonies before this one.

Or, in a more conversational tone:

Brooks is up against some heavy hitters for the cinematography award – Jarin Blaschke (“Nosferatu”), Lol Crawley (“The Brutalist”), Stéphane Fontaine (“Conclave”), Greig Fraser (“Dune: Part Two”), Edward Lachman (“Maria”), and Phedon Papamichael (“A Complete Unknown”). All of them have already taken home awards at other ceremonies.

As a cinephile, I was captivated by Robert Eggers’ masterpiece, “The Lighthouse,” which earned Blaschke the ASC’s Spotlight Award in 2019. What made this film even more extraordinary was Roger Deakins’ innovative use of VistaVision, a seldom-seen technique that enhanced the image quality remarkably by pulling the film horizontally across eight perforations simultaneously, resulting in a larger, more immersive format for viewers like myself to enjoy.

In the movie “Conclave,” Fontaine collaborated intimately with production designer Suzie Davies, employing lighting to convey the film’s contrasting themes such as light versus darkness, truth versus deception, gold versus silver, modernity versus tradition, as described by Davies herself. As she integrated these concepts into her set designs, Fontaine skillfully wove them into his lighting scheme. The visual atmosphere of Casa Santa Marta was more somber with linear structures and a darker illumination, contrasting starkly with the lighter, airier, and seemingly freer ambiance of the Sistine Chapel.

Fraser, victorious at the ASC for “Dune: Part One,” aims to secure another award for its upcoming sequel. Director Denis Villeneuve aimed for Giedi Prime to have a single-toned appearance. Having utilized infrared lighting technology during “Zero Dark Thirty,” Fraser expanded upon the black and white experience. He leveraged his previous experience to illuminate the Harkonnen arena fight scene using the same tech.

For several decades, both ASC and Oscar have managed to evade recognition from Lachman. Previously, he received a lifetime achievement award from the former, and this year, he aims to win for “Maria.” He employed different film formats to assist Pablo Larrain in portraying operatic superstar Maria Callas’ life: 35mm, 16mm, and 8mm in color, as well as 35mm black and white.

James Mangold’s frequent collaborator, Michael Papamichael, earned his sixth nomination from the society. His goal in directing ‘A Complete Unknown’, a movie about Bob Dylan’s journey to New York and rise as a folk singer, was to delve into the character’s mind and help audiences grasp what fueled him.

The ASC will hand out their top prizes on Feb. 23 at the Beverly Hilton.

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2025-02-19 22:49