'Nightmare Alley' Cinematographer Dan Laustsen Recounts Recapturing the Magic of Old Hollywood
Dan Laustsen, the man behind the film’s beautifully rich and thematic cinematography, sits down to discuss his return to classic film noir, and working with Guillermo del Toro.
There have been very few films this year whose magical imagery will captivate you as strongly as ‘Nightmare Alley,’ the new cinematic adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel of the same name. The man behind these distinctly indulgent images is Dan Laustsen, veteran cinematographer and long time collaborator with director Guillermo del Toro. In an exclusive interview with FIlmSpeak, Laustsen walks us through plenty of the conversations and decisions that were made on set, his collaborative process with Del Toro and the design team, and the ways that the film pays homage and draws inspiration from those that came before it.
“Guillermo is a master. He knows exactly what he wants to do and where he wants to go. I think he’s a genius, because he really loves what he’s doing.”
One of the most striking features of Laustsen’s cinematography, both in Nightmare Alley and much of his previous work, is the way that he works with both natural and artificial lighting to accentuate the characters and draw focus to different aspects of the scene. Laustsen discusses how the familiarity and nostalgia that came along with shooting a film so reminiscent of the past. “You can say it’s a little bit artificial, but it’s very, very powerful,” he says. “The first time we see Cate Blanchett… you see a lady sitting there, backlit, a silhouette - you don’t know exactly who she is, but there’s no doubt that she’s a very powerful and very important person to the story.” Laustsen goes on to recount the way that Guillermo’s direction builds a strong bond between audience and character, which is why getting the lighting and framing right is so important to help establish and maintain this relationship throughout. “The camera should be a part of the story,” he advises. “It should not be a thing in the room. The camera has to be like a third person.”
Laustsen also offered plenty of insight into the use of colour in the film, revealing that “all of the colour in the movie is done through the camera. The colour is so important… if you change it in post, you’re changing everything.” It’s clear that the integrity and authenticity of colour is important to both Laustsen and Del Toro, and it shows through the film’s extremely bold approach both visually and thematically. Dan also goes on to discuss the close relationship that he had with the production team. “That’s the beauty of movie-making,” he admits. “Of course, I’m the cinematographer, but everybody is blending in… every day we have discussions about sets.”
Nightmare Alley marks the fourth collaboration between Laustsen and Del Toro, after Mimic, Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water, for which they were both Oscar-nominated (with Del Toro winning) in their respective fields. So it’s clear that at least something works when the two work together, but what is it? “We have the same opinion about lighting and camera”, Laustsen explains. “For him there is only one thing, and that’s the best. Everybody [on set] is working for Guillermo, and Guillermo is working for the movie.” There’s a clear connection both personally and professionally between these two, and it’s evident that their co-presence on set seems to work wonders. “I don’t know what the future is going to bring us, but I know it’s going to be another movie,” Laustsen joked. And with these two behind the camera, that’s more than enough for us.