David Prior (Director) – Page 2 – The Fincher Analyst

Clubhouse Conversations: “The Autopsy” Cinematographer Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC

Phedon Papamichael, ASC, GSC
August 12, 2023
American Cinematographer

In this episode, cinematographer Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC is joined by interviewer Phedon Papamichael, ASC, GSC to discuss his work on Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities — the Netflix horror-anthology series featuring eight macabre stories guest-directed by notable genre filmmakers.

Presented and “personally curated” by Guillermo del Toro, Cabinet of Curiosities offers an assortment of modern horror fare rooted in the traditions of gothic and grand-guignol storytelling. The series’ guest directors include Ana Lily Amirpour, Panos Cosmatos, Catherine Hardwicke, Guillermo Navarro, David Prior, Vincenzo Natali, and Keith Thomas. Michos shot Episode 3 — “The Autopsy,” directed by Prior — and earned ASC Award and Emmy Award nominations this year for his work on the installment.

In this interview, Michos discusses his approach to shooting his episode with minimal lighting; the importance of amping up contrast between colors to strengthen and maintain his palette’s intended effects; his personal philosophy on color association; and why cinematographers must follow their own instincts when making decisions on camera operating and movement.

Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC is a cinematographer whose credits include the features The Kissing Booth (2018), The First Purge (2018), The Empty Man (2020) and Vanquish (2021).

Phedon Papamichael, ASC, GSC first began working as photojournalist in New York, and has since served as director of photography on over 40 features, including Sideways (2004), Walk the Line (2005), The Descendants (2011) and Ford v Ferrari (2019). He is a two-time Academy Award nominee for his cinematography on Nebraska (2013) and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020).

Watch the full conversation.

Find all episodes in our ASC Clubhouse Conversations series.

The Cinematography Podcast: Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC

Ben Rock & Illya Friedman
August 9, 2023
The Cinematography Podcast (Cam Noir)

Cinematographer Anastas Michos ASC, GSC humbly calls himself a journeyman cinematographer. However, after 25 years and multiple awards, Anastas possesses expert skill and versatility that can be seen across all genres. Most recently, Anastas was nominated for an Emmy for “The Autopsy,” an episode of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities anthology TV series on Netflix.

Del Toro selected the directors for each episode of Cabinet of Curiosities, and he chose idiosyncratic directors who brought their own sensibilities to each piece. Anastas had worked with “The Autopsy” director David Prior before on a horror film called The Empty Man, and they enjoyed collaborating together again. Anastas enjoyed working on Cabinet of Curiosities because it felt like making a short film rather than a TV show, with each piece a crafted short story rather than a serialization. For a consistent look, each episode used the same production designer, Tamara Deverell, who also did the production design for del Toro’s Nightmare Alley. While shooting the episode, Anastas was always conscious that “The Autopsy” should fall under the look of del Toro’s brand.

Anastas has always enjoyed shooting horror films because they explore the human condition in a very specific way. The cinematographer can creatively stretch the imagination and the image in a way that can’t be done as much in dramas, comedies, or romances, since they’re usually based on our day-to-day reality. But Anastas likes to switch around among genres- after working on an intense horror film such as Texas Chainsaw 3D, a light rom-com might sound really good. He’s interested in any project that has a great story, script, director, and crew.

Before finding his way behind a camera, Anastas thought he’d go into the music business since he grew up in a musical family. Instead, he became a news cameraperson, learning visual storytelling on the job. He’s found that his music background has actually served him well as a cinematographer- he feels musicality is very much a part of camera movement. One memorable time early in his career, Anastas was working Steadicam for Born on the Fourth of July. Director Oliver Stone pulled him aside and had Anastas put on a Walkman so that he could move the camera to the pace of the music Stone wanted.

After working as a camera and Steadicam operator for several years, Anastas got to shoot his first feature as a DP for Man on the Moon. Anastas found director Milos Forman to be simultaneously generous and demanding, with the capability of recognizing someone’s potential and holding them to it.

Listen to the podcast:

Cam Noir
Apple Podcasts
Spotify

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities anthology TV series is on Netflix.
Find Anastas Michos: Instagram

LIKE AND FOLLOW US, send fan mail or suggestions!: editor@camnoir.com, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube

Podcast Credits:

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras (Instagram), Greentree Creative
Host and Editor in Chief: Illya Friedman (Instagram)
Host: Ben Rock (Twitter, Instagram)
Producer, Web and Social Media Content Writer: Alana Kode
Editor: Ben Katz
Composer: Kays Alatractchi

Emmy Nominee: Cinematographer Anastas N. Michos on “The Autopsy” from Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities

Edward Douglas
August 10, 2023
Below the Line

‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ cinematographer Anastas N. Michos: Capturing horror that dwells in reality

Joyce Eng
August 10, 2023
Gold Derby

37th ASC Awards Nominee Interviews: Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC

The American Society of Cinematographers / American Cinematographer
March 2, 2023

Cinematographer Anastas Michos, ASC, GSC speaks with American Cinematographer‘s Tara Jenkins about his nominated work on Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities – “The Autopsy” (Netflix).

Michos is nominated in the Pilot, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made For Television category (Category sponsored by ARRI).

Mostly Horror Podcast: David Prior. The Empty Man, The Autopsy

Sean Parker & Steve Goldberg
February 6, 2023
Mostly Horror

Sean Parker (Illustrator) and Steve Goldberg (NY Nets Content Manager) discuss the horror genre; interviewing the amazing people who contribute to it and discussing our love for horror films, television and more!

In this episode, they talk about The Last Of Us, Infinity Pool, The Boogeyman, and the super secret stuff they have coming up.

Then, they’re joined by director David Prior. They discuss horrifying formative childhood memories, his Fincher featurettes, the video clerk to director pipeline, and more!

Listen to the podcast:

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Wondery

Follow Mostly Horror: Twitter, Instagram

David Prior Interview: Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities

Director David Prior discusses Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, his love for “The Autopsy” short story, and The Empty Man‘s release.

Grant Hermanns
November 2, 2022
ScreenRant

Some bodies are more than meet the eye, as seen in the “The Autopsy” installment of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. Based on Michael Shea‘s short story of the same name, the episode sees a coroner brought in to do the autopsies of several miners who died when one of them set off an explosion with a mysterious object, only to learn of the surprising truth behind him.

F. Murray Abraham and Luke Roberts lead the cast of “The Autopsy“, which hails from The Empty Man writer-director David Prior. Primarily set in an isolated location, the episode is a chilling game of mental chess as Abraham’s Dr. Carl Winters grapples with the revelation of why the miners died, and how he may be next.

In anticipation of its premiere, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with director David Prior to discuss Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, his installment “The Autopsy,” his and del Toro’s shared love of reading, The Empty Man‘s mishandled release, and more.

Read the full interview

Watch Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix

Director David Prior’s ‘The Autopsy’ Is an Instant Horror Classic

“The Empty Man” director discusses his masterful entry in Netflix’s “Cabinet of Curiosities” anthology series and its creative debts to Guillermo Del Toro, “The Exorcist,” and H.R. Giger.

Steve Greene
October 27, 2022
IndieWire

[Editor’s Note: The following interview contains spoilers for “Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities” Episode 3, “The Autopsy.”]

A little while ago, director David Prior got an unexpected gift. A package showed up in the mail. Inside was a tiny figurine of a bearded man.

“I got it in the mail before I even knew what it was. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s nice. A little souvenir. Did Guillermo whittle this himself?’” Prior said. “I assumed it was Dr. Winters when I got it.”

Dr. Winters is the main character in “The Autopsy,” the episode of the Netflix series “Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities” that Prior directed. In this version of Michael Shea’s short story, adapted with the help of screenwriter David S. Goyer, Winters is called on to help an investigation into what local police believe is a tragic mining explosion. By the time he gets a chance to examine the bodies pulled from the wreckage, Winters discovers that something about those deaths wasn’t exactly natural.

But as Prior discovered when he watched the completed episode, the small statue was of him, not his protagonist. In each of the “Cabinet of Curiosities” installments, Del Toro continues in the tradition of past anthology hosts with a short introduction. Each ends with him tipping his hat to the director of the episode audiences are about to see, with their figurine likeness front and center.

That kind of onscreen salute is far from the support that Prior’s debut feature, “The Empty Man,” got when it was released almost exactly two years before. A victim of studio merger jockeying, a theatrical distribution model in chaos, and a whole host of marketing bungles, “The Empty Man” took a groundswell of devoted fan support to gradually reach the audience it deserved.

“The Autopsy” doesn’t have quite the immense and global scope of that debut feature, but the same meticulous, precise spirit of Prior’s visual storytelling comes through. It’s a detective story of a different kind, with Winters (played by F. Murray Abraham) bringing a key emotional match to the jargon-heavy work of his profession. What this doctor finds is beyond the anatomical puzzle he expected.

And it’s another story that marries the technical craft of unsettling audiences (split fingernails! corpses in bags covered in insects!) with heady thematic ideas about what life is worth and how to spend it. From the mine explosion set piece to the insert shot of whiskey splashing into a coffee mug, everything in “The Autopsy” serves a purpose. Prior spoke with IndieWire about the process of joining a horror playground in progress and adding another impressive tale to his own collection.

Read the full interview

A Complete Autopsy of ‘The Autopsy’

Breaking down David Prior’s episode of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.

John DiLillo
Tudum (Netflix)

Watch Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix

85 Queen: Adam Nayman on David Fincher

Mallory Andrews
January 31, 2022
Kitchener Public Library (YouTube)

Author and Film Critic Adam Nayman returns to Kitchener Public Library to discuss his latest book David Fincher: Mind Games.

David Fincher: Mind Games is the definitive critical and visual survey of the Academy Award– and Golden Globe–nominated works of director David Fincher. From feature films Alien 3, Se7en, The Game, Fight Club, Panic Room, Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, and Mank through his MTV clips for Madonna and the Rolling Stones and the Netflix series House of Cards and Mindhunter, each chapter weaves production history with original critical analysis, as well as with behind the scenes photography, still-frames, and original illustrations from Little White Lies‘ international team of artists and graphic designers. Mind Games also features interviews with Fincher’s frequent collaborators, including Jeff Cronenweth, Angus Wall, Laray Mayfield, Holt McCallany, Howard Shore and Erik Messerschmidt.

Grouping Fincher’s work around themes of procedure, imprisonment, paranoia, prestige and relationship dynamics, Mind Games is styled as an investigation into a filmmaker obsessed with investigation, and the design will shift to echo case files within a larger psychological profile.

The cinematography of “VOIR: Summer of the Shark”

January 2022: Weathering the storm

Mark London Williams
January 2022
British Cinematographer

We open this year’s column with a kind of meta reflection on cinematography itself, as contained in the recent Netflix series Voir.

Continentally savvy readers already know “voir” means “to see,” but this is a series about “seeing” movies, cinema, in the broadest sense, which is to say, what films mean, and what effect they have on both individuals, and the world at large. It’s done in a series of visual meditations, usually on the specific film in question which sent the various narrators into their respective futures as essayists, bloggers, reviewers, and makers of the medium.

From producers David Fincher and David Prior, Voir dropped with vastly less fanfare accorded to something like a new Cobra Kai or Witcher season, perhaps because it’s non-fiction, or more likely, because each episode averages about fifteen minutes. They are shorts in other words. About movies.

We caught up with cinematographer Martim Vian, who shot four of the series’ six episodes. The one we wanted to really talk to him about though, was the first one (if simultaneously dropped episodes can be said to have an order), called Summer of the Shark.

Read the full article

Cinematographer Martim Vian Shares the Importance of Eliciting Nostalgia in Netflix’s Voir

January 19, 2022
ProductionHUB

David Fincher and David Prior are producers on Netflix‘s latest upcoming series Voir— a series of visual essays celebrating Cinema and the personal connection we each have to the stories we see on the big screen.

Each episode celebrates various aspects of cinema through interviews and personal anecdotes from historians and filmmakers. The series’ cinematographer, Martim Vian, spoke exclusively to ProductionHUB about his specific vision for the series, the importance of personal and historical anecdotes, and the impact of Vior on the viewer.

Read the full interview

Drew McWeeny Talks Making Voir With David Fincher

Maëlle Beauget-Uhl
December 14, 2021
FandomWire

Drew McWeeny explained that he almost missed out on David Fincher’s emails and calls after he thought someone was pranking him and was using a very weird, full of movie references email address (and yes, I really need to know what were these references now…):

“He emailed me in the middle of the night. I didn’t know him, we hadn’t spoken before (…) and the email just said “Hi, this is David Fincher. Call me.”

He ignored the email. David Fincher emailed him again the next day, but Drew didn’t want to believe it.:

“And it’s the third day when he actually called me and said ‘Hi, this is David Fincher, what’s your problem?!’ And I went ‘Oh my god! Hi, how are you?”

VOIR: 03. But I Don’t Like Him. Written and narrated by Drew McWeeny

Drew McWeeney declared that creating Voir started with David Fincher having “the vaguest notion that he wanted to celebrate movies”.

But when Drew McWeeney decided to make his episode of Voir centered on unlikeable characters, it was because he felt that a conversation needed to be had:

“I think ‘likeability’ has become this weird, weird buzzword, we hang a lot of other issues about movies on it. When people don’t like a movie, they immediately go to ‘I didn’t like the character’. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And all I wanted to do is reframe that conversation”. (…) Art is not about endorsement.”

Watch VOIR on Netflix

VOIR Interview with Sasha Stone

David Prior on the set of the Voir episode, Summer of the Shark.

Clarence Moye
December 8, 2021
AwardsDaily

Sasha Stone’s episode of Voir, Summer of the Shark, directed by David Prior, is now streaming on Netflix, along with five other film essays: The Ethics of Revenge, The Duality of Appeal, Film vs. Television, by Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos, But I Don’t Like Him by Drew McWeeney, and Profane and Profound by Walter Chaw.

Listen to the podcast with Sasha Stone about her episode

Watch VOIR on Netflix