Tag: Erik Messerschmidt ASC

From Gone Girl gaffer to Oscar winner: In conversation with David Fincher’s cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt

EXCLUSIVE: We speak to the award-winning cinematographer ahead of the release of Fincher’s new Netflix thriller The Killer.

Emily Murray
October 26, 2023
Total Film (GamesRadar+)

As we begin to discuss his prolific career and latest film The Killer, Erik Messerschmidt admits that he’s surprised to be here. After working on several commercials and television shows, Messerschmidt ended up on the set of director David Fincher’s hit film Gone Girl, working as a gaffer – for those who don’t know, that roughly means chief lighting technician. The duo bonded, with Fincher then recruiting him as director of photography on several of his projects, including beloved TV series Mindhunter and biographical drama Mank, for which Messerschmidt won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

Going from gaffer to Oscar-winning cinematographer in such a short period of time is quite the impressive career trajectory, and is something Messerschmidt confesses he wasn’t chasing, telling Total Film (GamesRadar+) in our interview: “It wasn’t at all – it was never my goal, really. I was happy as a gaffer, and while I did want to be a cinematographer it felt far away and wasn’t something I was pursuing. But on Gone Girl, I had never experienced a director with such skill before and I fell in love with it. I just thought ‘God, if I can just keep making movies with this person I’d be so thrilled.’ The care and attention David [Fincher] gives to everything is infectious.”

Read the full profile

The Killer cinematographer says film should be seen in cinema

The film is released on the big screen this weekend before coming to Netflix next month.

Patrick Cremona
October 26, 2023
Radio Times

‘The Killer’: DP Erik Messerschmidt, Editor Kirk Baxter & Sound Designer Ren Klyce On “The Joy” Of Working With David Fincher

Antonia Blyth, Senior Awards Editor
October 7, 2023
Deadline

In the David Fincher-directed film, The Killer, from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker, and based on a graphic novel, Michael Fassbender stars as an assassin battling his employers when a hit goes terribly wrong.

Speaking during a panel at Deadline’s Contenders London event, editor Kirk Baxter addressed a rumor that the role required Fassbender to not blink at all.

There were many times watching the dailies where he heard Fincher’s voice saying, ‘That’s terrific, but let’s see that once again without the f—ing blinking.’ Baxter added, “Not so much that Fassbender needing that direction, it’s just been a thing.”

Watch the full interview

Look at the Deadline Contenders Film London Studio Photos

Venice Film Festival: “The Killer” World Premiere

September 3, 2023
Venice Film Festival (YouTube)

Press conference featuring Director of Photography Erik Messerschmidt ASC, Sound Designer Ren Klyce, Director David Fincher, and Editor Kirk Baxter ACE.

Red Carpet featuring Producer Peter Mavromates, Director of Photography Erik Messerschmidt ASC, Writer of the original “The Killer” (“Le tueur”) comic Alexis “Matz” Nolent, Editor Kirk Baxter ACE, Sound Designer Ren Klyce, Director David Fincher. The original stream has the ambient sound turned down to a minimum because it is too busy and noisy, and only barely intelligible in the close-ups.

Life in the Credits: Mank with Gaffer Danny González

Susan Swarner and Ben Blohm
April 6, 2023
Life in the Credits

Life in the Credits is an educational podcast where hosts Susan Swarner and Ben Blohm learn about the entertainment industry from the people who work in it. They discuss the guest’s career, a feature film, and play a game. For anyone who dreams of working on movies, wants to learn about film-making, or loves watching shows.

Danny González, Gaffer, joins Susan and Ben to discuss Mank, a 2020 biographical drama. Danny shares what it’s like having a career in the lighting department for movies, TV, and commercials. He discusses the process of building a lighting design for a show, the difference between lighting on a sound stage versus on location, executing a particularly difficult scene on the set of Devotion, and filming on Hawaii on the deck of Queen Anne’s Revenge from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides during a huge storm. We also get a behind-the-scenes look into Danny’s work on the Oscar-winning film Mank. Danny plays our “Fincher’s Familiar Films” game.

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Life in Our Credits:

Executive Producer: Michelle Levin
Logo Art: Melissa Durkin
Music Composer and Performer: Steve Trowbridge

Microsalón AEC: Erik Messerschmidt, ASC

Fotografía de Suwon Lee. Gentileza de AEC.

José Val Bal, AEC
26 noviembre, 2022
Microsalón AEC

El director de fotografía Erik Messerschmidt, ASC, habla sobre su trabajo en Devotion (J. D. Dillard, 2022), Mank (2020), y la serie de TV Mindhunter (2017, 2019).

Entrevista en inglés con interpretación simultanea al español.

Director of Photography Erik Messerschmidt, ASC, talks about his work on Devotion (J. D. Dillard, 2022), Mank (2020), and the TV series Mindhunter (2017, 2019).

Interview in English with simultaneous interpretation to Spanish.

Entrevista a Erik Messerschmidt ASC

Julio Gómez
Diciembre 30, 2022
Camera & Light

Durante el MicroSalón Madrid 2022 tuvimos la oportunidad de charlar con el invitado especial de la AEC, el director de fotografía Erik Messerschmidt ASC.

Os ofrecemos la conversación que mantuvo con Julio Gómez (al que hemos cortado porque no le pusimos micro) sobre sus trabajos con David Fincher (“Mank“, “Mindhunter“) y también trabajaos recientes en colaboración con Dana Gonzáles, como “Fargo” o “Legión“.

Entrevista filmada y montada por Juan Esparza Cevallos para Camera & Light.

Frame & Reference Podcast: “Devotion” DP Erik Messerschmidt, ASC

Kenny McMillan
December 8, 2022
Frame & Reference

Frame & Reference is a conversation between Cinematographers hosted by Kenny McMillan. Each episode dives into the respective DP’s current and past work, as well as what influences and inspires them. These discussions are an entertaining and informative look into the world of making films through the lens of the people who shoot them.

In this episode, Kenny talks with cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, ASC, about the new film “Devotion.” Erik has had a very interesting career including work on series such as “Mindhunter”, “Legion”, “Fargo” and as the DP of “Mank” for which he won an Oscar.

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Follow Kenny McMillan: Instagram, OWL BOT

First behind-the-scenes look at David Fincher’s “The Killer” with Michael Fassbender

Michael Fassbender: Road to Le Mans. Season 4, Episode 1

November2, 2022
Porsche (YouTube)

Follow the fourth season of Michael Fassbender’s journey to compete at the world’s ultimate motorsport event in this weekly YouTube series.

Starting at minute 2:14, there is a three-minute clip of Fassbender shooting car process scenes for The Killer with Fincher and his team on Sound Stage 2 at Triscenic Production Services. Andrew Kevin Walker, the screenwriter of the film, is also visiting.

The actor discusses working on the film during the off-season of his other passion, car racing:

I had the great privilege and honor of working with David Fincher on The Killer. I have the lead role in his film. To have a small window of opportunity to go to work and then to be able to work with one of the best filmmakers out there was just a dream come true.

It felt really good to go back to work. The film that I’ve done before was just before lockdown. But that was 2019, so I was definitely ready to go back to work.

With somebody of David’s caliber, it was a very special opportunity for me: quite a few locations over a five-month period.

What was interesting for me was taking the experience from what we’re doing on track and bringing it on set, especially with somebody like David who films very precisely and everything is dealing in fractions in terms of how you deliver things and movement and exactly how the frame is occupied.

You have to step on and deliver in a period of time. And David is looking for perfection and to do that within a take, however long that take is. It might be 40 seconds. It might be six minutes long, but within that time frame, you’re looking to do everything exactly as it should be.

You’ve taken on board all the notes and there’s plenty of them to digest, but in the moment when you’re trying to deliver those notes, you’re not thinking at all.

It was a real honor. I felt like I learned a lot from him. It was a full-on shoot, very long hours sometimes six-day weeks. So there was literally not enough time for me to get into car and do any training whatsoever.

So we wrapped up the film in L.A., end of March, and I got directly on a flight the next day and then came straight to the track.

Erik Messerschmidt: “El principal enemigo de un director de fotografía es el tiempo”

Fotografía de Suwon Lee. Gentileza de AEC.

Arnau Martín Camarasa
30 noviembre, 2022
Industrias del Cine

Entrevistamos a Erik Messerschmidt, director de fotografía estadounidense, en el marco del evento MicroSalón AEC, con sede en Madrid. Messerschmidt es habitual colaborador del cineasta David Fincher y obtuvo un premio Óscar a la mejor fotografía por Mank.

Me gustaría preguntarte si consideras que el cine proviene de la fotografía, si te parece que el cine proporciona movimiento a las fotografías o si proviene de una transformación técnica más compleja.

Es una gran pregunta. Creo que el cine es storytelling extendido en el tiempo. Es esculpir en el tiempo, como decía Tarkovski. La fotografía tiene que ver con la historia de un momento singular. El cine manipula y hace progresar el tiempo. Tiene más en común con la literatura y los sueños que con la fotografía.

Lee la entrevista completa / Read the full interview in Spanish

Indie Film Hustle: Erik Messerschmidt, ASC

Lighting for David Fincher & Michael Mann

Alex Ferrari
November 29, 2022
Indie Film Hustle

Award-winning director of photography Erik Messerschmidt, ASC has a natural eye for arresting and spellbinding images, thriving in a role that allows him to combine his love of art, craft and science. Recently, he lensed Devotion for director J.D. Dillard, based on the real-life story of a Black naval officer who befriends a white naval officer during the Korean War, with both becoming heroes for their selfless acts of bravery.

He also finished shooting Michael Mann’s biographical film Ferrari, starring Adam Driver, Shailene Woodley, and Penélope Cruz, and David Fincher’s The Killer, starring Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton.

Previously, Messerschmidt shot Fincher’s passion project Mank, chronicling the screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz’s turbulent journey to write Citizen Kane alongside Orson Welles. Messerschmidt’s meticulous and striking black and white recreation of the period’s aesthetic earned him the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, an ASC Award for Outstanding Cinematography in a Feature Film, a BSC Award for Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Release, a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Cinematography, as well as Best Cinematography award nominations from the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle, the Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics Choice, and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists.

In addition, Messerschmidt co-lensed several episodes of the HBO Max original series Raised by Wolves from producer Ridley Scott. He also shot the first and second seasons of Fincher’s hit thriller series Mindhunter for Netflix, earning a 2020 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (one-hour) for episode 206.

With a background in the fine arts world, Messerschmidt honed his skills while working with such renowned cinematographers such as Dariusz Wolski, ASC, Jeff Cronenweth, ASC, Phedon Papamichael, ASC, Claudio Miranda, ASC, and Greig Fraser, ASC. Messerschmidt now lives in Los Angeles and is a member of IATSE Local 600. He is represented by DDA.

Listen to the podcast and read the transcript