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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

The Cinémathèque Française Will Host a David Fincher Retrospective with the Attendance of the Director

The retrospective supported by Netflix, Patron of the Cinémathèque Française (French Cinematheque), will open with a preview screening of The Killer followed by a discussion with Fincher. The next day, a screening of Zodiac will be followed by a Master Class with the director.

From October 13 to 22, 2023. Paris (France).

October 13:

The Killer, followed by a discussion with David Fincher. Session reserved for subscribers of Libre Pass.

October 14:

October 19:

Seven
The Game

October 20:

Fight Club
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

October 21:

Panic Room
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

October 22:

Gone Girl
Mank

Opening date for reservations: August 22, 2023 – 11:00 a.m.

Zodiac / “David Fincher by David Fincher, a Film Lesson”: September 14, 2023 – 11:00 a.m.

Presentation of the retrospective by Guillaume Orignac (in French).

David Fincher’s “The Killer” Will Premiere in Competition at the Venice Film Festival

The Venice Film Festival has just announced its lineup for its upcoming 80th edition, running from August 30 to September 9. It includes the World Premiere in competition of David Fincher‘s upcoming film The Killer on Sunday, September 3, 7:30 pm CEST.

Logline: After a fateful near miss an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Gabriel Polanco, Kerry O’Malley, Emiliano Pernía, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, Tilda Swinton

Running Time: 1h 58m

Director’s Statement:

The Killer is my attempt to reconcile notions I’ve had for years about cinematic stories and their telling. I have always held: “What were you doing in Chinatown?… As little as possible”—to be the single greatest evocation of backstory I’ve ever heard. I was also playfully curious about the revenge genre as a tension delivery-system. So when Mr. Walker came aboard and fully embraced these notions/ questions about broad brushstrokes of understanding giving way to the blind-stitch of “moment expansion” – I felt we needed to try something. Mr. Fassbender’s 3-hour response time for: “Yes, let’s!” sealed it for us both and, of course, we all wanted Tilda (Mr. Walker wrote it with her in mind—but please don’t tell Ms. Swinton, she could become insufferable if she knows literally everyone feels this way about her.)

The Killer hits Netflix on November 10, 2023.

Tim Miller interviewed by Alejandro Marin

Alejandro Marin
April 11, 2023
Canal Trece Colombia (YouTube) / Alejandro Marin (YouTube)

Tim Miller, creator of Love Death + Robots with David Fincher, and Director of Deadpool, attended the Cartagena de Indias International Film Festival (FICCI, Colombia), and he talked about science fiction, comics, animation, Terminator: Dark Fate, actress Natalia Reyes, Heavy Metal, James Cameron, and David Fincher.

Listen to the podcast version:

alejandromarin.com
Apple Podcasts
Spotify

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).

Mank (Original Musical Score) Deluxe Edition 3xLP

nin.com
Release date: February 2, 2023

The critically acclaimed score for David Fincher‘s Mank from Academy Award™ winners Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross. Featuring 90 minutes of new compositions in the style of orchestral, big band, and foxtrot music of the 1940s.

3xLP pressed on 180-gram vinyl in a deluxe hinged box set. Foil-stamped canvas spine.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Welcome to Victorville
2. Trapped!
3. All This Time
4. Enter Menace
5. First Dictation
6. A Fool’s Paradise
7. Once More unto The Breach
8. About Something
9. Glendale Station
10. What’s at Stake?
11. Every Thing You Do

Side B
12. Cowboys and Indians
13. Presumed Lost
14. (If Only You Could) Save Me
15. Means of Escape
16. All This Time (A White Parasol)
17. M.G.M.
18. A Respectable Bribe
19. I, Governor of California
20. A Leaden Silence
21. San Simeon Waltz
22. Time Running Out

Side C
23. Mank-Heim
24. Lend Me A Buck?
25. You Wanted to See Me?
26. In Your Arms Again
27. The Dark Night of The Soul
28. Clouds Gather
29. Way Back When
30. An Idea Takes Hold
31. Marion’s Exit
32. Absolution

Side D
33. Scenes from Election Night
34. Election Night-Mare
35. All This Time (Dance Interrupted)
36. All This Time (Victorious)
37. I’m Eve
38. A Rare Bird
39. Look at What We Did
40. Menace Returns
41. Forgive Me
42. Final Regards
43. Where Else Would I Be?

Side E

44. The Organ Grinder
45. All This Time (Not No More)
46. Costume Party
47. Dulcinea
48. Shoot-Out at The Ok Corral
49. The Organ Grinder’s Monkey
50. An Act of Purging Violence
51. All This Time (Happily Ever After)
52. A Rare Bird (Reprise)

Order the Mank (Original Musical Score) Deluxe Edition 3xLP

Mank marked the fourth collaboration between Fincher, Reznor & Ross.

They will reunite again for The Killer, out November 10 on Netflix.

David Fincher’s “The Killer” hits Netflix on November 10

“Don’t improvise. Trust no one.”

January 18, 2023
Netflix

After a fateful near-miss, an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.

Starring Michael Fassbender, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Sophie Charlotte, and Tilda Swinton.

Director David Fincher reunites with Seven screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker.

Watch the full “SAVE THE DATES | 2023 Films Preview | Netflix Official Trailer”.

It Still Stings: Mindhunter’s Sidelining Robbed Us of a Killer Conclusion

Jim Vorel
December 28, 2022
Paste

It’s safe to say that in recent years, Netflix has struggled to generate the kind of “prestige” dramas that still routinely draw viewers and critical buzz to premium cable networks or streamers such as HBO. Few among us could hope to understand the demographics being sought by such a massive entertainment juggernaut, or decrypt the desires of the unknowable algorithm as it tries to translate social media hype and bots sharing GIFs into subscriber predictions for three quarters from now. Trying to account for every variable would take supremely gifted intuition and insight into the human condition … the exact skillset of the fictional (but reality inspired) protagonists of Mindhunter. And Netflix let Mindhunter lay fallow, so who’s going to save us now?

The drama devised by creator-writer Joe Penhall and showrunner David Fincher was the rarest kind of Netflix project—a beautifully rendered, big budget, period piece drama with near universal critical praise and audience plaudits to match. And yet, as is so often the case with these diamonds in the rough, the show simply didn’t seem to have the groundswell of support and widespread hype to match the adoration it received from its rapt viewers. At the very least, it wasn’t as widely adopted as Netflix seemingly demands every show be in order to avoid the ever-looming axe, although Mindhunter was never truly canceled with finality—instead, it was sent into “indefinite hiatus” as Fincher’s attention drifted by necessity to an array of other projects. That “hiatus” has now stretched for more than three years, and although rumblings of a Mindhunter revival always seem to be percolating, each passing month only renders a third season less likely when all is said and done.

And that truly is a shame, because Mindhunter was one of the most gripping, unnerving, brilliantly designed and powerfully acted series that Netflix has ever brought to the world of streaming. It’s also a painfully incomplete narrative, as its second season concluded with numerous major storylines dangling in space, robbed of their dramatic possibilities. Watching the series again in retrospect, it’s clear that Mindhunter had a map for where it was headed over several more seasons, but it feels very unlikely we’ll ever see the satisfying payoff of its journey into the darkest parts of the human psyche.

Read the full article

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.