Napoleon cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, ASC

Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, ASC has worked with director Ridley
Scott on nine different films. He loves working with Scott because
he's extremely self-assured, not afraid to take chances, and always
pushes the envelope. On the last day of their shoot for House of
Gucci in Italy, Scott said to Dariusz, “You know, we're in Rome,
we're so close to Malta, we should just hop on a plane and look at
some locations. Why don't we just go there to scout locations?”
Confused, Daruisz said, “For what?” “For Napoleon.” Dariusz says,
“That's how that happened, it wasn't 'let's make a big epic.' And
it was quite nice because Malta, which is a big part of the film,
it was very special for him because that's where he shot the
original Gladiator, so we actually revisited all the sets that were
very familiar to him.” Scott did use a lot of the same locations
he'd used for Gladiator for the late 1700's era of Napoleon. After
they'd settled on their shooting locations, Daruisz began looking
at an abundance of references available from the Napoleonic era.
“There's just as many versions of Napoleon as you can imagine. So,
we're not trying to make a historical film. But cinematically, you
just load yourself with as many references as possible,” says
Dariusz. They also relied on historical consultants, and experts on
warfare from the period. Napoleon was known as a brilliant
strategist, so it was important to understand some of the famous
battle campaigns he had led. Coordinating the battle scenes was
like shooting a rock concert- with 500 extras and 250 horses. They
used 11 cameras for the battle scenes, plus a drone, and a small
digital camera (the DJI Osmo Pocket) that a stunt person carried on
horseback. Dariusz credits pulling off the battle sequences with
Scott's extensive experience. “He has tremendous experience and
he's done so many battles. He really understands what matters, what
doesn't,” he says. Lighting for the non-battle scenes was trickier
when shooting in historic locations. The sun and cloud cover for
natural light would be intermittent in England, requiring some
extra coverage, though it didn't trouble Scott very much. Indoors,
Daruisz used a combination of a big window light, fire light and
real candlelight. He wanted the lighting to reflect the most
flattering portraits of Napoleon. As a film reference, Daruisz was
also influenced by the Stanley Kubrick film Barry Lyndon, 
which was primarily lit with candles. “That was a revolutionary
movie, that was a masterpiece. We were trying to do that too, and
keep the shots very simple- a big wide shot, couple of close-ups,
just nothing fancy.” Napoleon is available on Apple TV+ and on VOD.
Find Dariusz Wolski: Instagram @dariusz_wolski_official Listen to
our previous interview with Dariusz Wolski from 2021 about News of
the World, The Crow, Dark City, and more.
https://www.camnoir.com/ep118/ Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras
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