Ferrari cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, ASC

With the film Ferrari, cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, ASC has
now had the opportunity to work with two huge directors: Michael
Mann and David Fincher. In 2021, Erik won the Academy Award for
Best Cinematography for Mank, directed by Fincher. He finds Fincher
to be very methodical and precise about film structure and camera
placement. Michael Mann tends to be more spontaneous, interested in
capturing visceral moments, but still detail oriented. He is
hyperfocused on the emotional response of the audience and how best
to capture the character's interactions. “That is the joy of being
a cinematographer, coming and playing in someone else's sandbox and
learning how you can contribute to making their film,” Erik says.
Ferrari was a passion project for director Michael Mann, who had
been developing the film for decades. Once he was hired to work on
Ferrari, Erik saw that Mann had tons of material on Enzo Ferrari.
He had an incredible collection of photos, newsreel footage, and
personal letters that provided a great start to shaping the film.
Mann knew exactly what he wanted to make and it came down to the
two of them discussing the film's look, pacing, and structure. The
entire film was shot in 58 days with no second unit. They filmed on
location in Italy, which was a huge contributor to the aesthetic of
the movie and lent it authenticity. Most of the locations were
historically accurate to Enzo Ferrari's story- they shot exteriors
of the Ferrari home, his barber shop, and even inside the Ferrari
mausoleum. Adding classic Ferraris and other vehicles from 1957
with people in period costume made it easy to make the movie feel
of its time without needing to add more. The dramatic scenes in
Ferrari had to be differentiated from the racing scenes. While all
of the racing scenes were meticulously planned and storyboarded,
the dramatic scenes such as a fight between Adam Driver &
Penelope Cruz's characters was rehearsed, blocked and planned on
the day. Erik chose to use more structured, classically composed
framing, with subtle zoom moves in on the actor's faces for a
nuanced emotional response. By contrast, the racing scenes had to
be kinetic and visceral. Mann wanted the audience to feel like they
are right there in the car, and all of the racing scenes take place
in real cars on Italian roads. The camera operators sat in the car
with the professional drivers, shooting handheld right next to
them. As an amateur race car driver, actor Patrick Dempsey actually
did all of his own driving in the film. Each Ferrari was actually a
replica, and safety gear like roll cages and harnesses were added.
Erik also used older camera mounts on the outside of the cars to
capture every shake and bump, since the suspension on cars from
that time period were much stiffer. Find Erik Messerschmidt:
Instagram @emesserschmidt Listen to our previous interview from
2020 with Erik Messerschmidt on Mank and his other work.
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