Academy award winning cinematographer Linus Sandgren, FSF, ASC on No Time To Die and Don’t Look Up

Acclaimed cinematographer Linus Sandgren just happens to have two
Oscar nominated films out right now- the new James Bond movie, No
Time to Die and the Adam McKay satire, Don't Look Up. Both films
are extremely different from each other, and Linus was excited to
work on both. Linus says that working on a Bond film is about
creating a heightened reality, escapist adventure that romanticizes
action and espionage. Don't Look Up is also about creating a type
of heightened reality, but in an absurd, satirical way that tells
the truth. Linus was very excited to shoot No Time to Die with
director Cary Joji Fukunaga. Linus always tries to find a story and
script that he hasn't done before, and it was a new challenge for
him to take on a film with so much action. They focused on making
it their own Bond, rather than looking at previous James Bond
films. No Time to Die even begins differently from past Bond films-
instead of an action set piece, Linus and Fukunaga chose to create
a horror movie feeling in the opening. For the opening sequences of
No Time to Die, Linus set the creepy tone, choosing monochromatic
grays and icy blue skies, and a very isolated location. By
contrast, the very next action sequence featuring Bond is full of
harsh bright sun washed in yellows and browns. For every film Linus
shoots, he likes to have keywords for the emotions in the script to
guide him in prep for different scenes, such as horror, grief,
loss, humor, etc. and decides how to address those emotions
visually. Linus and Fukunaga also discussed the expectations of a
Bond film: an entertaining action-packed joyride, but still have No
Time To Die act as a final chapter wrapping up Daniel Craig's arc
as James Bond. Don't Look Up is a disaster-movie satire film
directed by Adam McKay. Linus felt the script was terrific and
horrific at the same time, and it was clear to him that McKay
wanted to comment on how people's personal and political agendas
cause them to ignore glaring problems, such as climate change, and
hijack the actual solution that could save lives. Linus felt like
it was an important and hilarious film to shoot. He decided that
the visuals should feel like a political thriller, because the
comedy and satire would come through in the writing. Linus would
dolly in to create tension, use longer zooms to compress the shots,
then go close up with a macro lens in order to get right on a
character's eyes. The shoot required a lot of extras, which was
made even more challenging with COVID protocols. Linus had to be
creative to figure out how to shoot with fewer extras, using longer
lenses so the physical distancing wouldn't be as apparent, and they
often re-used the same actors in different scenes since they were
in a quarantine bubble together. Find Linus Sandgren: Instagram
@linussandgren_dp You can purchase and stream No Time to Die on
AppleTV, Amazon, Vudu, or your preferred service. Don't Look Up is
available on Netflix. Find out even more about this episode, with
extensive show notes and links: http://camnoir.com//ep158/
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