Seamus McGarvey ASC, BSC on the musical adaptation of Cyrano, shooting in Sicily during the pandemic and on an active volcano

Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey is very happy about being a DP, and
his love of the job always takes him through the difficult times.
When he sees a movie that actually works beautifully on screen, it
makes everything worthwhile. The new musical Cyrano is based on the
stage play by Erica Schmidt, which caught the attention of director
Joe Wright, who knew he wanted to adapt it into a film. Stars Peter
Dinklage and Haley Bennett also reprise their roles in the movie as
Cyrano de Bergerac and Roxanne. Wright used the stage play as a
guide for what the film should look like, and hired his frequent
collaborator, Seamus McGarvey as the cinematographer. The two have
now worked on five films together. Seamus wanted the film to feel
more intimate than a play, so he chose close up portraiture of the
actor's faces, capturing sensitive performances. Because of the
pandemic, Wright felt even more strongly about the story of Cyrano
being an outsider, craving love and human connection. They began
shooting in the fall of 2020, creating a bubble of performers in
the town of Noto, Sicily, with many background actors playing a few
different parts. Since Sicily was still locked down for COVID with
no tourism and few people out and about, most of the town became
the entire set- the locations were all real houses and buildings.
The crew was able to shoot with little distraction or interference,
and with no bars or restaurants open, they became a tight-knit
group. In his adaptation of Cyrano, Wright was guided by the
musical and wanted the dialog to roll naturally into song, which
were recorded live during the shoot. Playback had to be done
through earpieces for all of the performers so they knew when to
sing and dance. Fortunately, all of the actors were such good
singers that they didn't have to do a lot of takes, and they had
time to focus on rehearsals and blocking first. Seamus had
previously shot the musical The Greatest Showman, and he enjoyed
the experience on Cyrano of playing with the rhythm of photography
with song, creating a beat to the pictures themselves. The “Every
Letter” song sequence in Cyrano reminded him of working on music
videos in his early career, and he and the crew had fun creating
lens flares with flashlights throughout the scene. They worked with
lots of candles and torches, with some LED torches with CGI flames
for a nighttime staircase fight scene in the film. The filming of
Cyrano literally ended with a bang. Mount Etna is an active
volcano, and Wright chose to film the final battle sequences up the
side of it. The weather had turned unseasonably cold and it started
snowing, creating a real problem for the set which had to be
relocated. The snow would start to melt because the earth beneath
was hot with molten lava. Finally, within days of completing
shooting and beginning to wrap out of the location, Mt. Etna
erupted and the sets were covered in ash. The entire crew quickly
evacuated. Find Seamus McGarvey: Instagram @seamiemc Twitter:
@mcseamus You can see Cyrano opening in theaters December 31. Find
out even more about this episode, with extensive show notes and
links: http://camnoir.com//ep153/ Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras:
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