Jeff Cronenweth, ASC on Being the Ricardos, working with Aaron Sorkin, shooting a 1950s period film

Jeff Cronenweth, ASC understands that creating a period piece such
as the film, Being the Ricardos, involves lighting and set design,
period costumes, hair and makeup styles, and of course, positioning
the camera. For today's more sophisticated and contemporary
audiences, everything must be shot in a more dynamic way than in
the staid 1950's style. Jeff and director Aaron Sorkin had the TV
show I Love Lucy to work from as well as photographs from the I
Love Lucy set, which were invaluable for recreating scenes for the
movie. They also watched films that take place in the 1950's such
as LA Confidential, Carol, and Peggy Sue Got Married, to see how
those filmmakers approached the time period, while carefully
crafting their own unique vision of what 1952 looked like. Jeff
created four looks for the time periods within Being the Ricardos:
1952, where most of the story takes place; contemporary interviews
from the mid-90's by the story's narrators; the 1940's with
flashbacks to when Lucy and Desi first met; and then black and
white footage paying homage to I Love Lucy that represents what is
going on in Lucy's imagination. For the black and white sequences,
Jeff embraced the theatrical “fashion noir” look using a
starlight/hard light method for portrait photography from that time
period. Jeff and director Aaron Sorkin had previously worked
together on The Social Network for just one scene. Being the
Ricardos was their first real opportunity to collaborate for a
longer amount of time. Aaron Sorkin is known for crafting fast and
complex back and forth dialog, and his writing style was similar
for Being the Ricardos- tight, structured, and well thought out
with brilliant dialog. Jeff found Sorkin's script created a sturdy
framework for the entire movie- when the script is really confident
and solid, everyone else on the film has a clear map of how and
where they can be creative within those parameters. As the
cinematographer, Jeff knew the actors would have fast, overlapping
lines and were on an emotional roller coaster as they navigate
through a crisis. He used lenses with a very close focus to give
the feel that the characters were in a world that made them feel
vulnerable and alone. He decided to use as much contrast as
possible, balancing light and dark throughout the movie while still
creating richness and depth with points of light in the background.
Being the Ricardos is in theaters December 10 and will be on Amazon
Prime Video December 21, 2021 Find Jeff Cronenweth:
https://www.ddatalent.com/client/jeff-cronenweth-asc-narrative
Instagram: #jeffcronenweth Find out even more about this episode,
with extensive show notes and links: http://camnoir.com//ep150/
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