Xavier Grobet, ASC on HBO’s Watchmen, going to film school with Mexican filmmakers Rodrigo Prieto and Alfonso Cuarón, early experience on films Total Recall, Revenge, Before Night Falls

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 80: Xavier Grobet Mexican-born
DP Xavier Grobet grew up surrounded by visual images. His mother
was a professional photographer, and from an early age, Xavier made
his own Super 8 movies every summer with his cousins and family
members. He started out going to architecture school, but soon
decided his passion was film. Xavier's generation of fellow Mexican
filmmakers, “Chivo” Emmanuel Lubezki, Rodrigo Prieto, and Alfonso
Cuarón were also attending film school at one of the two main
colleges in Mexico City. One of Xavier's early experiences was
operating the third camera on a French film, Les Pyramides Bleues,
with Alfonso Cuarón as the assistant director. Many American
productions were shooting in Mexico at the time, so Xavier was able
to work on huge movies like Tony Scott's Revenge and Total Recall
starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Once he moved to America, it took
awhile to get established again, but he got a big break shooting
the Julian Schnabel film Before Night Falls and the series
Deadwood. Xavier Grobet's most recent work has been on HBO's
phenomenal series Watchmen, on episodes three, five, and seven.
Going into the world of Watchmen proved to be a huge challenge,
because each episode works as its own separate piece, but required
a familiarity with the script for the entire series to ensure the
consistency and look of the story. He always found ways to shoot
from different angles, and used blue lighting selectively to
suggest and reveal Dr. Manhattan. It was daunting working within
the framework of the show's look and following its guidelines, but
Xavier embraced it and made it his. See Watchmen on HBO:
https://www.hbo.com/watchmen Find Xavier Grobet: http://xmexdp.com/
Instagram: @xmexdp Find out even more about this episode, with
extensive show notes and links: http://camnoir.com/ep80/ Sponsored
by Hot Rod Cameras www.hotrodcameras.com Website: www.camnoir.com
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