Sunny day noir is always ripe with opportunity. Killer Heat is a detective tale set on an island in Greece, where a detective (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) climbs his way through a spidery web of lies. For cinematographer Andrew Dunn, it’s an opportunity to tell a dark tale in a beautiful setting.
The big skies are more intimidating than peaceful through Dunn’s eyes in director Philippe Lacôte’s Killer Heat, based on Jo Nesbø‘s novella.
Dunn is an extraordinary cinematographer with a filmography packed with beloved pictures. He shot Gosford Park, The Bodyguard, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, L.A. Story, Practical Magic, and a movie he does indeed hear plenty of love for, Hot Rod, which we can confirm, he’s quite fond of as well.
We could spend days talking about Dunn’s output, but for now, here’s a conversation with the cinematographer about his work on Killer Heat.
[Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length]
A part of the fun of a fish out of water detective story is how the environment affects them.
Yes.
How did you want to show Nick (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) a part of this environment?
So, he is lost in New York in this very tight urban environment, very close. We only see him in New York in that apartment. We decided to shoot all those scenes at night in the apartment; helps create the claustrophobia. Then when he gets to the island, in a way, he’s set free and it gives him the space. The sky, the hills, the landscapes and the ocean help him find himself, which is interesting, the whole cycle.
Then when he goes back to New York at the end, he’s talking to his daughter on the phone, and on the ocean again with a lot of open space. This weight has been lifted. He arrives on the island and gets caught up in this web and during that process he finds the keys not into their issues, their problems, their shenanigans. I think what we do as humans in life, it’s important when we all have our issues, shall we say, the world closes in on us, but instead of going to a dark chrome, which can help you, sometimes just need to get out, look at the stars and feel the big picture.
He gets in the process of trying to find himself on this cloud, this whole heaviness on him. In the process of that, he gets deeper and deeper. Without getting too strange, the clouds open, the light opens up for him and you can see the truth of what really is important to him back home. And we know he’s going to go back home.
It’s funny, it kind of feels like he could almost be in purgatory on that island.
Absolutely, Jack, because he nailed it there; Joe plays it. All three actors, incredibly smart. It’s such a privilege working with them. Each one brings their own thing. But the way the film ended up, because the voiceover wasn’t there all the way through before…
I wondered.
It went through various edits, and that’s a long story. I’ve been involved in films which have some voiceover and I think, oh. I’ve seen lots of films like that, maybe they haven’t shot or told the story properly, therefore you have to put a voiceover to explain that.
But I think this one, because the voiceover is there in its entirety and this is a cameraman saying this — so I apologize — it takes us on this journey. You’re being told the story as you’re watching. I think it involves the audience much more. It’s like telling a child a story at bedtime or something. Now it’s embellishing it rather than trying to explain.
Speaking of embellishment, with the final confrontation, did you feel that scene, all the double-crossings and information coming to light, required the more stylized, noir touches we associate with the genre?
Everything leads to that because we don’t quite know all the ins and outs. We took probably a day and a half to rehearse that scene because everybody had their own ideas of what it shouldn’t be and who does what and how energetic to do it. But then everyone agreed that the actors play it as a psychological drama.
As a cinematographer, I love actors. I could never act, my daughter’s an actor, my brother’s an actor, but I love acting and actors. I love watching them. So, you create for me to create an environment with a camera and lighting, that these actors can find their space within it. With minor adjustments you’re going to add a bit, subtract a bit, and as you find what they want to do and the action and the shots, you can just add a bit or subtract.
How do you create that space for them?
That’s the secret. Lighting-wise we kept it quiet. Again, to keep it simple, because then it allows them to find the space and do what they want to do. They can go to dark areas. There’s no problem going to dark areas as long as you’re not there forever. The idea is to keep it fairly… I keep doing this, because it’s an overall top light, but there’s several top lights on dimmers, which we could add and subtract on a button on an iPad with me and the gaffer, Patrick.
It is interesting because these actors are so great, they knew instinctively, they knew their cues; it’s great. We worked with actors who can help with the choreography and understand it, not just think, oh these… there’s a great British word called “wank.”
I’m a fan of that word.
You know what I mean? We, as filmmakers, cinematographers, and whoever we are can get caught up in our own ego about these things and have an idea for a shot. I come from a place where it’s the actors and everything comes out from them. In any movie I do, give any actors the space and the freedom. Also, I think it’s to always look for the simplicity of lighting but effective, natural and when necessary, to really go for effect or the noir thing.
You try to find the simple approach to that complex scene and then there’s the complexity to making the simplicity.
Absolutely right. Well, I’m a cameraman, so you’ve nailed it. The longer I do this, it’s easy to make something difficult and it’s actually quite difficult to make something easy. As you get more experience, you can find the ways through to make something.
It’s not just easy because it’s going to be quicker or you won’t get home sooner or whatever. It’s because it’s simpler, it’s more real. And again, going back to the actors, it gives them the freedom to… Once we rehearse it once, we know what they want to do, where they want to be. But if things change the moment they do, then it could be adjusted slightly.
Throughout your career you’ve worked in so many different genres and made so many different kinds of movies. You’re an extremely adaptable cinematographer. Do you still have a general philosophy for how you approach your work, no matter the genre?
For me, it’s what I call the truth of the story. We can all get wrapped up in our own little world, our own egos of, this is going to be the greatest shot in the history of cinema, but actually, it’s got to fit into this the truth.
I’m a storyteller at the camera. A few lights and a bunch of people around me, hopefully, can help me. You may need to get sidetracked onto veering off in some other way, wanting to be smart, clever. But there’s a collaborative team. Collaboration, to me, is of the utmost importance. Together, the director and people like me, producers, everybody, act as if they are there with one aim in mind.
For me, I think it’s finding for each project the essence of it. Within that, you have a line to follow when you’re looking at nirvana or you’re trying to find that, but actually, then you can still play around with it. Don’t get too self-conscious about it. I think it’s very easy for a photographer to become self-conscious.
What are some of the steps involved there?
What I try to do during prep is to get under the skin and into the mind of the director. And then when we’re on set, there’s so much stuff unsaid that we don’t have to say to each other. We understand it works. I think that it doesn’t always work, but for me, that’s really important.
You are in the heat of the moment and have a plan to do something. I’ve got stage actors that… when the actors come in and say, “Oh, don’t be over there, be over here,” the director can share a glance, you know? Because it’s important to actors what they want to do. They feel comfortable because the real storytellers, the audience, have to believe that they are obviously these things. And so, a lot of unspoken understanding of what we are trying to achieve.
Going right back to your question, I think one is who one is. That’s a very stupid thing to say, but I think it’s actually true, that you can try and change who you are in your approach. You can to a certain extent, but the chips are down, you will find a way through to create this beauty, not just a beautiful picture.
So beautiful that the audience will want to go on this journey. Because if you lose ’em, you’re lost. There’s no point. And so, I think the essence of that for me is to find a way through, saying, “This is the truth of the story.”
What was the truth in Killer Heat you were chasing?
So, with Killer Heat, to understand that it’s Joe’s character’s story. It’s following him, the way that he plays it. Give him the locations, the action and the sets and the camera placement. It’s their world to me. Because when the actors come on the stage, they can make it into this wonderful, other world. They come to film sets and, of course, for whatever reason, we can create a way to shoot this way, that way. And so, the magic happens. You’ve got to believe in the magic when they move.
It’s great you still see and feel the magic.
It’s always magic. It’s magic. I never cease to believe in magic.
Killer Heat is now available to stream on Prime.
