William A. Fraker: Looking for Mr. Goodbar
by Bob Fisher

This article was written in 1978.

Willam A. Fraker, ASC was still winding up production of The Heretic when Richard Brooks invited him to read the script for Looking for Mr. Goodbar. "I felt it would make a great movie if we could get what was on the script on the screen," Fraker recalls. "More than that, I always wanted to do a picture with Richard Brooks."

Fraker's list of credits include: Bullitt, The President's Analyst, and Rosemary's Baby.

"I don't bring any preconceived look to any film," Fraker states. "I think the look of every picture is inherent in the material, location, director, and cast. Once you start shooting, the look or style of the picture takes hold. If you are good, you ride with it and make it work."

Looking for Mr. Goodbar was filmed in 72 days- four days ahead of schedule- all on sound stages. It was also finished on budget for less than $2 million. "It took a great deal of discipline," Fraker says. "We rarely had more than 18 footcandles, and for some scenes we used only two or three."

Twenty-five days of production focused on the main characters dark room. "We sustained visual interest by making lighting changes," Fraker says. "In one scene, she (Diane Keaton) moved quickly from a blacklighted silhouette in front of a window, into shadows, and then we used the illumination of a lamp to change the mood. We also threw lots of light under the crack of the door to contrast the brighter outside to the darkness of her inner world. It was a difficult challenge…like having to hit a home run every time up. But we achieved what we set out to do. We told a frightening, but honest, topical story, using light and shadows to communicate moods and create illusions. There are no gimmicks, no pornography."

Immediately afterwards, Fraker did a totally different type of picture Heaven Can Wait. Filmed on location in a palatial estate in Northern California, the film featured Julie Christie and Warren Beatty living in a rich, baroque-style world. "We lit 1940's style with separate front and back lighting," Fraker says. "Lots of flat key light was used to enhance the main characters."

Fraker is among the "new wave" cinematographers who leaped the hurdle from TV and commercial-making during the early 1960s. "I learned a lot filming commercials," he says. "It taught me to think on my feet. Every picture, whether it is a 30-second commercial or a feature, has to have a style or look."

We asked Fraker about his goals. "I want to do some more directing," he replies. "It is a different kind of challenge, and, I think, it helped make me a better director of photography." He also wants to film another big musical, and like all directors of photography, he says, "I want to film the definitive picture." He said it lightheartedly, but somehow, he didn't sound like he was joking.