Laszlo Kovacs, ASC
Biography

Laszlo Kovacs, ASC was raised on a farm 60 miles outside of Budapest and attended the Academy of Drama and Film Art. In 1957 when Kovacs was in his senior year, an uprising in Budapest almost succeeded in overthrowing the communist government. Kovacs and his friend Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC decided it was important to document the uprising on film. After the Russian army stormed into Budapest and crushed the revolt, they made a perilous journey to freedom, carrying some 30,000 feet of documentary film across the border into Austria.

Kovacs entered the United States as a political refugee, eventually making his way to Hollywood. He got a job processing microfilm for a title insurance company. During his spare hours, he shot 16 mm educational, medical and training films. By the early 1960s, Kovacs had crossed over to narrative filmmaking. The budgets were spartan, at best, and they were usually paid with promises linked to anticipated profits.

In 1963, Kovacs shot a Western during a weekend. The movie was never released, but the production manager introduced Kovacs to a young director named Richard Rush who liked the reel.

Kovacs began shooting "motorcycle films" with titles like A Man Called Dagger and Hell's Angels on Wheels for Rush. He was also working with other promising directors, including Peter Bogdanovich (What's Up Doc?, Paper Moon), Robert Altman (A Cold Day in the Park) and Dennis Hopper. Hopper wanted him to shoot Easy Rider, but Kovacs had his fill of shooting motorcycle films - until Hopper acted out the story.

Kovacs has subsequently compiled some 60 credits, including Five Easy Pieces, The King of Marvin Gardens, Slither, Shampoo, New York, New York, The Runner Stumbles, Ghostbusters, Mask, Little Nikita, Radio Flyer, My Best Friend's Wedding and Jack Frost. Kovacs received two Lifetime Achievement Awards for cinematography in 1998: one at the Hawaii International Film Festival, and the other at CamerImage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, in Torun, Poland.

Kovacs is currently working on MGM's Return to Me, directed by Bonnie Hunt, which is due for release in 2000.