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May 1999 Cover Story
Revisiting
the Crown
Although they were shooting a story that had been made before, "we were
going to make it a different genre," Priestley continues. “In this typical
classic Hollywood story, we would be shooting a 'boy-meets-girl' romance.
The only difference would be that she (Rene Russo) is an insurance investigator
and he (Pierce Brosnan) is an art thief."
What McTiernan and Brosnan (who was one of the producers) wanted was
a verbal tete- a-tete, "where each knows what the other is," he explains.
"They play the game, and fall in love, knowing one has to change to make
the relationship work."
"Many of the shots were done with diopters, split diopters, variable
diopters, close focus Proxar lenses, going below minimum focus as well
as hand-held and dolly (a lot more than the usual McTiernan film),” says
Priestley.
"At one point, John decided to test the crew, once more," Priestley
remembers. "In order to attain the highest angle shot in a moving Bentley,
he had the crew mount the Panaflex upside down on a Weaver-Steadman head,
inside the front passenger side of the Bentley. He then had a low-angle
prism on the lens, to reach the desired effect. By the way, the next day
the Bentley was shipped to Saudi Arabia for a huge price, I am sure."
As Priestley explains it, "One thing you can count on, when doing a
film with John is to expect the unexpected. He loves counter dolly moves
with the Technocrane, pushing the crew and actors, as he booms up and
back in, sending everyone flying for cover, but getting great shots.
"We did this when we were shooting Pierce's character leaving the Metropolitan
Museum, after he steals a Monet. Although we couldn't shoot inside the
museum, we were able to shoot exteriors. To keep the audience involved
here, we put the camera on one of the landings of the stairs, pushed in
and craned up, swinging down to the taxi, as he leaves."
This was one of the simplest lighting jobs for Priestley and gaffer
Gene Engels. All they had to do was bounce the natural soft daylight off
the building and steps. "They should all have been that easy," says Priestley.
Because the production company was not allowed to shoot inside the Metropolitan
Museum, which is a key location for the story, they built their own museum
at the Yonkers production stages. "The largest room was about 90 feet
by 60 feet," explains Priestley. "We had additional rooms off to one side.
Production design built a skylight in the center, so that we could drop
lights in and do a sequence where a helicopter approaches, attempting
a break in.
"Inside, we built a white tent (40 by 50 feet) around the skylight,
so when you looked up, all you saw was white sky. We then balanced it
to look as bright as the sky would had we shot in a real location through
a real skylight."
Whatever they did, it had to be versatile and adaptable. "We did a lot
of different setups in there. Take the first time we are introduced to
Rene. Denis Leary (who plays a local cop) has been called in to investigate
an art theft. He hears her, before he sees her. As he turns around (he
is squatting low to the ground), he looks up and sees legs that go on
forever, a garter belt, and black stockings."
"We had a 'leg light,'" adds gaffer Gene Engels. "It was a 1K PAR, set
at ground level, three-quarters back. We cut the light off the ground,
up to her heels, so there was no shadow--just good looking legs."
Lighting inside the studio Metropolitan Museum had to be adaptable as
well. "We had about 24-inches clearance, with the size of the sets," Engels
continues. "We had 24 inches to make a total skylight source, for example.
We had to be able to look at the skylight without it blowing out, and
yet have a natural, directional soft daylight look.
Priestley had decided on 2K Nooklites. Continues Engels, "We also had
32-inch bay lights, bounced up and back down through directional bubble
Plexiglas. You could look at the skylight, get an 8/11 stop, and on the
floor, which was 30 feet down, get a 5.6 as well. The middle sky light
was the 50/40 tent painted white on the inside, with 9-lite Maxis bouncing
into it. The effect lights were 20Ks and 6K APRs (gelled with 85 and quarter
minus green).
One of Priestley's favorite sequences was set in the security room of
the museum. "It was all monitors, playing videotapes from different rooms,"
Priestley explains. "In here, Rene and Denis are trying to figure out
how the painting was stolen, from what is supposed to be a theft-proof
museum."
Brosnan dismantles the air conditioning, and boosts the heat so the
sensors on infrared cameras would go white, enabling him to sneak into
the room, while the security people are occupied with a diversion he set
up.
To light the security room, Priestley had Engels shoot Tweenie lights
down through black gratings, creating a snapping in/out light look. "Tom
then had us put KinoFlos with deep blue, for a little extra pizzazz,"
Engels adds. "It worked well. When you have Rene in the scene, it looks
even better!"
Another challenging shot, done at the Yonkers studio, was a 'simple'
reflection shot for the end of the picture. "Here, we see Rene walking
along the street, after she sees Pierce leaving with another woman," Priestley
explains. "She feels alone, mascara is running down her face, and we see
everything through a window reflection. "Because it would have been too
difficult to do this on a real location, we duplicated the Yonkers store
fronts and parking garages outside the Yonkers studio. We got a large,
painted flat for the backdrop, and added extras, cars, and buses."
This had to be lit carefully. "We added rain to the back light from
18Ks in Condors through silks," says Engel. "The soft rain for the back
light made a directionless source. It was a real bear. We shot this in
the beginning of the shoot, but weren't happy with the background. So,
we waited several months for a chance to do it again. Again, the magic
time to shoot was as the sun was going down.
"It was a mad scramble, lighting the side of the studio, painting the
street scene to be in the reflection window. We used eight 6K PARs to
light the fake storefront window. They were placed in the middle of the
street. Then we added the rain effect, which softened the light and ran
Rene's makeup, adding more tension than the sinking of Das Boot! It was
20 minutes of quick decisions, and quiet talk, to make the magic happen."
"This is where John put the pressure on our operator," adds Priestley.
"He worked off the video, with the camera over his shoulder, facing away.
Because the mind works in reverse of the natural movement (he would think
'move left' but knew he would have to move right), there was a little
hesitation. That translates to the screen, telling the audience that something
is a little off, in more ways than one."
While a lot of action happens in New York, the story also called for
big time romance. When the "heat" is turned on between the "thief" and
the "investigator," the action moves to his "hideaway" in Martinique.
"Not a bad place to shoot," says Priestley.
Lighting the Martinique locations was tricky. Since the sun is so bright,
there was a major difference between inside and outside. "And John would,
at times, want to see both in the same shot," says Priestley.
"We had one love scene, where John had Rene and Pierce in bed under
mosquito netting. After "the moment," Rene walks outside onto the verandah
of his hideaway, and the camera tips down to the azure water."
"The light balance was difficult, in the fact that we had a mere 30
inches above the bed to light," says Engels. "We chose the Goya 4K HMI,
as our main light. Because it has no fennel, you get a broad source. Pass
this light through a silk, and it gave us a workable stop to balance to
outside, yet it was a soft and flowing light."
At another time, McTiernan wanted to start inside with Brosnan talking
to Russo. He then follows her onto the deck, and the camera pans around.
"We wanted a blue light on the faces, as a reflection from the sea," says
Priestley. "To soften the shot, we had a net put on the camera, and waited
for that wonderful 15 minutes of opportunity."
Besides the intimate moments between the two characters, Martinique
provided numerous opportunities for action sequences. "We had a glider
sequence, a series of shots on a pontoon boat," says Priestley. "Those
were easy to capture. When we were doing the intimate sequences at the
little house, we really had to use our imagination and body strength!
Because the location was on top of a mountain, we had to leave the generators
down below, and brought what little could make it up the steep mountain
in four-wheel drives, praying we had enough equipment to light the scene
the way John wanted it."
The intimate sequences were done on the real location as much as possible;
however, when it came to the flying sequences, Priestley did a great deal
of the cockpit shots (where Pierce teaches Rene how to fly a glider plane)
as green screen at the studio. "This was a really romantic sequence, where
Pierce's arms are wrapped around Rene, as he teaches her how to fly,"
he says. "The expression on her face, as she experiences the thrill of
piloting the aircraft, was an expression of the sexual tension between
them.
"Our mock-up of the plane was about 15 feet off the ground. We used
the Technocrane to create the cockpit movement, as he teaches her to fly.
Priestley had the green screen lit a half stop less than the actors.
“We were in the parking lot at night,” says Engels. “We gelled 18Ks, which
were held in place by cranes and scissorslifts. Tedious, and time consuming,
but the only way to make the shot work.”
Priestley enjoyed working with direction John McTiernan, once again.
“His tremendous attention to detail is a joy and a challenge,” Priestley
says. “The only thing you can expect on a project with John is to expect
the unexpected. We had over 32 miles of cable, 1400 dimmers, and every
trick in our crew’s bag on this film and we were still able to keep the
classic style of filmmaking.
Priestley admits that, “as with most McTiernan projects, we flashed
the film. Unlike Die Hard III, where the film ‘negative’ was pre-flashed,
on The Thomas Crown Affair we post-flashed the film (5 to 10 percent)
after the negative was developed to acquire the desired effect.
To pay tribute to the original movie, McTiernan even called on Faye
Dunaway to come back to the story, and play a wonderful cameo. “It was
a great counter-point to her first appearance. In this project, after
the opening credits, she is the first image we see. She is Pierce’s psychiatrist.
We start on her face, surrounded in black. We then pull back to reveal
Pierce in the foreground, with the background dimmed up for dramatic effect,”
explains Priestley.
“It is definitely a John McTiernan touch, and one of the wonderful moments
that helps the audience keep the original picture in mind, yet draws them
into the new story with character, place, and time.”
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When cinematographer
Tom Priestley (whose credits include Bordello of Blood, Blue Chips,
and the upcoming feature, Mary Jane’s Last Dance, as well as 2nd
unit director of photography on Deep Impact, Maximum Risk, Eraser
and Fair Game) took over on The Thomas Crown Affair eight
days into the shoot, he literally had to hit the ground running. "Thank
heaven John McTiernan (Last Action Hero, Medicine Man, The Hunt for
Red October, Die Hard and Die Hard: With a Vengeance) is a
director who knows exactly what he wants," says Priestley. "After we reviewed
the footage already shot, he told me he wanted the film to have a simple,
classic look without filtration."
Shot anamorphic
with Panavision cameras, the film might be a take on the classic, but
the challenges were anything but simple because, as Priestley knows from
experience, McTiernan always challenges his cinematographers and crews
to "push the envelope."