photographyevent

GWYNeth gives
me the GLARE
The Talented Mr
Ripley, 1999

I love this picture of

Gwyneth Paltrow in her
beautiful leopard coat in
the famous Caffe Florian
on Piazza San Marco in
Venice. She was filming
a difficult scene with
Matt Damon for director
Anthony Minghella.
Sometimes it can feel like
a very private, intimate
moment on set and this
was one of those times.
When she turned to look
at me it was as if she was
looking through me.
Im not sure if she was in
character or if she felt like
I was intruding. Maybe
it was just before they
shot that scene and she
was wishing Id go away.
Its certainly a fierce and
reproachful look.

STREEPs ahead

Kramer vs Kramer, 1979

Meryl Streep still hates having her picture taken

but I think she trusts me. I still have to persuade
her to let me photograph her but we have
known each other now for more than 30 years.
We met on the set of Kramer vs Kramer that
was the film when she won her first Oscar, and
that was my first film poster.
She is extraordinary looking. The director
Mike Nichols once said she looked like shed
swallowed a lightbulb. Its true theres a
luminosity to her, which you can see in this shot
with Dustin Hoffman. I dont like to think about
technique and composition much, but I do love
how it looks like shes coming out of the camera.

silent witness

renees baby blues

Cold Mountain, 2003

Rene Zellweger, here with Nicole Kidman,

was having a really difficult first day on set
because she had to have a little baby with her
who was not collaborating at all. It was very
nerve-racking for her and everyone else, as you
can see from the expressions on all the faces.
This was a long shoot over all four seasons
in a very remote part of Transylvania in
Romania, but director Anthony Minghellas
were the happiest film sets. I first worked
with him on The English Patient and then on
all his projects after that. He was very talented
and cultured, and generous and much-loved as
a director. He always remained open to
comments and suggestions from
those around him.

Meryl Streep is strangely camera-shy. Gwyneth Paltrow f ierce and reproachful.

And Michael Keaton? He looks great... next to a dummy! Photographer Brigitte
Lacombe reveals how she quietly catches Hollywoods biggest stars between takes

he notoriously private
Meryl Streep loves her;
Martin Scorsese has
welcomed her into his
film family; and shes had
intimate glimpses behind
the scenes on many top films.
But photographer Brigitte Lacombe
knows her place in all this. You are the
least, least important person on a movie
set, she says. If you are taking portraits,
you can control the environment, but
on a movie set you simply cant. You
really are just a witness and you catch
whatever strikes you, whatever you can.
But what a witness. Working as an
on-set photographer has taken the 64year-old from Fellinis favourite studio
in Rome to Marilyn Monroes dressing
room at Pinewood Studios, and from
grand French chateaux to Transylvania
in the company of Nicole Kidman,
Rene Zellweger and a bawling baby.
Its such a private, intimate thing to
be able to see these people at work, she
says. I consider myself incredibly lucky
to have followed actors and directors at
the top of their game. e
By Andrew Preston

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prints of the
showgirl
My Week With
Marilyn, 2011

I was in London on the

set of Martin Scorseses
Hugo when a friend who
also knew Michelle
Williams suggested I
work with her.
I went to Pinewood
Studios on her last day
filming My Week With
Marilyn, about the stars
week in London after
her husband Arthur
Miller had left the UK.
I had two hours in the
dressing room Monroe
used when filming The
Prince And The Showgirl.
Michelle had taken on
the character completely,
all I had to do was follow
her with my camera. She
was magical.

meryl SHOWs HER METTLE

The Iron Lady, 2011

I didnt take that many pictures because there were some very intense
scenes where Mrs Thatcher is portrayed as old, ill and really quite lost.
Meryl [Streep] was so focused, but I managed to get this little moment
with her on the side of the set. We hoped they would use it as the
poster image, but often if the actor is not looking straight at the camera
it wont get picked. It didnt, but it is my favourite and I think hers also.
When someone is looking away, not engaging with the camera, it
feels more private and makes the character more vulnerable its like
looking at someone when theyre not aware youre looking at them.
Meryl never seems to be afraid as an actress and she is always up for
a challenge. I think shes remarkable because she has such a distinctive
look, yet she manages to make you believe in all the different characters
she creates, which is quite a feat. Shes also extremely intelligent.

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getting a
head start
Casanova, 1976

My first major movie

set was Federico Fellini
directing Donald
Sutherland as
Casanova. It was a
dazzling production
with nothing shot on
location and everything
recreated at the
legendary Cinecitt
Studios in Rome, in
Teatro 5 Fellinis
favourite stage.
Sutherland had to
have the top of his head
shaved for the role
because Casanova had
a very high forehead.
Then to play him as
an old man the makeup team started to
apply a mask of very
heavy latex at 4am.
It took five hours
to complete the
transformation.
I was thrilled to be
on Fellinis film set, but
I was pretty clueless
when youre young
I dont think you
completely appreciate
how lucky you are.

a dummys guide to cinema

Birdman, 2014

I was only on the set of Birdman for one day and was
very lucky you could spend a week on a movie and
never get an image where you have the entire cast
and director together. I dont know Michael Keaton
at all [in a tie next to director Alejandro Irritu],
but I think he has a good chance of winning the
Oscar; he was daring, and smart, to take on the role.

The cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki,

who won an Oscar for Gravity, was setting up the
lighting for a scene when he suggested this idea
to me. It was such an odd sight hundreds of
dummies sitting in a Broadway theatre. When they
were shooting, only the people in the front few
rows were real, the rest of the audience was made
up of these dummies, but if you watch the film you
have no sense of that at all.

Above, from right to left:

Edward Norton, Michael
Keaton, Alejandro
Irritu, Emma Stone,
Naomi Watts, Andrea
Riseborough

dicaprios green party

The Wolf Of Wall Street, 2013

Brigitte Lacombe Official Instagram: @brigittelacombe

A lot of film-making is done using green screens. I think

its beautiful visually and I love the fact that everything
is pretend. Martin Scorsese did shoot some scenes for
this movie on a boat out on the water, but most of it
was done like this one with Leonardo DiCaprio inside a
gigantic studio with a real, life-size boat.
Scorsese likes to have a very solid team of people who
he knows around him and hes folded me into that team.
I have worked with extraordinary people in cinema
but he is maybe the most extraordinary. The set goes
absolutely silent as soon as he appears. Its
very disciplined and respectful, and people
know they are working for a master.
You get the sense that everyone wants to
excel for him. There were some incredible
comedians like Jonah Hill in the cast, so
it became like a competition to see who
could make Scorsese laugh most.

shady lady

Dangerous Liaisons, 1988

This was one of Uma Thurmans first roles. I love

the way her sunglasses in this shot stand out as a
modern contrast to the period costumes.
Film sets can be really intense places and this
captures a relaxed, languid moment when she and
John Malkovich were just hanging out between
scenes. We were shooting in beautiful locations in
chateaux in France.
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HAVING A FIELD DAY

Marie Antoinette, 2006

I adore this image of Kirsten Dunst in

Milena Canoneros glorious period costume
alongside director Sofia Coppola dressed as a
young, cool hipster. There is something quite
delicate about Sofia Coppola she speaks
softly but is very strong; she has authority in

a feminine way. The picture shows her team

at work in a beautiful setting on what was a
small set.
It was the last day of shooting when they
picked up a few scenes they wanted to add to
or change, so I was lucky enough to see lots of
different set-ups, from outside in the fields to
Marie Antoinette in a bath tub.

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