I was sorry to read that the lengendary Swedish cinematographer Sven Nykvist passed away this past Wednesday. Nykvist was easily one of the most influential cinematographers in film history. His camera work was always distinguished by a very naturalistic and direct manner. Nykvist’s use of lighting, especially on close-ups, by contrasting light and shadow, would emphasize the emotions of an actor’s face.

Although he worked with many directors Nykvist will be best remembered for his work with Ingmar Bergman. In his biography The Magic Lantern Bergman wrote, “Sometimes I probably do mourn the fact that I no longer make films. Most of all I miss working with Sven Nykvist, perhaps because we are both utterly captivated by the problems of light, the gentle, dangerous, dreamlike, living, dead, clear, misty, hot, violent, bare, sudden, dark, springlike, falling, straight, slanting, sensual, subdue, limited, poisonous, calming, pale light. Light.” Rest in peace Sven…

Just a quick post that the Back Lot Films website has been completely overhauled, I hope you like the new design…

Check out this very short but interesting interview with the lengendary German director Werner Herzog in the new Film & Video Magazine.

My favorite part:

Question: I’ve read on IMDb, which is notorious for incorrect information, that Rescue Dawn is a remake of Little Dieter Wants to Fly.

Herzog: What is IMDB?

Interviewer: The Internet Movie Database.

Herzog: I have no idea what that is.

This past week I’ve been in touch with actress Julie McNiven (she was one of our leads in Dangerous Crosswinds). Things have been especially hectic of late for Julie but all positive…

Among the many highlights, in May she signed on with the Independent Artists Agency. Soon afterwards Julie landed a re-occurring role in the HBO series Brotherhood before securing the part of Hildy in Mad Men, an original television series which will premiere in June 2007 on the AMC Network. And more recently she booked a role for the series premiere of Waterfront which is scheduled to air in January 2007 on CBS TV.

Julie moved to New York City just before the Dangerous Crosswinds shoot in May of 2004. And, since all of DC’s principal photography was in New Hampshire, we scheduled all of Julie’s scenes during the first week of shooting. She would later return during the final day of the shoot (for the film’s funeral sequence) as well as during post-production to re-record some of her dialogue (along with fellow actors Larry Jay Tish, Nicholas Purcell, Bill McNally, Tavia Lin Gilbert & Wendell Goodrum) at ToneZone Studios in Londonderry.

A quick side note: I last saw Julie in June of 2005 during DC’s screening at the Winnacunnet High School Auditorium in Winnacunnet, NH. As fate would have it this turned out to be the lone ‘nightmare’ date for DC during its entire theatrical run. What occurred was the extreme hot weather apparently overworked the school’s air conditioning units which, in turn, wrecked havoc on the school’s electrical system and forced constant power outages during the actual screening. Not a fun night at all, though for some reason, I remember everyone being in wonderful spirits and very forgiving and understanding about the whole matter.

But it was cool hearing from Julie this week. She’s an extremely talented actress whom I definitely look forward to working with again in the not-to-distant future.