Mr. Miranda, as a cinematographer, how far are you willing to go to get the perfect shot?
(Laughs) Well, I like doing lots of homework and prep in order to make the director’s ideas possible. I think there are certain directors who like to have me on their team early on, because the earlier I join, the earlier I can start going through the tools that are available for me. I’ve started some projects nine months in advance so that I could start the process of building cameras, talking to companies about building certain rigs. With Top Gun: Maverick, I went through all the jets, I found the perfect old F-18 and removed all the junk out of it to fit a camera in there. People said, “Oh, you don’t need that,” or “Just put one camera in there.” I put in six!
Apparently you also got your pilot license in order to make that film.
These are movies that I’m really, truly invested in, you know? I’m actually working on a Star Wars film right now and they’re letting me go kind of nuts with the lighting… I’m just finding a lot of ways to explore, to see how far can I go in any direction, and that is super exciting.
“If all of a sudden this little simple idea comes up — do that! Don’t get trapped! Keep your eyes always open.”
The great cinematographer Harris Savides once gave you this piece of advice: “If you’re not happy, don’t roll.” It seems like you really live by those words, no?
Harris taught me a lot in that way. Another piece of advice from him was: “Don’t be afraid if your initial plan is not the best plan.” Say you’ve spent all this time and resources in one way, and all of a sudden this little simple idea comes up — do that! Don’t get trapped! Keep your eyes always open. Harris also taught me about the imperfection of lighting, you know, letting things come and go, let actors walk in and out of the light. I love that. I loved Harris’s way of loving the imperfections of things. I just love what I got from him. I was his gaffer for a while, so I learned a lot of things that really resonate with me.
You worked as a gaffer for David Fincher as well, right?
Right, Fincher put me on as gaffer for Fight Club, and we always had a lot of trust. He knew that I was a little bit of a technical nerd, a bit of a puzzle solver who likes figuring things out, so I started shooting some early digital stuff, some commercials with him, and eventually we hooked up on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We did this little test and he asked me to shoot the movie! I like directors that let me just go for it and have fun. I love having that freedom to just say, you know, “How about this?”
Especially because it seems like these days, you’re often working on slick films that require cutting-edge techniques or challenging approaches.
Yeah, I mean, like I said, I’m a great puzzle solver. I have a great connection with companies that will help me devise something to help shoot these more challenging films. F1 was probably the most technically challenging film of all my jobs, just because it was just working with the constraints of the cars, the speed that the drivers were doing, we had safety concerns as well, plus it took about three months to get approval for every mount. Everything had to be very exact. It definitely wasn’t as easy as in a normal movie, we really had to get these angles correct. The car got built together, the cameras got made, then the mounts had to be made, and all of that had to be coordinated. We were really starting from scratch.
Those technical elements, like the camera rigs on the race cars which were really driven by the actors, really helped to create an immersive experience.
Absolutely, Brad Pitt was actually going 180 miles an hour. And that was the main idea: to get people really involved, to really make you feel like you’re in the car itself. So we used a lot of techniques to make it as real as possible, because we thought you wouldn’t have that immersive sensation you’re talking about otherwise, it would just be kind of flat. We were also shooting in the real environment, and although that was a challenge, we had some great things because of it. We were at Silverstone, filming the pit lanes, filming the crowd during the national anthem… We did something similar for Top Gun: Maverick, where we shot the real US navy jets during a drill. That was really instrumental. Generally, I’m just not a fan of doing things like blue screens or anything like that. The number one for me is to make it as real as possible.
“There are ways to keep it real and immersive. There’s always that little bit of balance.”
Do you think the best cinematography uses real locations?
I mean, every movie has a task at hand, but I do think most cinematographers prefer real locations. There are certain movies where no one would want to see them just shot in a blue screen environment. For me, these real locations also inspire composition and lighting in a way that you just don’t get from a synthetic environment. I really prefer that, even if it might have been a lot cheaper to just shoot a few things CG but that would be super sad, wouldn’t it? It would feel like a simulation. I think people would start feeling bored, maybe yawning after a while. So I try my best to use what the world gives us naturally.
How does your approach change then for a film like Life of Pi, which won you an Oscar and was almost the opposite end of the spectrum, a complete fantasyland?
Well, we tried to actually go in the ocean and try to do that! But it was a disaster. (Laughs) The raft was moving like 500 feet each way, I mean, this is not the way to make this movie, so we had to change the way we shot it. We also wanted to have a real tiger as much as possible, I think we used like 26 shots of a real tiger. So even in that situation, I’m still trying to make things realistic as I can, whether that’s through lighting or whatever else. I think when you’re in a fantasy world, you can bend those rules a little bit more, but there are ways to keep it real and immersive. There’s always that little bit of balance. For me, I like seeing those problems and figuring out how to fix them, you know? Maybe there’s a new way of working that we haven’t thought of before? Maybe we can figure out a new reference to work from? I’ll always be very attracted to new ways of doing things.