Next week, Ari Wegner could make Oscar history. The 37-year-old Australian has a very good shot at being the first woman to win an Oscar for best cinematography for helping to create the incomprehensible images of “The Power of the Dog” alongside director Jane Campion.
Together, the champion and Wegner fought against the extreme conditions of the New Zealand landscape to transport the public to a desolate ranch in 1920s Montana and create an unforgettable piece about human fragility. Some of the images, such as a shot of two actors being silhouetted through a sliding door, are the types that aspiring filmmakers are already studying.
And they may have never met it not for an Australian bank commercial. The champion, an Oscar-winning author, had never advertised before, but she said yes to it and concluded it with the young cinematographer. However, it was still an adrenaline rush for Wegner to get a call from the champion for a few years about a potential project to adapt Thomas Savage’s 1967 book. She went out that day, bought it and read it.
Wegner has already made a name for himself with work on films such as “Lady Macbeth” and “Zola”. But the visual languages of the films were differentiated and influenced, they had one thing in common: they were all lower budget, independent rate.
“The Power of the Dog” was in a different league and not just because of the champion’s involvement. Here they would have the support of Netflix. The streaming company gave the champion a budget she had never had the chance to work with. “It was like working with the Medicis,” the champion said.
Wenger and the champion were given a year of preparation to travel around New Zealand, scouting places, learning about the landscape and discussing every aspect of the film, from small technical details to the topics and values they wanted to communicate.
“I had read about other filmmakers who had these dream pre-productions. I thought, well, this is something that happens to other people,” Wegner said. “But I had an instinct that with more time there was another level of filmmaking out there. And that was definitely the case.”
They knew the conditions on the south island of New Zealand, so when it came time to shoot, they knew what they were working on. But there were still challenges to shooting in the valley, which is one of the windiest places on the island.
“I can only cover it with skiing on a sunny day when the sun goes down and it also jumps on you. The air is even more intense,” Wegner said. “It’s a really tough environment to think creatively because you spend a lot of time just trying to keep your eyes open.”
Every morning, they will prepare inside over tea and toast before going out to encourage the elements, because “it’s hard to come up with a plan from the beginning when your body is under attack.”
And yet, the part of the shot that Wegner was most concerned with was the interior. She was concerned about creating an authentic environment in a large, sterile warehouse in Aukland that is worth a champion film.
“In the end, it turned into one of the greatest joys of starting with a completely blank sheet of paper and controlling absolutely everything,” Wegner said. “It was a real playground.”
To shoot the statement first was also a blessing. She was more conscious when something felt as if the air was too calm or clear or the light not much enough to suit the conditions in the valley, and they could adjust accordingly.
Wegner was also always open for inspiration, as if the clouds separated perfectly and the mountains looked great. She was aware that they were adapted to “the possibility of some really beautiful iconic frames.”
The champion invited her collaborators to seize unplanned opportunities, one of which was the shot in the barn, which they captured after they shot the scene. Wegner said the champion created a “spell of silence” on the set that allows for improvisation.
“When you’re with her, the seconds on the clock tick slower,” Wegner said.
And while it is always the photographs that get the most attention, the most inexplicable part of a cinematographer’s work is their relationship with actors. Wegner laughed that if she had a different life, she would write a dissertation on the intimate, voyeuristic, one-sided relationship where you both have to invest in the emotions of the scene, but also be invisible, even if you sometimes literally de Actor touches on what would happen to Benedict Cumberbatch in some of the handheld shots. For her, the experience is like going into a meditative state.
“You’re both really present and all your senses are tuned in and you’re somewhere else,” she said. “During a take I would never feel temperature or pain or hunger and I would come home at the end of the day and wonder, ‘Where did this patch come from?
It has been a surreal journey for Wenger since the Oscar nominations were announced last month, and she does not take the honor for granted. The statistics, she knows, are gruesome for female cinematographers in Hollywood. In a survey of the top 250 films of 2021, only 6% had female cinematographers – a number that has not risen since 1998. And only two have ever been nominated for an Oscar in the 94th year of the awards. The first was Rachel Morrison, in 2018, for “Mudbound.”
And yet she sees a glimmer of hope in that second statistic. After 90 years of nothing, two women have been nominated in the last five years. Change, she believes, is possible when people give women the opportunity to shoot big, high-profile films.
The champion, who has worked with some of the great cinematographers over the years, from Dion Beebe to Greig Fraser (who was nominated for “Dune”), said she “wants with a female DP” to “The Power of the Dog “create. And part of that decision means taking a chance on someone. Morrison was also hired by a woman, Director Dee Rees.
“I think about how much we missed. All that talent that could be there that we’ve never seen in the last 100 years, not because the talent was not there, but the gate was never open… Loss of the film industry, “said Wegner. “Now I think it’s time for us to stop for a bit.”
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