Do actors influence cinematography?

[LucaM]

While watching The house of Sand and Fog I was thinking about the fact that Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley  have not only very different physical features (you don’t say!) but also different ways of acting and express emotions. I understood that part of the DoP work is being ready to adapt  camera movements to actors’ work on the set and each actor has a different way of acting, besides  some “trademark” (the way of smiling, a gesture, the way of moving hands, etc)  . Does these elements influence, at least in small part, the  cinematography ? I suppose  different ways of lighting the face and different camera angles to exalt some peculiar facial feature (the eyes, the mouth,  but are there other more subtle influences?

Perhaps it’s a stupid question and i expressed myself poorly and not clearly, but i don’t think (good) actors are interchangeable, so i think  somehow the shooting could reflect that , in the context of the story (i suppose shooting Connelly’s scenes in A house of… and in A beautiful mind required different approaches, just to make an example).

 

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[Roger Deakins]

Yes, the actor and the character they are playing does affect the cinematography; the lighting, camera angle, lens choice etc. Hopefully it is all of a piece.

The downside is when an actor demands a certain style of lighting or to be shot on a specific lens. But, luckily, most actor trust the crew to make the best choices for the film and, consequently, for their part in the film.

[LucaM]

Thanks a lot Roger!

Specific lens too? It seems really a big thing to demand!

[Roger Deakins]

I briefly worked with an actor who had a thing about the size of his nose. He only wanted to be shot on a 50mm or longer.

[Author]

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