Oscar-nominated cinematographer PHEDON PAPAMICHAEL puts the pedal to the metal with some of the most outstanding cinematography on film thanks to his work in FORD V FERRARI. Focusing on the friendship between legendary automotive designer Carroll Shelby and British race car driver Ken Miles, the film is set against the backdrop of the battle between automotive titans Henry Ford Jr. and Enzo Ferrari as Ford readied itself to compete against Ferrari’s award-winning racing team at Le Mans in 1966.
Key to the high octane success of the film is Phedon’s work as he puts the moviegoer in the driver’s seat of the race car, making us feel the car corner on rails or catch the sun flares rounding critical course turns. Phedon and I go into great detail about the lighting and lensing of the film, including the challenges of eye-level camera placement with cars that stand no higher than 40 inches from the ground, feeling the G-Force through camera positioning, the use of close-ups, the priority consideration of using the camera to understand character emotion, camera and lens choices (and yes, Phedon shot with old Panavision expanded anamorphic lenses), reteaming with director James Mangold, along with some fun tidbits about the cars themselves and Phedon’s own knowledge and experience with rally race cars, and more!
