Before working together, Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins had a mutual friend: Conrad L. Hall, the veteran cinematographer of Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid and, in the twilight of his career, Mendes’ own American Beauty and Road To Perdition. When Hall died in 2003 and the director was forced to choose a new cinematographer for his next film, some key advice came to mind.
“Conrad, I remember, always said, ‘There are only really two other cinematographers from the younger generation: Deakins and [Emmanuel] Lubezki,’” Mendes says, speaking to Total Film in a London hotel room with Deakins sitting by his side, who winces at the unexpected compliment. “Those were the two he really rated. And frankly, his predictions have come true.”
Since teaming up, Mendes and Deakins have worked on five films together: Jarhead in 2005, Revolutionary Road in 2008, Skyfall in 2012, 1917 in 2020 (which bagged Deakins his second Oscar out of 15 nominations), and next year’s Empire Of Light. The latter brought the pair to Margate for a story of friendship, mental health and social division in the 1980s, starring Olivia Colman, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Monica Dolan and Micheal Ward.
Naturally for Mendes and Deakins, it’s exquisitely shot - in part an ode to cinemas of their youth and the lost art of film projection. It’s a long way from the incendiary oil fields, fractured Americana, neon-lit Shanghai skyscrapers and exploding battlefields of their previous collaborations, locating a mournful beauty in the contrast between the tempestuous south coast and the warm embrace of the film’s art deco picture palace.
For Mendes and Deakins the endeavour proved personal. The
