‘Elvis’ Cinematographer Mandy Walker Talks “Dancing” With Austin Butler’s King Of Rock ‘N’ Roll – Contenders Film: The Nominees

deadline.com:

When cinematographer Mandy Walker boarded Elvis, one of her principal goals was to make the camera “dance with” the King of Rock and Roll, as played by Austin Butler.

This vision on the part of the DP and filmmaker Baz Luhrmann dictated that the camera would often be right up in the actor’s face, as he performed scenes onstage.

The pair, at the same time, knew they’d need to acquaint Butler with their process as early on as possible, such that behind-the-scenes goings-on would be almost invisible to him, and he could deliver his best work.

Accomplishing this required Walker to be on hand, with one camera or another, from the time of Butler’s first performance workshops. RELATED: Contenders Film: The Nominees – Deadline’s Full Coverage “I was there…looking at angles on him with my stills camera, running around and starting that discussion very early on,” she explained during a panel as part of Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees event. “This is nine months or something before we went into prep, and then I went to a lot of his choreography rehearsals and was observing what he was doing.”  When Walker brought her colleagues — including dolly and crane grips, and camera operators — into the process, she had them learn the songs Butler would be performing in advance of the next stage of rehearsals.  RELATED: ‘Elvis’: Read The Screenplay For Baz Luhrmann’s Biopic About The King Of Rock And Roll  The notion of camera and actor as dance partners was made all the easier to realize by Butler, Walker recalls, given the command he demonstrated as far as his performance. “He is such a perfectionist.