Robert Richardson, our guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, recorded in front of an audience at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic, is one of the most admired cinematographers in Hollywood history.
An artist and craftsman of the first order, Richardson is best known for his many collaborations with three similarly revered filmmakers: 12 with Oliver Stone, including 1986’s Platoon, 1987’s Wall Street, 1989’s Born on the Fourth of July and 1991’s JFK; seven with Martin Scorsese, including 1995’s Casino, 2004’s The Aviator and 2011’s Hugo; and five with Quentin Tarantino, including Kill Bill (2003’s Vol. 1 and 2004’s Vol. 2), 2009’s Inglourious Basterds, 2012’s Django Unchained, 2015’s The Hateful Eight and 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — in other words, every Tarantino film of the 21st century except for Death Proof, which Tarantino shot himself. Tarantino has said that in addition to his late film editor, Sally Menke, Richardson is “the greatest artistic collaborator of my life,” adding, “I have never had as much fun making movies as I have had since I started making them with [him].”
Over the 40 years since Richardson shot his first feature film, he has accumulated 10 Oscar nominations, three of which resulted in wins — for JFK, The Aviator and Hugo — a tally surpassed by no living person and equaled by only two other greats who are still with us, Vittorio Storaro and Emmanuel ‘Chivo’ Lubezki. He has also received 11 nominations for the top award of the American Society of Cinematographers, which, in 2019, bestowed upon him its lifetime achievement award.
Earlier this month, Richardson was celebrated at KVIFF in two ways: with the world premiere of Czech filmmaker Jana Hojdová’s long-gestating documentary feature about his life and career, Robert Richardson: The White Devil; and with the presentation of the fest’s highest honor, the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, which had previously been awarded to the likes of Robert De Niro, Judi Dench, John Travolta, Helen Mirren, Michael Caine and Richardson’s longtime collaborator Stone.
Over the course of this episode, which was recorded right after the premiere of The White Devil, Richardson candidly discusses how lifelong hearing problems may have heightened his sight; how he broke into feature films and why, unlike most cinematographers, he has always preferred to operate his own camera; what it was like working with different kinds of cameras and film stocks on JFK, cranes on Casino, top-light on Kill Bill, digital and 3D on Hugo and ultra-wide on The Hateful Eight; why he agreed to cooperate with Hojdová’s documentary, and why he sees it as a cautionary tale; what to expect from his two upcoming 2026 films, David O. Russell’s Madden and Frankie Shaw’s 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank; plus more.
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