MICHAEL CHAPMAN ASC

Born: 21 November 1935, Wellesley [suburb of Boston], Massachusetts, USA.

Education: Phillips Academy, Andover; Columbia University, New York City [History and Literature].

Career: After college, he spent two years in the United States Army [one year on the Thule Airbase, Greenland], and then two more as a freight brakeman on the railroad. His then father-in-law, doph Joseph Brun, eventually led him into the movie business. During his initiation into the New York filmmaking community, Chapman met several cinematographers including Boris Kaufman. That led him to a camera crew job at MPO, a commercial company in New York, where he met Gordon Willis, Owen Roizman, director Michael Cimino and other narrative filmmakers. He became Gordon Willis' c.op for 6 years. Chapman: "It was quite a ride. I got to watch while a man made up a whole new style of 'seeing.' I knew I could never imitate Gordy, but from our years together, I took away the seriousness of purpose that he saw, and the idea that light could be organized to express strong emotions." Became doph in 1973 on 'The Last Detail' [he was introduced to dir Hal Ashby by Gordon Willis], but the New York film scene was relatively quiet, so he returned to operating ['Jaws'] after the filming of 'The White Dawn'.

Made his debut as director in 1983 with 'All the Right Moves'. Played small parts in some of the films he ph, but also in others [e.g. 'The Abyss', 1988].

He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild [SAG]. Married to editor/director Amy Holden Jones.

Retired in 2006.

Appeared in the doc's 'Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography' [1991] & 'Making 'Taxi Driver'' [1999, Laurent Bouzereau; ph: Ron Siegel, Chris Meagher, a.o.].

Awards: 'Emmy' Award nom [1974/5] for 'Death Be Not Proud'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1980], NSFC Award [1981] & BSFC Award [1981] for 'Raging Bull'; ASC Film Award nom [1993] & 'Oscar' AA nom [1993] for 'The Fugitive'; ASC Lifetime Achievement Award [2003].

FILMS

1973	The Last Detail [Hal Ashby] c; + small part; originally Haskell Wexler was scheduled as doph and M. Chapman as c.op
1973	The White Dawn [Philip Kaufman] c
1975	Taxi Driver [Martin Scorsese] c; 2uc: Michael Zingale
1975	The Front [Martin Ritt] c
1976	The Next Man/The Arab Conspiracy/Double Hit [Richard Sarafian] c
1976	The Last Waltz [Martin Scorsese] c; concert film/115m; addph: Vilmos Zsigmond, László Kovács, David Myers, Bobby Byrne, Michael Watkins & Hiro Narita
1977	Fingers [James Toback] c
1977	American Boy [: A Profile of Steven Prince] [Martin Scorsese] 16mm/c; doc/55m
1977	Invasion of the Body Snatchers [Philip Kaufman] c
1978	Hardcore/The Hardcore Life [Paul Schrader] c; 2uc: William Dear
1978	The Wanderers [Philip Kaufman] c
1979	Raging Bull [Martin Scorsese] b&w; + small part
1980	Personal Best [Robert Towne] c; uwph: Allan Gornick Jr.
1981	Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid [Carl Reiner] c
1982	The Slumber Party Massacre/Sleepless Nights [Amy Jones] c; prologue ph; ph: Steve Posey
1982	The Man with Two Brains [Carl Reiner] c
1986	The Lost Boys [Joel Schumacher] p/c; 2uc: Paul Goldsmith; vfx ph: Tim McHugh & Charles Schuman; aph: Frank Holgate
1987	Bad [Martin Scorsese] b&w-c; short music film with Michael Jackson
1987	Shoot to Kill/Deadly Pursuit [Roger Spottiswoode] s35/ c; addph: Robert Stevens; 2uc: Curtis Petersen; uwph: Jordan Klein; + small part
1987	Scrooged [Richard Donner] c; addph New York: Peter Norman; motion control ph: Mike Shea; replaced Conrad L. Hall
1988	Ghostbusters II [Ivan Reitman] p/c; 2uc: Rexford Metz; spec vfx ph: Mark Vargo
1989	Quick Change [Howard Franklin & Bill Murray] c; + small part
1990	Kindergarten Cop [Ivan Reitman] c; 2uc: Robert Thomas; + small part
1990	Doc Hollywood [Michael Caton-Jones] c; + small part
1991	Whispers in the Dark [Christopher Crowe] c; 2uc: Michael A. Benson
1992	Rising Sun [Philip Kaufman] c; addph: Jamie Anderson & John Connor Sr.; + small part
1993	The Fugitive [Andrew Davis] c; ph b&w flashback footage: Frank Tidy; 2uc: Gary H. Holt & George Kohut; aph: Frank M. Holgate; spec vfx ph: John Mesa & Chris Dawson
1995	Primal Fear [Gregory Hoblit] c; aph: Frank Holgate
1995	Space Jam [Joe Pytka] c; addph: Jon Mentzer
1996	Homegrown [Stephen Gyllenhaal] c; addph; ph: Greg Gardiner
1997	Six Days, Seven Nights [Ivan Reitman] p/c; 2uc: John M. Stephens; aph: David Nowell; + small part
1998	The White River Kid/White River [Arne Glimcher] c; 2uc: Tony Jannelli; + small part
1998	The Story of Us [Rob Reiner] c; + small part
1999	The Watcher [Joe Charbanic & Jeff Jensen] c; Los Angeles ph: Joplin Wu
2000	Evolution [Ivan Reitman] s35/c; + small part
2002	Suspect Zero [E. Elias Merhige] 8mm+16mm+35mm+v-to-35mm/c; 2uc: Philip Pfeiffer; + small part
2003	Eulogy [Michael Clancy] c; + small part
2003	House of D [David Duchovny] c; + small part
2005	Hoot [Wil Shriner] c; aph: David Norris; efx unit ph: Peter Zuccarini
2006	Bridge to Terabithia [Gabor Csupo] c; splinter unit ph: John Cavill

TELEVISION

1974	Death Be Not Proud [Donald Wrye] tvm
1977	King [Abby Mann] 3-part miniseries; addph: Gerald Hirschfeld
1980	Steve Martin: Comedy Is Not Pretty [Joseph Cates] special/60m
1988	Gotham/The Dead Can't Lie [Lloyd Fonvielle] tvm; + small part
1991	Kathleen Battle and Wynton Marsalis in Baroque Duet [Pat Jaffe (perf seg)] special for PBS-tv/90m; ph perf seg; doc ph: Albert Maysles

FILMS AS CAMERA OPERATOR

1965	Who Killed Teddy Bear [Joseph Cates] c.asst; ph: Joseph Brun
1968	End of the Road [Aram Avakian] ph: Gordon Willis
1968	Loving [Irvin Kershner] ph: Gordon Willis
1969	Husbands [John Cassavetes] co-c.op. New York unit; ph: Victor Kemper
1969	The Landlord [Hal Ashby] ph: Gordon Willis
1970	Little Murders [Alan Arkin] ph: Gordon Willis
1970	Klute [Alan Pakula] ph: Gordon Willis
1971	The Godfather [Francis Coppola] ph: Gordon Willis
1971	Bad Company [Robert Benton] ph: Gordon Willis
1974	Jaws [Steven Spielberg] ph: Bill Butler

FILMS AS DIRECTOR

1983	All the Right Moves/All Right [ph: Jan de Bont]
1984	The Clan of the Cave Bear [ph: Jan de Bont]
1985	Annihilator [tvm] ph: Paul Goldsmith
1994	The Viking Sagas/The Islandic Sagas [+ story] ph: Dean Lent