ROGER DEAKINS
15 minutes later our stew arrived! We never asked what the meat was but it tasted great! The best food I have ever tasted was in Kingswear on Higher Contour Road. Manna from Devon! A shameless plug but I am quite serious!
MFD Thanks Roger – that was rather unexpected! Crashing on… You filmed one of adventurer John Ridgeway’s expeditions on a boat – did you have to get hands-on and cook in the galley as well? RD Yes, I crewed and shot a documentary on board John Ridgeway’s yacht in the Whitbread Round the World Race of 1977/8. The boat had various sponsors including, what must have been, a manufacturer of dried foods. Their product was bad enough but the fact that the boat’s fiberglass water tanks hadn’t been cleaned properly made the resulting meals particularly hard to take. but the flying fish we managed to catch and fry down below tasted all the better as did that first meal when we got into port - magic! My girlfriend asked me what I wanted to eat when we got back to Portsmouth at the end of our 9-month trip and I said just a pint of fresh milk. As we entered Portsmouth harbor, a motorboat came out to greet us carrying my pint of milk. Perfect!
MFD I’m sure most of us have an image of film set catering in huge buses at all times of the day and night. How does it work? Does food just become fuel when you’re on set or are you able to sit down and eat together? RD Film catering can vary from something quite basic resembling a fast food café to a quite reasonable restaurant. I remember being on location in a remote region of Northern Kenya and our German caterer managed fresh lobster from Mombassa for our crew of something like100 people. Mostly, the camera crew has little down time so we eat on the run. It’s a case of food
as fuel with little or no time to enjoy or to dislike it. Often films will shoot on without a lunch break and a day can last between 10 and 16 hours, sometimes even longer. An ability to eat on the run is essential.
MFD You split your time between Kingswear and LA –What do you miss from the one when you are in the other? RD I have good friends both in LA and in Devon but, more than anything, my work is based in LA. I miss many things when I am in Devon and many things when I am in LA. I am lucky to live a life that combines the two. I miss the Devon countryside and the pace of life but I equally miss the energy of LA. I often miss the rain and the changes in the weather that are so much part of
“I am flattered to have been awarded a CBE. I don’t think any cinematographer has had such an award and it is quite humbling to think about that.”
Devon life, but after three weeks or more of constant rain it is hard not to miss the Californian sun.
MFD What do you like to do when you’re here in Kingswear? RD I always enjoy my morning run to Scabbacombe or Man Sands, regardless of the time of year or the weather. Within reason that is! Both my wife and I enjoy walking and exploring the countryside. The Pilchard Inn is a favorite or the Pig’s nose at Prawle, but we love to find new pubs and restaurants. For years we longed for a Thai restaurant to come to open in Dartmouth but, only a few short years after it did and after it became our favourite eatery, it burnt down.
MFD You’ve become an American citizen – why did you decide to do that and has it changed how you see things here and in the States? RD James, my wife, was born in
the US and it seemed only natural that, after living in LA for 16 years and feeling at home in LA, I took citizenship. i also wanted the right to vote. I would never judge one country better than the other and that’s not why i took citizenship. it’s funny how two countries can be so different but so much the same.
MFD You’ve received lots of accolades and awards over the years, from BAFTAS to Oscar Nominations and just recently a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. How do you celebrate and how did you celebrate the CBE? Which awards provide the best party food? RD I just take it as it comes. Everything is a life experience. I love being a cinematographer and, of course, i am flattered to have been awarded a CBE. I don’t think any cinematographer has had such an award and it is quite humbling to think about that. I do, however, prefer the anonymity of being a cinematographer and being behind the camera rather than in front of it. Who does the best food? I think the Governors Ball, which is the Academy’s event after the Oscar award ceremony, has the best food but after sitting at the awards show for some hours the hunger pangs might blur one’s objectivity.
MFD What’s your favourite film to have worked on and why? RD I have been incredibly lucky to work on a number of films, which have been both amazing experiences and also very happy experiences. My wife James is a script supervisor and we met on a film some 23 years ago in South Dakota. That turned out to be a very happy experience. We also worked together on a film that was directed my Martin Scorsese about the Dali Lama called ‘Kundun’. We shot in Morocco with a cast of Tibetans gathered from all parts of the globe. How lucky can one be? I am surprised that ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ regularly appears towards the top of best film surveys. It was a hard shoot and I always
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