Roger Deakins. A legendary cinematographer who has absurdly never won an Oscar, despite being nominated 14 times. His latest nod is for “Blade Runner 2049,” the painterly sci-fi sequel from director Denis Villeneuve, their third collaboration together. Much of the film’s atmospheric brilliance was due to Deakins’ work, and it certainly appears that Villeneuve gave Deakins carte blanche, which wasn’t a bad idea, especially since the two complemented each other to great degrees in their other two projects (watch “Sicario” and “Prisoners” if you already haven’t.) With all that being said, we figure this will finally be the movie that will have Deakins win his elusive first Oscar. After all, “Blade Runner 2049” was a transportive visual feast for the eyes which had no less than a dozen, or so, of the best shots of the entire movie year.
Bruno Delbonnel shines a light on the Cinematography of Darkest Hour
Deakins’ chances of winning were significantly improved late Saturday evening when he won the American Society of Cinematographers top prize. This is the fourth ASC award Deakins has won in his illustrious career (“The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There” and “Skyfall” being the others) but the win does not necessarily mean that he is now a cinch to win the Oscar. In the first 31 years of the ASC Awards, the winner has gone on to win the Oscar only 13 times. However, 3 of those 13 wins (Emmanuel Lubezki‘s “Gravity,” “Birdman” and “The Revenant”) have happened in the last four years. Deakins bested the same four nominees he will be facing come Oscar night: Bruno Delbonnel (“Darkest Hour”), Hoyte van Hoytema (“Dunkirk”), Rachel Morrison (“Mudbound”) and Dan Laustsen (“The Shape of Water”).
Yes, this ASC win is fantastic momentum for the 68-year-old DP, but a few obstacles still lie in Deakins’ path to victory. “Blade Runner 2049” isn’t the kind of accessible film the Academy tends to warm up to. Its cold, distant frames are what drives the narrative forward and that can easily turn off the most inattentive and/or unadventurous of viewers. Another obstacle in Deakins’ path is the fact that on the Oscar ballot only the title of the film is written down, not the cinematographer’s name, that could easily bypass uninformed voters’ heads and lead them to forget about Deakins. At the end of the day, does an Oscar even matter when you’ve already built up a career with some of the most finely photographed films in cinematic history? Sure, an Oscar would be nice but Deakins’ legend has already been sealed.
As for the rest of the awards, on the television side Adriano Goldman and “The Crown” surprised in the Episodic for Non-Commercial Television category beating out formidable contenders from “Game of Thrones,” last year’s winner. Boris Mojsovski won the Episodic for Commercial Television honor for “12 Monkeys.” Famed cinematographer Russel Carpenter (“Titanic”) earned a Lifetime Achievement Award while Angelia Jolie, Russel Boyd, Alan Caso and Stephen Lightill were also honored.
Check out the full list of ASC Award winners and nominees below:
THEATRICAL RELEASE
Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC for “Blade Runner 2049” – WINNER
Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC for “Darkest Hour”
Hoyte van Hoytema, ASC, FSF, NSC for “Dunkirk”
Dan Laustsen, DFF for “The Shape of Water”
Rachel Morrison, ASC for “Mudbound”
SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Máté Herbai, HSC for “On Body and Soul”
Mikhail Krichman, RGC for “Loveless”
Mart Taniel for “November” – WINNER
EPISODIC NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
Gonzalo Amat for “The Man in the High Castle” (“Land O’ Smiles”)
Adriano Goldman, ASC, ABC for “The Crown” (“Smoke and Mirrors”) – WINNER
Robert McLachlan, ASC, CSC for “Game of Thrones” (“The Spoils of War”)
Gregory Middleton, ASC, CSC for “Game of Thrones” (“Dragonstone”)
Alasdair Walker for “Outlander” (“The Battle Joined”)
EPISODIC COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
Dana Gonzales, ASC for “Legion” (“Chapter 1”)
David Greene, ASC, CSC for “12 Monkeys” (“Mother”)
Kurt Jones for “The Originals” (“Bag of Cobras”)
Boris Mojsovski, CSC for “12 Monkeys” (“Thief”) – WINNER
Crescenzo Notarile, ASC for “Gotham” (“The Executioner”)
MOTION PICTURE, MINI-SERIES OR PILOT MADE FOR TELEVISION
Pepe Avila del Pino for “The Deuce” (Pilot)
Serge Desrosiers, CSC for “Sometimes the Good Kill”
Mathias Herndl, AAC for “Genius” (“Chapter 1”) – WINNER
Shelly Johnson, ASC for “Training Day” (Pilot – “Apocalypse Now”)
Christopher Probst, ASC for “Mindhunter” (Pilot)
Lifetime Achievement Award
Russell Carpenter, ASC
Board of Governors Award
Angelina Jolie
Career Achievement in Television Award
Alan Caso, ASC
International Award
Russell Boyd, ASC, ACS
Presidents Award
Stephen Lighthill, ASC
ASC Andrew Lesnie Heritage Award — Undergraduate
Logan Fulton, “Widow”
ASC Andrew Lesnie Heritage Award — Graduate
Favienne Howsepian, “Snowplow”
ASC Haskell Wexler Student Documentary Award
Connor Ellman, “Forever Home”