Deception Movie Trailer. Says Langenegger: “When we scouted for locations in, for example, offices or hotel rooms, we tried to find places that also offered a view of the city that would isolate Jonathan. I tried to find locations where we could see Jonathan in his glass box, and outside is Manhattan, the beautiful world that he has not been a part of.”
To create a look that would capture the film’s sensuality, thrills and unconventional characters, Langenegger and director of photography Dante Spinotti used Panavision’s new Genesis digital video camera. It was a choice that initially spurred much debate — Langenegger had wanted to shoot in film, while Spinotti preferred digital.
“It was interesting,” says David Bushell, “that we had this new-school, younger filmmaker [Langenegger] who wanted to stick with film, the old technology, and this old-school, giant of his profession [Spinotti] who was all for embracing the new, digital technology.” Finally, the two reached a compromise: Langenegger and Spinotti decided to split the film, roughly, into night and day. For the day, they would shoot film; for the night scenes, they shot with Genesis. (In the end, they shot some of the day sequences with Genesis as well).
Spinotti explains his preference for the Genesis camera: “What the Genesis camera does is capture the world of darkness and of night, so that we could really explore the visual world that goes from evening into the next morning.”
Typically, when a scene is shot at night, the set is flooded with so much light, that it can almost resemble daylight. The Genesis camera, however, works well using only available light. “The Genesis has a much stronger sensitivity,” Spinotti explains, “so it can read in the shadows much more than film does. Because of that, you can approach images in a different way. You can capture the fascination of what already exists, without having to modify it. It makes the whole film much more believable.”
Again mixing the “old” with the “new,” Spinotti and Langenegger used traditional Ziess lenses with the Genesis camera. When shooting with film, they used newly-developed Prima lenses. “We sort of took the edge off the digital image by using older lenses, and we tried to shoot the film image as sharp as possible, with Prima lenses, to better match the digital image,” Langenegger explains. “Our general idea was to get as close as possible to the fine grain of 70mm film.”
Acclaimed production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein and costume designer Sue Gandy also made significant contributions to the film’s look. “The character of Jonathan works at different companies every three or four days,” von Brandenstein says, “but he is never part of the life of the corporation he’s visiting. So, in a sense, these offices are all the same.
There are subtle differences in levels of prosperity, I suppose, but in essence it is all just the ‘corporate world.’ But when he discovers the wilder side of New York, through Wyatt, I wanted to show how enticing it was to him, but also that it was dangerous. So that world is full of bright, reflective surfaces and colors, but there is darkness underneath.”
Gandy, too, found herself trying to convey the differences between Jonathan’s two worlds. “There are splashes of red here and there, plus splashes of blue and gold. The inspiration for my clothing designs does come from Hitchcock films and film noir — using color only where it can make a statement. Marcel showed me photographs of the city, of how he wanted things to look. Lots of steely, New York cab colors, blood colors and vibrant blues.”
The result is a thriller that re-imagines the genre while simultaneously paying homage to it. “What Marcel, Dante, and the entire team, have done,” says Jackman, “is give DECEPTION a moody and intimate atmosphere. It’s almost dreamlike, in a way. It’s incredibly sexy, and the whole film kind of seduces you. It doesn’t rush you, it’s not formulaic in that normal thriller way. It just kind of draws you in.
“At the same time, it is a real roller-coaster ride. It’s smart, there are a lot of twists and turns, and it takes you on one hell of a ride.”
Deception (2008)
Directed by: Marcel Langenegger
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Michelle Wiliams, Maggie Q, Natasha Henstridge, Lynn Cohen, Stephanie Roth Haberle, Karolina Muller, Rachel Montez Minor, Melissa Rae Mahon, Holly Cruikshank
Screenplay by: Mark Bomback, Jason Keller, Patrick Marber
Production Design by: Patrizia von Brandenstein
Görüntü Yönetmeni Dante Spinotti
Film Editing by: Douglas Crise, Christian Wagner
Costume Design by: Sue Gandy
Set Decoration by: Diane Lederman
Art Direction by: John Kasarda
Music by: Ramin Djawadi
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, language, brief violence and some drug use.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: April 25, 2008
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