LOS ANGELES, USA – “I’d like to do a film made by a Filipino filmmaker,” said two-time Oscar-nominated Fil-Am cinematographer Matthew Libatique.

“It’s interesting,” added the director of photography of Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, and now, Bradley Cooper’s new Maestro, about potentially working with Filipino filmmakers.

“I pride myself on doing different things and trying to diversify. It would be interesting, like I was saying. Raya (Martin) is a friend of mine. Every one of his films is different, which is right up my alley because he’s always challenging himself.”

“And most of them, especially the ones that hit the world stage, I feel like I love the cinematic portrayal of the sociology of a Filipino and the psychology, politics, and some of the things that they say.”

“It’s wonderful to watch. I’d like to participate in it. But the time will come. I mean, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to see Lav but honestly, I wasn’t there long in Venice. And having two films there was not easy to break out of and actually do my own thing.”

Matthew, popularly known in the industry as Matty, was referring to his tight schedule, having both The Whale and Don’t Worry Darling at the recent Venice Film Festival, while Lav was also busy in his return to Lido via When the Waves Are Gone (Kapag Wala Na Ang Mga Alon).

The New York-born son of Filipino immigrants from Dagupan, Pangasinan and Lucena, Quezon is having a great year. It’s a culmination of his steady rise over the years, highlighted by his two Academy nods for Darren’s Black Swan and Bradley’s A Star Is Born. His other frequent collaborators include Spike Lee and Jon Favreau.

I asked him about going from sunny, bright open wide spaces in Olivia’s thriller to a dark, small apartment in Darren’s new psychological drama.

“I didn’t think about the transition too much,” Matthew replied. “But I actually appreciated the transition. The beauty of going from one project to another is that they are different. It’s important to exercise your versatility.”

“And no matter how beautiful it was to shoot Don’t Worry Darling in these beautiful spaces, there’s an expiration date on a film, which I appreciate, and which means it’s going to be over at some point. Then you can pivot to something else. I was happy for the change, to be honest with you.”

“But it posed new challenges. I was coming from something that was very beautiful to photograph to something that was as banal as an apartment in Idaho. And you just dive into the challenges of the film and what the goals are.”

Matthew elaborated on the specific challenges of lensing The Whale, a screen adaptation of the 2012 play of the same name by Samuel D. Hunter, who also wrote the screenplay.

He said, “With Darren and me, our early discussions were really about: How do we translate this cinematically? How far do we go? And we chose this sort of naturalistic approach that I think is successful in the movie and is rooted in a reality.”

“It’s kind of the opposite of what I had done in the previous film. So, I was appreciative.”

The highly regarded DP talked about shooting the scenes of Brendan Fraser as this 600-pound man whose mobility is restricted as a result.

The actor is excellent as Charlie, an online English professor who is eating himself to death, despondent over the suicide of his lover, a man for whom he left his family. Charlie, nearing the end of his life, is also trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

Matthew shared, “The challenge was that Brendan looked really uncomfortable, but to his credit, he used that discomfort as part of his character. And you’re watching this person. He’s such a good actor. I didn’t know if he was really struggling or if he was really in pain or he was acting.”

“But it was important to give Brendan his space. With actors, they’re put in a very vulnerable position, which is why they’re so appreciated in our society because they’re doing something that a lot of people can’t do.”

“They put themselves out there in a way and be very honest, embody a person, a character, become that person, and then actually let go of themselves. And whether they use anything from their personal life or not, they’re doing something that’s really kind of special.”

“And when you have a really great performance, they’re really doing something special. So, that was what I was witnessing. But to be honest, because Brendan was so consistently good, I didn’t really see the power of his performance until I saw the cut.”

“And even though I had a front-row seat to see it every day, the choices Brendan was making between take one and take four, and the choices Darren and he would collaborate on, you could see them in the movie.”

“I remember, I have a memory of them changing on camera. Like I said earlier, I love having a front-row seat to that thing. Yeah, Brendan was tremendous. But he was subtle. It was very hard to distinguish whether or not he was experiencing all these things or if he was acting.”

Matthew expanded on this quote he gave to The Telegraph Online: “Every director is an individual. If you take my work with Darren for example, we don’t rely on what we have done in our previous movies together…”

“If I am working with somebody for the first time — like with Olivia in Don’t Worry Darling, though I did do a short film with her earlier — things can change. What may be a close-up for one director may not be so for another.”

The holder of an MFA degree in cinematography at the American Film Institute, whose first collaboration with Darren Aronofsky was on 1991’s Pi, began, “I don’t presume that a person is going to be exactly the same person they were before, because the director is a storyteller motivated by the narrative in the screenplay, so that’s going to inform changes.”

“You get a sense, maybe you have an impression of how they’re going to lean and what they don’t like. But oftentimes, really good artists are challenging themselves and they’re not trying to do the same thing.”

“And they’re maybe tweaking themselves in drastic and subtle ways. As in cinematography, you just want to be as sensitive to that person as possible.”

“Like, okay, they’re really striving for something different here. And then trying to understand it. It’s incumbent upon us to actually understand what they’re trying to do, even, for example, if it wasn’t explained.”

“It’s watching their actions and how they want to tell their stories. What shots do they need? What choices are they making?”

“Just have to support them a hundred percent and understand that they’re doing it for a reason. And then help them on the next occasion when maybe we’re setting up something similar within a scene or a different scene.”

“But just honestly, it’s a question of sensitivity and awareness. Working with Olivia on Don’t Worry Darling was different from the short we did because the subject matter was different. So, it was handled differently.”

“And Darren’s always changing from film to film. He’s always changing. So, I try to approach everything with an open mind.”

While Brendan’s performance is earning best actor nomination buzz this awards season, the other cast members are just as good: Hong Chau, Sadie Sink, Ty Simpkins, and Samantha Morton.

“It was fantastic,” Matthew praised The Whale’s ensemble. “All of them. Again, coming off Don’t Worry Darling and working with that cast and then working with a new cast.”

“I was saying earlier that I didn’t really understand the true power of Brendan’s performance while we were making the film because he was so consistent and subtle. And his choices were so strong.”

“There were things that were unspoken that he was doing as an actor but he was sort of the sun and all the planets were sort of revolving around him in the film.”

“And Hong was tremendous. What wasn’t lost on me was how good Hong, Sadie, Samantha, and Ty were when we were shooting. And again, having that front-row seat there and watching these guys perform, then sort of bringing in that this is Charlie’s world and it’s represented through all these people.”

Don’t Worry Darling was hounded by controversies, including a rumored feud between Olivia and lead Florence Pugh. The issue was exacerbated by some critics unfairly bringing up Olivia’s relationship with Harry Styles in their reviews, which these reviewers would probably not even mention if the film were directed by a male.

Matthew answered, “That’s interesting. It’s a good question. I don’t get involved and I’ve been asked the question about the rumors on the film but I didn’t see anything happen when I was there.”

“So, I can’t speak to those rumors in terms of anything. All I know is it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Olivia represented herself and she represented the film in the best possible way as a director.”

“And critics are going to be critics. I don’t mind criticism. I think there’s a value. There are some really smart people who write a lot of smart things.”

“It’s when the criticisms become like gossipy and personal that I think that we need to check ourselves in our world. Because we’ve let way too many people have an opinion and we should take everybody’s opinion with a grain of salt.”

“Every time somebody writes something that’s personal about a filmmaker and not about the work, that demeans and diminishes every other writer out there who actually does a good job. So, that’s all I have to say about that.”

On capturing with his camera not only Florence, the actress who was compelling as Alice, a 1950s housewife who begins to suspect that something is not quite right in her perfect experimental community, but also Florence, the movie star, Matthew commented, “It’s all one and the same thing. One package. She’s tremendous.”

“This is why I credit Olivia, too. I think that everybody had a vibe – the way she cast the movie with the characters. Nick Kroll, for example, as Olivia’s character’s husband, Kate Berlant, and those guys had such comedic timing that they gave the group of people that we were getting familiar with such a reality and an entertaining quality.”

“It’s only even magnified by the fact that you realize this is a sort of fictitious world. But Florence drove the entire thing. I mean, her character drove the whole thing. And it speaks to her as an actress that she comes in very similar to Olivia.”

“This is why I love working with both of them. It was a creative energy where you could feel safe to have an idea, create, and then try and create again. After one take, what if we did this and then try that?”

“So, I felt like Florence, beyond just being a great actress, she’s a cinematic collaborator and it’s just a pleasure. It makes it such a pleasurable experience to make a film, which is difficult to do when you’re working from top to bottom, you’re working with collaborators and people who are creative. She’s certainly a creative force.”

Costarring with Florence, Harry, and Olivia in the thriller drama are Chris Pine, Kiki Layne, and Gemma Chan.

Matthew, whose early credits include music videos, from those of Tracy Chapman, to Justin Timberlake, to Rihanna, to Taylor Swift, said he did not lean on this experience when he shot Harry doing the barrel rolls and dancing in one scene.

“Harry Styles was an actor in this film,” explained the DP, who got his undergraduate degree at California State University, Fullerton. “He wasn’t a musician. And so, I relied more on the skill of trying to work with the director and putting the camera in the right place for the moment.”

“Sometimes you don’t know how things are going to be used. The barrel rolls – how much are we going to do? And we kept doing it over and over.”

“That scene was incredible to be around in, the energy of it, even though it was COVID times. We didn’t have as many people in the space as we would usually have but the energy was still very high.”

“And it was uncomfortable, not only because it was physically taxing for Harry but because of what it meant in the movie. There was tension.”

“But yeah, I don’t really think that my music video experience actually is speaking to my work these days. Put it that way. Really, I think it gets too much credit really, as something that would influence you your entire career. I just don’t think it does.”

“I think the films you do and the stories you tell influence your career more than the sort of selling aspect and advertising aspect of music videos. I think it doesn’t really play into storytelling.”

Matthew and his close friend and collaborator Darren are working on the re-release of Pi, which they made more than two decades ago. “It’s fun to have this memento of our careers together and looking at it and revisiting,” the cinematographer said.

“Every image in that film tells a story about the time from us personally. And just basically we’ve been looking at it, anticipating a potential re-release of the film.”

“So, we’re bringing it up to today’s technology, essentially. We’re revisiting or relooking at it. And it’s been a nice little visit to the past, for sure. But those were the early days.”

“I think we’re both aware of what that was and what it means but it just makes you feel youthful again, really just looking back on it and how kind of crazy we used to be.”

On Filipino actors like Dolly de Leon, Soliman Cruz, and Chai Fonacier making breakthrough performances as Pinoy characters in international cinema, Matthew remarked, “It just speaks to the evolution of Filipino cinema. The people you mentioned have made their mark in the cinematic community.”

“So, it solely stands to reason that other people, actresses, other craftspeople are looked up to and sought after to contribute to cinema around the world.”

“It doesn’t always have to be…like, I’m the shining example of, because I’m Filipino, it doesn’t mean all I tell are Filipino stories. Cinema and filmmaking are all about telling human stories.”

“So, having this natural progression is, let’s just say, I’m pleased to know that it’s happening and pleased to see it. We just have to continue. And the filmmaking community, I’ve had the good pleasure of meeting many Filipino cinematographers in Manila.”

“It’s an energetic and growing community. So, it’s only a matter of time where we see more Filipino films on the world stage. That’s a really exciting thing.”

At the time of our video conversation, Matthew was on the East Coast, lensing a project which he could not reveal. “I’m on NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement),” he explained.

He added, “I don’t have anything right after this. I’m going to finish this up. This has been the better part of what I’m on now which has been most of the year.”

“I have a couple more weeks and then I’m looking forward to the next thing. But I don’t have anything now.”

Well, now the cat’s out of the bag. It was announced that Matthew’s secret film is Maestro, which Bradley directs and stars in as the renowned late American conductor and composer, Leonard Bernstein.

The biographical drama is described as chronicling “the complex love of Leonard and Felicia (Carey Mulligan), from the time they met in 1946 at a party and continuing through two engagements, a 25-year marriage, and three children.”

The film, produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, reunites Matthew and Bradley. Their first team-up, A Star Is Born, resulted in Matthew’s second Oscar nomination.

With all these buzzworthy films, Matthew may score his third Academy nod. That the Fil-Am who worked as a teen delivering lechon to households in the LA area has come a long way is an understatement. – Rappler.com