Robert McLachlanis a Canadiancinematographer.A successful cyclist in his youth, McLachlan quit the sport to take up cinematography, and entered the field after studying atSimon Fraser University,McLachlan was mentored byRichard Leiterman.His professional career began with documentary work forGreenpeace,before he became involved in both television and feature films; his work has subsequently earned him several industry awards and award nominations.
McLachlan, who was inspired by both his father's photography and his own appreciation for the filmsButch Cassidy and the Sundance KidandWalkaboutto choose his career path, would go on to find recognition as the chief cinematographer for the television seriesMillennium,for which he was scouted specifically. McLachlan's style on this series led to several industry awards and briefly became popular in the medium, as well as leading him directly to future work onGame of Thrones.He founded the documentary production companyOmni Film Productionsin the 1970s, later selling his share of the company.
Early life and education
edit
In his youth, McLachlan was an avid cyclist, accrediting this to the fact that his home townVancouverwas not cold enough for ponds to freeze over to playice hockeyon. During his teenage years, he trained upwards of six hours a day, and won several national championships in the sport. He qualified to represent Canada in the1976 Summer Olympics,but the lack of funding for cycling in North America at the time would have necessitated him funding his own journey and leaving school to do so; McLachlan opted instead to remain in education and focus on his interest in photography.[1]
McLachlan first became interested incinematographyafter viewing the 1969 filmButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid;Nicolas Roeg's work on the 1971 filmWalkaboutfurther cemented his interest in the field. McLachlan was also motivated by his father, who was an avid photographer.[2]An early school assignment to create aSuper 8 filmproject, for which he received an A grade, also proved a formative influence.[3]
McLachlan studied fine art at theUniversity of British Columbiafor a year, before changing courses to attend classes atSimon Fraser University's film department. McLachlan's education focussed on the documentary style ofJohn Grierson;however, when he began work in 1987, he was mentored byRichard Leiterman.[2]McLachlan also cites influences outside the field of cinematography, drawing influence from thechiaroscuro,Dutch artandpre-Raphaelitemovements of visual art, and the works ofAndrew WyethandGeorges de La Tourin particular.[4]
Career
editHaving graduated, McLachlan andMichael Chechikfounded the production companyOmni Film Productionsin 1979, and began to work withGreenpeace,filming documentary footage on a range of subjects. McLachlan narrowly avoided trouble on several of these shoots, finding himself arrested for filming too close to anExxonoil tanker and scarcely missing being assaulted bytrophy huntersinBritish Columbia.McLachlan would later sell his stake in Omni, but remains proud of their documentary work. At the time, McLachlan was unsuccessful in joining an industry union, relegating his work to advertising and small-scale productions; his first union-backed project was on the revival of the television seriesSea Hunt.[1]
McLachlan found success on theFoxtelevision seriesMillennium,earning several awards for his work on the show.[5]He was head-hunted for the series by its creatorChris Carter,who had seen his work on the seriesStrange Luck.McLachlan was initially offered a position shooting Carter's other active series,The X-Files,then in itsthird season,but was unable to start work in time.[3]He developed a distinctive style for the series, shooting it withdesaturatedcolours and lighting scenes as though they were to be filmed in black and white; he also made use of high-intensity strobe lighting usually employed for advertising andmacro cinematography.[6]McLachlan has noted that this style briefly became popular after the series' broadcast but that other cinematographers had difficulty adjusting to it.[7]
Having worked onMillenniumwith directorDavid Nutter,McLachlan was able to parley this connection into a role on theHBOfantasy seriesGame of Thrones.McLachlan has called working on the show's ten-person cinematography team "a major logistical challenge", noting the complexity of its out-of-sequence filming schedules as something unseen on a television series before.[8]McLachlan has also worked on the programmeRay Donovan,and has based that series' cinematography on bothfilm noiraesthetics and those of 1970s cinema, specifically citingThe Long Goodbye,The Parallax ViewandAll the President's Men,as well as the work ofGordon Willis.[9]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Abducted | Boon Collins |
| 1992 | Impolite | David Hauka |
| Ellen's Story | Robert A. Duncan | |
| 2000 | Final Destination | James Wong |
| 2001 | The One | |
| 2003 | Willard | Glen Morgan |
| 2005 | Cursed | Wes Craven |
| King's Ransom | Jeffrey W. Byrd | |
| 2006 | Final Destination 3 | James Wong |
| Black Christmas | Glen Morgan | |
| 2009 | Dragonball Evolution | James Wong |
| 2021 | Nightbooks | David Yarovesky |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988-1990 | The Beachcombers | Rex Bromfield Marc Strange Bruno Gerussi Brad Turner Sturla Gunnarsson Alan Simmonds Stefan Scaini René Bonnière Don S. Williams Neill Fearnley |
19 episodes |
| 1989-1995 | Neon Rider | ||
| 1991-1994 | Northwood | 29 episodes | |
| 1991 | MacGyver | Michael Preece | Episodes "Trail of Tears" and "Hind-Sight" |
| Max Glick | George Bloomfield Al Waxman Stacey Stewart Curtis Stephen Surjik Stefan Scaini Patrick Corbett |
Season 2 | |
| 1992 | The Odyssey | Jorge Montesi Brad Turner Graeme Campbell William Brayne Don McBrearty T. W. Peacocke Rex Bromfield |
12 episodes |
| 1993 | Cobra | Brad Turner | Episode "Push It" |
| 1993-1995 | The Commish | 45 episodes | |
| 1995 | Strange Luck | 16 episodes | |
| 1996-1999 | Millennium | 65 episodes | |
| 2001 | The Lone Gunmen | Rob Bowman | Episode "Pilot" |
| 2002 | Pasadena | Sanford Bookstaver Roy H. Wagner |
Episodes "The Truth Hurts" and "A Lie Worth Fighting For" |
| 2003 | Out of Order | Henry Bromell Tim Hunter Roger Kumble Wayne Powers |
4 episodes |
| Tarzan | David Nutter David Solomon Perry Lang |
4 episodes | |
| Tru Calling | Phillip Noyce | Episode "Pilot" | |
| 2007 | Bionic Woman | Tim Matheson Steve Boyum Paul Shapiro |
3 episodes |
| 2009 | Harper's Island | All 13 episodes | |
| 2011 | Human Target | 24 episodes | |
| The Secret Circle | 21 episodes | ||
| 2013 | King & Maxwell | 8 episodes | |
| 2013-2017 | Game of Thrones | David Nutter Michelle MacLaren Matt Shakman |
8 episodes |
| 2013-2019 | Ray Donovan | 54 episodes | |
| 2016 | Westworld | Neil Marshall Jonny Campbell Frederick E. O. Toye Stephen Williams |
4 episodes |
| 2019 | Batwoman | Marcos Siega | Episode "Pilot" |
| 2020 | Lovecraft Country | Yann Demange Daniel Sackheim Victoria Mahoney Misha Green Nelson McCormick |
6 episodes |
| 2022 | Shining Girls | Michelle MacLaren Elisabeth Moss |
4 episodes |
| American Gigolo | David Hollander Tucker Gates Gregg Araki Damian Marcano Natasha Braier Cheryl Dunye |
7 episodes | |
| 2023 | 1923 | Guy Ferland | Episodes "Ghost of Zebrina" and "One Ocean Closer to Destiny" |
| 2024 | Yellowstone | Taylor Sheridan | Episode "Life Is a Promise" |
| 2024-2025 | Landman | Taylor Sheridan Michael Friedman Stephen Kay |
6 episodes |
TV movies
| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | What's Wrong with Neil? | Brad Turner |
| 1993 | Adrift | Christian Duguay |
| Other Women's Children | Anne Wheeler | |
| 1995 | When the Vows Break | Eric Till |
| 1996 | Abduction of Innocence | James A. Contner |
| Murder at My Door | Eric Till | |
| 2000 | A Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle | Donald Wrye |
| The New Adventures of Spin and Marty: Suspect Behavior | Rusty Cundieff | |
| High Noon | Rod Hardy | |
| 2002 | The New Beachcombers | Brad Turner |
| 2004 | The Robinsons: Lost in Space | John Woo |
| 2005 | Once Upon a Mattress | Kathleen Marshall |
| 2006 | A Little Thing Called Murder | Richard Benjamin |
| 2010 | The Boy Who Cried Werewolf | Eric Bross |
| Betwixt | Christian Duguay | |
| 2011 | Heavenly | Mimi Leder |
Accolades
editMcLachlan has been nominated for, and won, several awards over the course of his career. He has been nominated four times for theAmerican Society of Cinematographersawards, three times for his work on the television seriesMillenniumand once for the television filmHigh Noon.[5]He has also won severalCanadian Society of Cinematographersawards, including wins for the filmsWillardandImpolite,as well as for several episodes ofMillenniumandThe Lone Gunmen.[10]McLachlan's work onGame of ThronesreceivedEmmy Awardnominations in 2013 and 2015,[11][12]and a Canadian Society of Cinematographers award nomination in 2015; he was also nominated by the latter society for his cinematography on the seriesRay Donovan.[13]
Canadian Society of Cinematographers
| Year | Category | Work | Episode | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Outstanding Documentary Cinematography | Various | — | Won | |
| 1986 | Won | ||||
| 1987 | Won | ||||
| 1994 | Outstanding TV Drama Cinematography | The Commish | Nominated | ||
| 1996 | Outstanding Feature Cinematography | Impolite | Won | ||
| 1997 | Outstanding TV Drama Cinematography | Millennium | Won | ||
| 1996 | Won | ||||
| 1999 | Won | ||||
| 2000 | The Lone Gunmen | Won | |||
| 2000 | High Noon | Nominated | |||
| 2000 | Outstanding Feature Film Cinematography | Final Destination | Nominated | ||
| 2004 | Willard | Won | |||
| 2015 | TV series Cinematography | Game of Thrones | "Oathkeeper" | Nominated | |
| 2015 | Ray Donovan | "The Captain" | Nominated |
American Society of Cinematographers
| Year | Category | Work | Episode | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a Regular Series | Millennium | "The Thin White Line" | Nominated | |
| 1999 | "Skull and Bones" | Nominated | |||
| 2000 | "Matryoshka" | Nominated | |||
| 2000 | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a Movie of the Week, Miniseries or Pilot (Basic or Pay) | High Noon | — | Nominated |
Primetime Emmy Awards
| Year | Category | Work | Episode | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series | Game of Thrones | "Mhysa" | Nominated | |
| 2015 | "The Dance of Dragons" | Nominated |
Notes
edit- ^ab"From Greenpeace Gigs to Ray Donovan".American Society of Cinematographers.March 4, 2015.RetrievedSeptember 8,2015.
- ^ab"The ASC – American Cinematographer: ASC Close-Up".American Society of Cinematographers.June 2008.RetrievedMarch 2,2014.
- ^abMcLean et al. 2012,p. 398.
- ^McLean et al. 2012,p. 402.
- ^abc"The ASC – Past ASC Awards".American Society of Cinematographers.Archived fromthe originalon November 12, 2010.RetrievedMarch 2,2014.
- ^McLean et al. 2012,p. 356.
- ^McLean et al. 2012,pp. 401–403.
- ^DeMara, Bruce (April 5, 2014)."Game of Thrones stressful but inspiring for Robert McLachlan".Toronto Star.RetrievedJanuary 25,2015.
- ^Giardina, Carolyn (June 11, 2015)."Emmys: How to Re-Create 13th Century China".The Hollywood Reporter.RetrievedSeptember 8,2015.
- ^ab"Robert McLachlan – Credits and Awards"(PDF).Robert McLachlan.RetrievedMarch 2,2014.
- ^ab"Nominees/Winners".Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.RetrievedMarch 2,2014.
- ^ab"Nominees/Winners | Television Academy".Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.RetrievedSeptember 21,2015.
- ^ab"CSC Awards 2015".Canadian Society of Cinematographers.Archived fromthe originalon April 8, 2016.RetrievedSeptember 8,2015.
References
edit- McLean, James; Henriksen, Lance; Spotnitz, Frank; Carter, Chris (2012). Chamberlain, Adam; Dixon, Brian A. (eds.).Back to Frank Black.Fourth Horseman Press.ISBN978-0988392298.