What happened to John Toll?

Tom Lowe

Tom Lowe

Well-known member
tollmp3.jpg


John Toll won back-to-back Oscars in the mid 90s, and then was robbed of another Oscar for The Thin Red Line.

My Question is: what happened to his career? Why didn't Malick (TTRL) or Gibson (Braveheart) ask him to come back for The New World or Apocalypto?

He has made some good films, like Almost Famous, but he has not gotten back to his place as probably the top cinematographer around.
 
Robbed

This is one of the first years in Oscarland where I realized it was all bullshite and politics and the Academy always has an agenda

Best Picture goes to Shakespeare in Love and Gwyneth get's the Oscar ?

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But as beautiful as TRL is, the oscar was fully deserved by Janusz. What they did with Saving Private Ryan not only in terms of the look and feel of the film, but in technique, was revolutionary; they defined a look and set a precedent

High Speed shutters, lenses with the protective emulsion removed, combat photography style, hand held drills attached to the cameras to induce shake ? These are techniques that will stay with the filmmaking world forever and they defined the HOW TO of the war film

But yes, Toll's work was gorgeous and i found his work on The Last Samurai just as beautiful and was surpried there wasn't a nod

But the Academy has an agenda and Toll has gotten his due; two to be exact

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John, I understand, and I do not want this thread to be a Private Ryan vs Thin Red Line thread, because a thread like that could stand on its own!

but yeah, what happened to Toll? why didn't Malick or Gibson work with him again, after he turned in such beautiful work to both of them?
 
John_Hudson said:
Good questions

I confess I haven't an idea

(But now am starting an SPR vs TRL thread in Film Discussion!)
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lol man, i have been involved in like 10 of those... prepare for battle!!! :kali:
 
Randomly, I was confused and thought this was a thread about John Titor.

Toll appears to have been keeping reasonably busy. He certainly hasn't disappeared, and was behind the lens for Last Samurai which, while IMO overrated, was very pretty.
 
Almost Famous was also very well done, in terms of cinematography, but my question is: why didn't directors who had worked with Toll on Oscar-caliber-cinematography films like Braveheart and TTRL.... why didn't they ask Toll back?
 
GenJerDan said:
How do you know they didn't and he declined?
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#1, because i have read magazine articles about how Malick and Gibson selected their DPs for The New World and Apocalypto, and Toll was not mentioned at all.
 
cyclone said:
He's a dream and very accomodating. He shot a spot for me a few years ago.
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you had a chance to work with Toll? what type of project?

usually people who know him and have worked with him always have great things to say about Toll, which is why it surprises me that he has not been working with some of the people he worked with in the 90s, and that he is not as dominate in cinematography as he once was.
 
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It could have been anything - scheduling conflict or otherwise. Like most directors, Spielberg changes things up every once in a while.

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many cinematographers hit a "age" and decide to cut back on those projects that take them away from their family's for long periods of time ? many keep up the creativeness shooting commercials ...

there have been several DP's that won 2-3 awards very close to each other and then cut back ... some tried their hand at Directing and when that didn't work out few have made it back as a A list DP ...

i can't figure out why Victorio Storaro shot the 2 Exorcist films in 2004/05 ??
other then $$ ?????
 
donatello said:
i can't figure out why Victorio Storaro shot the 2 Exorcist films in 2004/05 ??
other then $$ ?????
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Maybe he liked Schrader's vision for the film, and just stuck with the project when it changed hands. Although I could see it being an interesting experiment, shooting the "same" movie back-to-back with two different directors and seeing what happened.
 
I don't think it is a question of why John Toll declined

it was a new generation of dps/directors breaking down the doors, deft at working with dramatic structures fresh to the western audience(reservoir dogs, requiem for a dream, dancer in the dark, amores perros, memento etc...)

hands down the hottest cinematographer is Rodrigo Prieto

he became the 'it' lensman, he's shooting in China with Ang Lee again
 
Tom Lowe said:
you had a chance to work with Toll? what type of project?

usually people who know him and have worked with him always have great things to say about Toll, which is why it surprises me that he has not been working with some of the people he worked with in the 90s, and that he is not as dominate in cinematography as he once was.
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I produced a package of spots directed by James Gartner for an airline company and Gartner brought Toll onboard. Toll is very meticulous in what he does. Many D.P.'s "shoot from the hip" and grab shots for their director, sometimes on the fly. Toll had everything planned out (one of the spots had a huge rain rig in L.A.) and he would never just swing the camera around to 'grab a shot' as many cameramen are willing to do. It always involved completely thinking the shot through. Gartner was the same way. Toll was very friendly and shared his knowledge freely. My questions to him were mostly about filters. I remember talking with him about the differences between white pro mist and black pro mist filters. His crew loved him. He shot with very few lights, respecting negative space and shadows. I try to learn something from everyone I work with - and not 'over-lighting' is something that I hope I learned from him.
 
sparkle_and_fade said:
I don't think it is a question of why John Toll declined

it was a new generation of dps/directors breaking down the doors, deft at working with dramatic structures fresh to the western audience(reservoir dogs, requiem for a dream, dancer in the dark, amores perros, memento etc...)

hands down the hottest cinematographer is Rodrigo Prieto

he became the 'it' lensman, he's shooting in China with Ang Lee again
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I would argue that Emmanuel Lubezki is the "it" DP right now. If you compare the cinematography of Babel vs Children of Men, Lubezki wins hands down IMO.
 
hands down the hottest cinematographer is Rodrigo Prieto
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I would argue that Emmanuel Lubezki is the "it" DP right now.
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Love Prieto's work and Lubeski's work

If you compare the cinematography of Babel vs Children of Men, Lubezki wins hands down IMO.
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Tom ! A bit subjective isn't it ?

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Phedon Papamichael is one I enjoy. I like Dion Beebe's dabble in digital; he's pushing the boundaries on that technology

Vilmos Zsigmond did his most inspiring work since the Deer Hunter recently on The Black Dahlia

Robert Richardson does killer work with this body of work ! Consistent !

The Aviator
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Casino
Natural Born Killers
JFK
Eight Men Out
Platoon
 
John, I think Lubezki is the new rock star of cinematography. Last year's The New World (Lubezki) is my favorite piece of cinemaotgraphy since Toll's Thin Red Line.

And people who don't even know anything or care anything about cinematography are talking about Lubezki's camera work on Children of Men. I loved Babel, but I just think Children of Men is groundbreaking work.
 
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