I came up in photography, and Dust Bowl-era photography is a lot of the reason that I got behind the camera in the first place.
— Rachel Morrison
It's hard to go back to shooting contemporary apartment interiors after you shoot something like 'Mudbound.'
I've had something like seven films at Sundance, one of which won the Grand Jury Prize.
You can only shoot small movies and documentaries for so long if you want to have a family that you support; eventually, you need to get let into the big leagues.
Your movie becomes much more narrow-minded when you have like-minded department heads. Whereas if you can surround yourself with people who have been a mother before, been a grandmother before, you get a much broader and wide-reaching swath of human emotions.
I gravitate much more toward realism, realism in the work that I do, but magical realism got me hooked on film. I think it was my first time realizing that there was something besides popcorn movies.
I'll never know what happens behind closed doors or why I don't get hired for things.
'Fruitvale' set the bar for what I wanted to do with my career, which was to make films that had consciousness and messaging in an entertaining package. Once I hit that mark, I never wanted to go back.
I didn't want 'Mudbound' to feel stylized in any way.
A period film is a gift for a cinematographer.
The theatrical experience is also a communal one. When people saw 'Fruitvale' in the theater, there was not a dry eye at the end of the movie, and you would look to your neighbor and have this shared moment together that had a real weight behind it.
The best kind of entertainment is the kind that also makes you question something or think outside the box or live another life. Those are the stories that I'm drawn to.
My wife jokes that any time I want to take a picture of her, it has nothing to do with her - it's just because the light is really nice. She's usually right. I definitely am somebody who notices the way the light skips off the floor.
Cinematography speaks to everything that women do inherently well: It's multitasking, it's empathy, and it's channeling visuals into human emotion.
It took me a long time to adapt to the West Coast. I lived eight years in New York before California and might have gone back. Then I discovered surfing. It's the California equivalent of ice hockey, I guess. It gave me a real sense of place.
Surfing is incredible. It's both meditative and physical. I think it was my way into California.
Lighting practically whenever I can when shooting period really helps with authenticity.
Half of 'Mudbound' were shots I stole in between other scenes.
As artists, we can't help but infuse our art with our own experience, so your experience becomes informative.
For me, it's always been about the work - it wasn't about, 'Let's go break some ceilings.' I just wanted to tell an important story and do the best work I can. Everything else is secondary.
I think you can make a gorgeous movie on any piece of equipment. Look at 'Tangerine,' which is a beautiful movie shot on an iPhone. You see so many movies that are impeccably shot but are vapid, and there's no audience for that except for other cinematographers who just like to watch two-hour-long music videos.
You just sort of get used to being one of the only women on set, so it's really refreshing to start to enter a time when that's not the case anymore.
I lived within walking distance of Harvard Square, and that's where I discovered my love of cinema. I saw a lot of foreign and independent films there.
