Few movies so completely captured the era of the swinging sixties as Michael Caine's 'Alfie'. Now, nearly forty years later, the film has been recreated for a new generation with Jude Law in the starring role of the womanising Alfie. The Paramount Pictures production was produced and directed by Charles Shyer, who also wrote the screenplay with Elaine Pope. He has described their version of 'Alfie' as, "A different character for a different social mindset. I feel Elaine Pope and I got inspired by a great movie - re-visited the original source material, the play and the novel - and then sort of went off on our own." The new version is set in New York and Alfie is an Englishman who loves life in the Big Apple. When he isn't riding around the city on his vintage Vespa scooter Alfie works as a limousine driver, but mostly he likes nothing better than spending his time with the ladies. Director of Photography Ashley Rowe BSC, whose credits include 'The Affair of the Necklace', 'The Governess' and 'Calendar Girls', talks about his approach to filming the project. |  | | | DoP Ashley Rowe BSC | |
ARRI MEDIA: The production pays homage to the 1960's classic, was this an added pressure and therefore more of a challenge? Ashley Rowe: It's hard to remake a classic. Although Jude's character is similar to that of Alfie played by Michael Caine this Alfie is more likeable, he comes over as a softer, more contemporary fellow. The original film was shot using single shots, sometimes tracking for Alfie's pieces to camera. With modern film techniques close-ups are used more often, sometimes too often, so we tried to cover scenes in one shot and keep coverage to a minimum. AM: How did you go about making this work? AR: Firstly, we did some tests with Jude and found that it only seemed to work really well when we shot the pieces to camera in one single set-up, static or moving with him. Normally when shooting a long scene you would shoot from lots of different angles to make the scene cut, but it looked odd when we cut to another position and he turned to that camera. It looked more like a multi-camera studio set-up. The style felt more real with one camera taking him from one place to another, as if he was talking directly to you. AM: You used a lot of Steadicam shots, how did this work? AR: Normally you would hire Steadicam on a daily basis but because of our approach to this production we hired for the duration of the shoot as this enabled us to do complex camera moves whenever we wanted. Our Steadicam Operator Vince McGann, who also operated second camera, moves his Steadicam as if on a dolly - rock solid. Having him full time meant that we could get all the complicated camera moves when required. AM: Although principal photography took place at Pinewood and also in Manchester you completed the shoot in New York? AR: Yes, most of our exteriors were shot in New York. Although we hired from ARRI Media in the UK, CSC supplied the camera equipment in New York. However, we made sure that our lenses went with us. We shot with Zeiss Ultra Primes; the whole set, and doubled up for the second camera. My Focus Puller Ian Clarke netted all our lenses. In order to meet the shooting schedule we took them with us. AM: You used the ARRIFLEX 535B and MOVIECAM SL, why did you select these particular cameras? AR: I used two 535Bs, one for A camera and the other for B camera, plus a MOVIECAM SL for Steadicam and hand-held work. Vince prefers a MOVIECAM for Steadicam due to balance. Both Ian and myself love using ARRI gear from ARRI Media as we find everything's compatible and ARRI Media have given us such great service over the years. I've been using the 535B for a long time now. When I'm shooting I like to light and operate. In fact, I light and operate on everything I do. I love the viewfinder system, it gives an excellent clear image and I like the way the eyepiece flips over to the other side and extends for use in tight places. On this particular shoot it proved invaluable for the scenes in the limousines and town cars. AM: You chose a contemporary look for the lighting, what were your thoughts behind this? AR: The Director Charles Shyer had a very strong vision for the film, months before we started shooting he sent over lots of images that he had researched and sourced because he liked the mood and atmosphere they conjured up. Jude's character meets and interacts with six different women, all quite different from each other and all with completely different lives. Sophie Bercher, the Production Designer, came up with some very strong, very stylistically different environments for each character and each of these brings a different style and colour to reflect their personalities. What I did was to light it accordingly, to complement Sophie's designs. AM: Did you use any other camera techniques? AR: Apart from finding interesting ways to photograph Alfie's pieces to camera, I used various equipment, including a TechnoCrane, Libra Mount, Macro lenses, Shift & Tilt lenses, and a Strada Crane to achieve some shots. We used digital fx to transition between scenes and had 3 dimensional models for our window backings for some of our studio builds like Alfie's interior apartment. As we shot so many different times of day and seasons it was the only way to ring the changes with lighting. AM: How did you find your experience working on this film? AR: Because this film was different to anything that I had done before, actors talking to camera, the shooting style we used, it was a new experience and it's always enjoyable to do something you haven't done before. It was fantastic working with Jude Law, who I think brought something new to the film. Charles Shyer never saw this as a remake but more of a re-invention, hopefully this is reflected in the film.
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