Cinematographer Greig Fraser on the biggest challenge of filming Dune 2

“You’re not born wanting to be a cinematographer,” says Greig Fraser, the cinematographer for cinematographers like Garth Davis, Matt Reeves, Denis Villeneuve and others.

Fraser quickly became one of Hollywood’s most sought-after cinematographers after receiving critical acclaim for his work on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Dune: Part One, Dune: Part Two and The Batman. diversity honors him as a billionaire cinematographer at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

He has also become one of the most influential DPs, especially for aspiring filmmakers and film lovers.

“You learn something about filmmakers,” he says. “I remember when I was 7 or 8 years old I was writing a script about a war movie, we had a bunch of toy guns and army jackets and we thought, ‘Why can’t we do this?'” he says on the phone as he walks home from a shoot in the UK on a warm summer evening. One problem: He and his friends didn’t have a camera. “There was this youthful ignorance about why can’t we just make a movie? Without taking into account lack of skills or lack of shooting equipment,” he says.

“Grease,” Steven Spielberg and the “Star Wars” series expanded Fraser’s interest in film. When he got to college, he found the concept of filmmaking appealing. “It gave me the opportunity to have a job that was on the one hand a solo job and on the other hand [on] the other, communal.”

Fraser received one of his first co-cinematographer credits for Davis’ 2000 documentary PINS. “Working with Garth was one of the reasons I didn’t want to become a director. And that sounds a little negative, but it showed me that my brain doesn’t work the same way as Garth’s brain. “He’s an extraordinarily good director and I realized I would never see the world the way Garth sees it,” Fraser admits. Along the way, Fraser has spent thousands of hours on set “trying to create the most succinct, simple, focused image I can for each moment,” he says of his evolution over the years.

In an image-saturated world, Fraser says, “We’ve become very sophisticated as an audience and as a society about images.” He adds, “What I’m learning about myself is that I actually need to understand these images better than anyone other who consumes them.” What I’ve learned about this process is trying to translate sometimes very complicated ideas into very simple images.”

What makes him agree to a project these days? The ability to contribute to a director’s vision remains the most important element. But he’s still looking for growth. “Not financially,” he laughs. Growth in crafts. “Will it help me to grow technologically? What skills does it give me that I can pass on to my next director to solve their visual problems?”

Working on “The Mandalorian” and with Lucasfilm brought both.

“The big problem was how do we develop a viable, meaningful technology that helps filmmakers become more efficient and get their stories to the screen more efficiently,” he says. “Build the volume [stage] And figuring out how to do that was really important to me because I didn’t think I could do it, let alone anyone else.”

Armed with the knowledge of recording the tape and using virtual production, Fraser found it helped solve problems on both The Batman and Dune: Part One.

Because of his innovative strength and creativity, Villeneuve calls him a “phenomenal artist who doesn’t let his ego get in the way of his creativity.” He has a great appetite and a wonderful curiosity to explore new avenues of cinema production. He is a pioneer in many ways.”