PEOP L E
Light Showman Academy-Award-winning cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt brandishes an Oscar for his home state.
28 P O R T L A N D MAGAZINE
…The role of fake news and the fake newsreel part of our film… is suddenly a little bit more relevant…” than we initially thought, and I think that that is a particularly important conversation. And it is true that MGM did participate in the production of fake newsreels to promote Frank Merriman…It’s kind of the inception of the media’s participation in the political process. So I think that’s particularly rel-
evant…I also think that moviegoers are interested in nostalgia, and they’re interested in that period, and our film doesn’t necessarily glorify that period in the way that films that tell stories from that period often do, and I think that there’s hopefully something to be gleaned from that.” n
MATT PETIT / A.M.P.A.S.
F
irst you create sets and visual effects for drama club shows at Cape Elizabeth High. Next you’re a gaffer for Gone Girl. Now, you’re the Oscar-winning cinematographer for Mank and in huge demand. We caught up with Erik Messerschmidt, 41, in New Orleans while packing for Europe: “Nice to hear from you. I’m very busy prepping a movie and am currently under a press embargo re: Devotion until they decide on a release date.” Whew, boy. Now it’s a press embargo. His magic may look easy, but he’s worked his way to the top. As a gaffer he was camera-side on everything from Mad Men to Bones to Everybody Hates Chris. As cinematographer, he’s in post-production for Devotion, a story about two U. S. Navy pilots in the Korean War, and pre-production for The Killer (2022), developed from a graphic novel by Alexis Nolent and directed by David Fincher (Gone Girl, Mank). It is the exquisite Mank that catapulted him to the world stage. The edgy biopic follows high-pitched moments in the life of screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (18971953), portrayed in the film by Gary Oldman, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Messerschmidt’s black-and-white imagery in Mank captures the shadow world caught between reality, illusion, and fake news during the golden age of film. His tribute to the motion and texture of films like Citizen Kane and the work of Alfred Hitchcock dares to cut with a postmodern edge. Here, he talks shop about Mank during the AFI (American Film Institute) Awards: “The political climate we’re in now is certainly relevant, and I think almost unexpectedly the role of fake news and the fake newsreel part of our film—the Upton Sinclair election—is suddenly a little bit more relevant
B Y COLIN W. SARG EN T
