DGA Quarterly | Volume III, Number 4 - Winter 2007/2008  - click here to return to Table of Contents
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2003 - THE FIGHTING HOBBIT: (above) Peter Jackson shares some magic with Sean Astin in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. - photo by Pierre Vinet/New Line Productions - click images for larger views and IMDB information

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1964 - ALL THE RIGHT MOVES: George Cukor, showing Audrey Hepburn how to sashay down a flight of stairs in My Fair Lady. The film features many of Cukor’s signature camera moves including sweeping 90-degree pans and backward tracking. - image courtesy AMPAS

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STREETWISE: Before directing Midnight Cowboy, John Schlesinger (right, with Jon Voight) got a memo from a studio executive saying that “If we could clean this up and add a few songs, it could be a great vehicle for Elvis Presley.” - image courtesy AMPAS

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1955 - BRONX CHEER: Del Mann (right) remade his 1953 movie for television Marty as a feature. Ernest Borgnine as a Bronx butcher and Betsy Blair as a timid schoolteacher were a middle-aged couple who unexpectedly find love. Mann was the first director to win an Oscar for his debut feature. - image courtesy AMPAS

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1996 - ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES: Anthony Minghella, directing Kristin Scott Thomas, shot Michael Ondaatje’s World War II novel The English Patient on location in Italy and Tunisia, but almost every reverse angle shot following a desert vista was done on a soundstage due to budgetary constraints. - photo by Phil Bray/Courtesy Miramax Film Corp

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2002 - ALL THAT JAZZ: Rob Marshall, who had been a choreographer, shows Renée Zellweger how to carry herself onstage in Chicago. She had no singing or dancing training prior to the film. This was Marshall’s first feature; he got the job after directing a movie for television of the musical Annie. - photo by David James/Courtesy Miramax Film Corp

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1950 - BACKSTAGE INTRIGUE: Marilyn Monroe’s career was just taking off when Joseph Mankiewicz cast her in a bit part in All About Eve. Bette Davis starred as an aging actress usurped by upstart Anne Baxter. The film was nominated for a record 14 Academy Awards. - image courtesy AMPAS

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1979 - DIVORCE AMERICAN STYLE: Robert Benton mediates between Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep in Kramer vs. Kramer. Shot on locations around New York, the film had a realistic look, using source lighting indoors and available light for exteriors. - image courtesy Columbia Pictures/Photofest

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1975 - JUMP SHOT: Milos Forman directs a basketball scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Jack Nicholson. Some extras and crew members were inmates at the Oregon State Mental Hospital where the film was shot. - image courtesy Courtesy Saul Zaentz Company

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1982 - EPIC PROPORTIONS: Richard Attenborough directs a tracking shot in Gandhi, featuring Ben Kingsley in the title role. 300,000 extras were used for the funeral sequence directed by 11 crews who shot 20,000 feet of film. It lasted two minutes in the film. - image courtesy AMPAS

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1986 - WARTIME: The Philippines doubled for Vietnam in Oliver Stone's Platoon. All of the actors had to go through a harsh 14-day boot camp and stay in character before filming began. Stone was the first Vietnam vet to direct a major film about the war. - photo by Ricky Francisco/Orion Pictures Corp./Photofest

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1980 - FAMILY MATTERS: Robert Redford ponders a shot in his directorial debut, Ordinary People, starring Timothy Hutton in his first film. Redford wanted to make the film because the family reminded him of his own in the way it didn't talk about issues. - photo courtesy AMPAS

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1981 - SOVIET CINEMA: DP Vittorio Storaro (left) and Warren Beatty as radical journalist John Reed in Reds. The film opens with static shots and as it progresses the camera becomes more fluid. The Russian Revolution sections were shot in Helsinki. - photo by David Appleby/Paramount Pictures

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1992 - SHOOTOUT: Clint Eastwood dedicated Unforgiven to his mentors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. The Big Whiskey set was created in Calgary, and in typical Eastwood fashion, the film was shot in only 39 days-four days ahead of schedule. -photo courtesy Warner Bros. Inc

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1951 - CRIME OF PASSION: George Stevens directs Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun, based on Dreiser's An American Tragedy. Stevens wanted to avoid the "Oh, what a beautiful morning" quality of Technicolor and shot in black and white. - photo courtesy AMPAS

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2000 - TALL TALES: Ang Lee mixes the real world with the miraculous in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, starring Chow Yun-Fat as a warrior in search of a stolen sword and lost love. - photo courtesy Sony Pictures

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1961 - TRUE LOVE: Robert Wise explains a scene to Russ Tamblyn in West Side Story. Wise fought to shoot on locations in New York for authenticity. Interior sets were built six feet above the ground to allow for low-angle shooting with 70 mm cameras. - photo courtesy United Artists/Photofest

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1973 - BIG DEAL: George Roy Hill prepares Robert Redford for the climatic hoax in The Sting. The '30s period piece was shot mostly on the Universal backlot with a few days on location in Chicago. - photo courtesy AMPAS

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1991 - HEAD CASE: Anthony Hopkins in his padded cell as Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter is strapped in by Jonathan Demme in The Silence of the Lambs. Much of the film was shot in Pittsburgh because of its variety of landscapes and architecture. - photo courtesy Orion Pictures Corp

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1958 - FRENCH KISS: Vincente Minnelli (third from right) shooting a tracking shot for Gigi on location in Paris. The last few numbers were filmed in an apartment constructed on the MGM backlot. The film is often referred to as the last great musical done by the studio. - photo courtesy AMPAS

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1993 - LABOR OF LOVE: Steven Spielberg shot Schindler's List on location in Poland where a model of Auschwitz was built outside the walls of the camp. It was one of the largest sets ever built in the country and followed the plans of the original site. - photo by David James/AMPAS

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1994 - BOX OF CHOCOLATES: The park bench that Tom Hanks sits on in Forrest Gump was located in Savannah, Ga.'s Chippewa Square. Robert Zemeckis used Norman Rockwell paintings as the design inspiration for Forrest's hometown. - photo courtesy Paramount Pictures/Photofest

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1977 - ANHEDONIA: Woody Allen originally intended Annie Hall, with Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts, to be a murder mystery. He called the film "a major turning point" both thematically and technically. The film established his signature style of shooting long, uninterrupted takes. - photo courtesy United Artists/Photofest

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1963 - ROGUE: Tony Richardson stages the execution of Albert Finney as the title character in Tom Jones, an adaptation of Henry Fielding's bawdy novel. The opening sequence is played as a silent comedy and characters often break the fourth wall by talking directly to the camera. - photo courtesy AMPAS

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1997 - SINKING SHIP: James Cameron shoots Kate Winslet on the grand staircase of the Titanic. In a later scene, this set was going to be destroyed as water comes rushing onto the ship, so Cameron had only one chance to get his shot. - photo by Merie W. Wallace/Courtesy Lightstorm Ent., Inc

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