Victorio storaro

Born on June 24, 1940 in the Italian capital, Vittorio Storaro was the son of a humble film projectionist who instilled in him a love for images. At the age of 11 he already began to study photography, in a technical school. At 18 he became one of the youngest students at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, one of the oldest and most prestigious film schools in Europe. When he was 20 years old he started working as an assistant, soon working his way up to camera operator. A crisis in the film industry keeps him away from the industry for a while, which he dedicates to visiting art museums and studying the works of the great painters of history, who would inspire him so much later when it comes to creating images.

In 1966, Storaro returned to the cinema, as a camera assistant in Before the Revolution , the second film by the then very young Bernardo Bertolucci . In the drama Giovinezza, Giovinezza appears credited for the first time solo as cinematographer. After El pájaro de las plumas de cristal , a horror film with Dario Argento , Storaro films under Bertolucci’s orders his first great visual masterpiece, The Spider’s Strategy , based on a story by Jorge Luis Borges, which he filmed prioritizing the color blue. It also marked the beginning of a great friendship, since since then Bertolucci avoids risking filming without the man who has shot his best-known films: The Nonconformist , Last Tango in Paris , Novecento , The Moon , The Last Emperor , The Sheltering Sky and The Little Buddha . For his part, Storaro has always felt like a fish in water with his compatriot, as he has given him free rein to experiment and create unrepeatable shots.

The other key director in Storaro’s career wasFrancis Ford Coppola, who visited the set of Last Tango in Paris . The two had an animated conversation, during which the Italian-American expressed his admiration for him, and told him that he had seen The Conformist , had been dazzled, and wanted similar lighting for the second part of The Godfather . She offered him to go shoot it with him in the United States, but against all odds, Storaro decided not to accept. He had been dazzled by the photograph that Gordon Willis had prepared for the first part., and believed that he did not have to replace him. Indeed, Coppola ended up recruiting Willis again, although he did not get out of his head the idea of ​​offering another project to Storaro. It was his first choice for Apocalypse Now ., although it was difficult for him to convince him, since he encouraged him to sign Willis again. “It will be shot outside the United States and Willis does not like to travel, nor does he like to shoot outdoors,” Coppola had to argue, to overcome his reluctance. Even so, the Italian did not have them all with him. “I was very worried about having to shoot a war movie, because there are usually a lot of soldiers, helicopters, etc., who can’t wait for you to finish setting up the lights and cameras. Furthermore, the Vietnam War was not an issue that particularly concerned us in our country,” Storaro stated. As if that were not enough, he did not feel comfortable commanding a foreigner, no matter how much Coppola boasted of his Italian roots. In the end, he gave him a free hand to film, offered him a substantial contract,

In search of inspiration, Storaro read ‘Heart of Darkness’, the original work of Joseph Conradon which the film was based, whose central idea would give him the idea he was looking for. If the book revolved around the superimposition of one culture on another, he would shoot his shots with artificial light overlapping natural light. Also, he made a lot of use of the typically Asian orange light. Although six weeks of work were scheduled, in the end there were 16, and the shoot became a hell marked by a barrage of unexpected difficulties, such as a typhoon that destroyed the sets, or the instability of the weather, which caused constant changes in the plans. shooting. To add insult to injury, Coppola was so affected by what was happening that he constantly changed the script, and ended up ordering images to be filmed that he did not really know how they would fit into the film. Nonetheless, The result is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular and spectacular films ever filmed, which resulted in the first Oscar received by Storaro. Later, he would win the statuette again forReds and the aforementioned The Last Emperor .

At the end of the Apocalypse Now adventure , Storaro spent some time away from the cinema, trying to get to know himself, and reflecting on his craft and art. Coppola decided to recruit him again for his experimental project Hunch , a musical about Las Vegas that was a resounding box office flop. With Coppola, Storaro has also shot ‘Life without Zoe’, one of the three segments of New York Stories , and Tucker, a man and his dream of him.

In addition to doing memorable work for various productions, such as Lady Halcón , Ishtar , Bulworth , Spicy Bites , Dick Tracy , or The Exorcist: The Beginning , Storaro maintained a regular collaboration with the Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura . His professional relationship began in 1995, with Flamenco , a monumental visual and musical show, without a plot. His following collaborations would go along the same lines, Taxi , Tango and Goya in Bordeaux, with a rather minimal argument, which serves as a mere excuse for Saura to leave absolute freedom to the cinematographer.

Storaro had time to capture his particular vision of photography in the book ‘Writing with light’, essential for all those who want to follow in his footsteps by working in the cinema. In addition, he developed the Univision system, which has a 2:1 format, which Storaro considers better than the 2.35:1 or 1.85:1 commonly used. He used this system to shoot the television series Dune (2000) .