Mikael Salomon
About
Biography
Biography
Leading Danish cinematographer who by the age of 40 had some 50 credits under his belt, mainly in Scandinavian films. Salomon quickly built a reputation in Hollywood as an adept director of photography on epics, difficult shoots, and special effects extravaganzas. These successes soon led to directing assignments in TV and features. Salomon's credits in Denmark and Europe include Henning Carlsen's biopic of Gaugin, "Wolf at the Door" (1987), "The Flying Devils" (1985), and "The Baron" (1979). In Hollywood, he has worked on "Zelly and Me" (1988), "Torch Song Trilogy" (1988), James Cameron's underwater spectacle, "The Abyss" (1989), which earned him an Oscar nomination, Ron Howard's "Backdraft" (1991), for which he was Oscar-nominated for visual effects, and Howard's "Far and Away," his first film shot in 65mm.
Salomon has been hailed for revolutionizing underwater lighting with his work in "The Abyss." He overcame the previously daunting challenge of ensuring a visual match between complex underwater scenes and those shot in tanks and sound stages. Impressed by Salomon's work on the Cameron film, Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy hired him to photograph Spielberg's "Always" (1989) thereby beginning his association with Amblin Entertainment. Kennedy showed him a screenplay for "A Far Off Place," an adaptation of two books by Sir Laurens van der Post--"A Far Off Place" and "A Story Like the Wind." Salomon immediately wanted to direct it. His next assignment was "Arachnophobia" (1990), the first feature directed by Amblin co-founder Frank Marshall. Produced by Disney's Hollywood Pictures division, this film helped set the stage for Salomon's directorial debut on "A Far Off Place" (1993), a Disney/Amblin co-production filmed in Zimbabwe and Namibia. This ecologically minded tale of survival in the African desert was reminiscent of Nicholas Roeg's solo directorial debut, "Walkabout" (1971).
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cinematography (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Film Production - Main (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Director (Special)
Producer (Special)
Director (TV Mini-Series)
Producer (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1967
First film as director of photography, "Dreamers" (Denmark)
1971
First US film as director of photography "Welcome to the Club"
1987
Moved back to USA to photograph a HBO TV-movie, "The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains"
1987
Moved to Los Angeles
1989
Breakthrough American film, James Cameron's "The Abyss"
1993
American TV directing debut, the sci-fi series "Space Rangers" (CBS)
1993
Feature directing debut, "A Far Off Place"
1995
Worked as director of the aerial unit on "Anaconda"
2000
Helmed the pilot for the CBS drama series "The Fugitive"
2001
Directed the CBS fall drama "The Agency"
2003
Helmed the A&E telefilm "Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor"
2004
Directed the TNT miniseries, "Stephen King's Salem's Lot"
2006
Helmed two segments of "Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King" (TNT)
2007
Directed the TNT miniseries "The Company"; earned a DGA nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television
Videos
Movie Clip
