Freddie Francis
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
"Although I love working, I won't work on a film unless I meet with the director and realize that he really wants me to do his movie. I have an arrangement with my agent that if anybody asks me to do a film, first of all, obviously we demand to see the script. Secondly, my agent asks if they are seeing anybody else in connection with this movie. If they say yes, he says, 'Well, Freddie doesn't want to do it.' I'm not saying every director has to have me on his movie, but any director who does has got to want me and nobody else." --Freddie Francis in FILM JOURNAL, September 1996
"I'm not a camerman. I'm the director's collaborator. Another thing, a corny old thing I keep saying, but about which I'm very sincere, is that there are three kinds of photography in movies. There's good photography, bad photography, and there's the right photography. Sometimes, to do the right photography you have to do what is almost, to a dyed-in-the-wool cameraman, bad photography . . . Sometimes you have to tone down your approach to become a collaborator on the movie." --Freddie Francis in FILM JOURNAL, September 1996
Biography
Freddie Francis started his career as an apprentice to a still photographer and at age 17 began in motion pictures as a clapper boy. His first shot at cinematography came with the British Army Kinematographic unit during World War II, but after the war he returned to feature films as a camera operator, working with such seminal figures as Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, John Huston and Zoltan Korda. Francis did the second unit photography on John Huston's "Moby Dick" (1956) and shortly thereafter graduated to director of photography on "Hell for Korea" (also 1956). He won applause for his work on Joseph Losey's "Time Without Pity" (1957) and for his gritty photography for "Room at the Top" (1958). His Oscar-winning work on "Sons and Lovers" (1960) was at the same time dark and rich, with delicious grey hues.
Francis moved to the director's chair beginning with "Two and Two Make Six" and "Vengeance" (both 1962), but he soon became typecast as a director of horror films. He continued to demonstrate his touch with a vibrant palate of hues making for vivid images, even with the most banal of material. His work included such films as "The Skull" (1965), "The Deadly Bees" (1966), "They Came From Beyond Space" (1967), "Dracula Has Risen From the Grave" (1968), Joan Crawford's last film, "Trog" (1970), and the original "Tales From the Crypt" (1972), which included five stories of mayhem based on an old comic strip. Francis also directed numerous TV episodes, particularly of "The Saint" (syndicated, 1963), and "Star Maidens" (syndicated, 1977), but he all but abandoned directing in the late 70s, frustrated at not being able to secure a more substantive assignment. It was not until "Last Respects" (HBO, 1996), the story of greed and hatred between sisters, that Francis was given a project with some depth of character.
Francis returned triumphantly to work as a director of photography in 1980, capturing with subdued, deeply moving lighting the essence of "The Elephant Man" for director David Lynch. On "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), Francis' cinematography had a fraught romantic feel. By the end of the 80s, he was in full swing as a cinematographer once again, notably with Edward Zwick's Civil War drama "Glory" (1989), for which he earned his second Oscar. Cool, yet colorful, the lighting of the film captured the vigor of war with the romanticism of Robert Gould Shaw's vision of his mission. It was a film that presented a noble heroism, in which the light of the sun guides. Francis caged the darkness for Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake of "Cape Fear," borrowing from the techniques he developed in horror films, including the frightening last sequence in which a boat is enveloped by pitch darkness from which villain Robert De Niro emerges. In 1992, Francis shot "School Ties," painting a contrast between the grimy industrial city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, from the which the Jewish teen quarterback emerges and the sunny, idyllic world of the all-WASP prep school which he enters with a sense of wonder. The film begins with a mood montage that sets Scranton as a gloomy location, its row houses looking almost like the prototype British inner city. Scranton is seen as dark and overcast throughout. The sun pierces the sky gradually as David (Brendan Fraser) sets out for his new school, and becomes almost heavenly when he reaches it. Yet, at the end, when he has survived the anti-Semitic attack of his peers, the school is no longer bathed in sun, but merely a cleaner reality.
Francis went on to serve as director of photography on Bob Hoskins' "Rainbow" (1996). In the 80s and 90s, Francis also shot a handful of prestige TV productions, notably "The Executioner's Song" (NBC, 1982), and "The Plot to Kill Hitler" (CBS, 1990), both for director Lawrence Schiller. He returned to the big screen capturing the majestic beauty of America's heartland in David Lynch's "The Straight Story" (1999).
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Cinematography (Feature Film)
Film Production - Main (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Director (Special)
Cinematography (Short)
Cinematography (TV Mini-Series)
Misc. Crew (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1932
Began career as apprentice to still photographer
1934
Hired as a clapper boy at British International Pictures
1936
Joined Gaumont-British as clapper loader
1939
Served in the British Army; was a member of the Army Kinematographic Unit
1947
Began as camera operator with "The Macomber Affair"
1956
Won attention for his second unit photography of "Moby Dick", directed by Huston
1956
First film as director of photography "Hell in Korea"
1958
First screen collaboration with Jack Clayton, "Room at the Top"
1960
Won first Academy Award for his cinematography on "Sons and Lovers"
1962
Directed first feature "Two and Two Make Six"
1963
Helmed episodes of the syndicated series "The Saint"
1980
Returned to working as a director of photography on David Lynch's "The Elephant Man"
1982
Served as cinematographer on the NBC drama "The Executioner's Song"; film was released theatrically in Europe
1989
Earned second Best Cinematography Oscar for "Glory"
1991
Shot remake of "Cape Fear", directed by Martin Scorsese
1996
Directed "Last Respects" episode of the HBO series "Tales From the Crypt"
1999
Served as director of photography on "The Straight Story", directed by David Lynch
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
"Although I love working, I won't work on a film unless I meet with the director and realize that he really wants me to do his movie. I have an arrangement with my agent that if anybody asks me to do a film, first of all, obviously we demand to see the script. Secondly, my agent asks if they are seeing anybody else in connection with this movie. If they say yes, he says, 'Well, Freddie doesn't want to do it.' I'm not saying every director has to have me on his movie, but any director who does has got to want me and nobody else." --Freddie Francis in FILM JOURNAL, September 1996
"I'm not a camerman. I'm the director's collaborator. Another thing, a corny old thing I keep saying, but about which I'm very sincere, is that there are three kinds of photography in movies. There's good photography, bad photography, and there's the right photography. Sometimes, to do the right photography you have to do what is almost, to a dyed-in-the-wool cameraman, bad photography . . . Sometimes you have to tone down your approach to become a collaborator on the movie." --Freddie Francis in FILM JOURNAL, September 1996
"I suppose I can say I slightly regret all the horror things I directed, but I didn't regret them at the time, because I enjoyed making them . . . To be quite honest, the standard of films I've photographed, both in terms of quality and money spent, are very different from the films I've directed. If I could direct some films with the same budgets as those I've photographed, I'd prefer directing. But I realize how lucky I was to have two hats to wear." --Francis in FILM JOURNAL, September 1996
