Autumn Durard Alcapeau made history by becoming the first woman of color to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for her work in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners.
“That’s what I dream about. It’s a dream come true,” she said on Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast. Alcapeau was also nominated by the British Society of Cinematographers, BAFTA, and the American Society of Cinematographers. “It’s a dream come true. I feel like I’ve been celebrating this movie for a while since it came out in April. I don’t know if I could have handled it, but… and then I realized.”
Arcapaw wasn’t the only one making history. “Sinners” was nominated for 16 Oscars, setting an all-time record.
The film marks Coogler’s second collaboration with Arkapaw, and she has revealed that she will be reuniting with him for a reboot of The X-Files. They are also said to be planning and discussing “Black Panther 3” in advance.
She recalls meeting him for the first time: “I met him once at a cafe and I told him this after the fact. We were having dinner and he was with[his wife and producer]Jinji, and I was having lunch with my agent. And I saw him at the table next to me, and we had never met. I didn’t know if he knew me. So that was the first time I was in the same space as him, and I clocked him,” she said. Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast.
A few years later, he was approached by fellow cinematographer Bradford Young to star in Creed, but he revealed that it didn’t work out. “The studio decided I didn’t have enough credits, so I couldn’t explore the option of shooting the movie.”
She went on to film The Sun, Mainstream, and the Marvel movie Loki. When Rachel Morrison moved into directing, she sent Arkapaw a text suggesting she was suitable for the role. “She felt like I would take care of him and that we would work well together.” A Zoom call followed, and “it felt like talking to family,” Arkapaw says. They met in Atlanta shortly thereafter.
“Sinners” was a turning point for the cinematographer. She was the first female cinematographer to shoot in Imax 65mm and Ultra Panavision 70. Arkapaw admits that the difficult aspects were outside of his control. “Things like that would be difficult for me, especially shooting in the summer in New Orleans, because the weather doesn’t always dictate.”
When asked about his favorite shot to pull off, Arkapaw said, “The church. We’ve talked about this a lot, but the concept of the church and Hanna (Beachler, the film’s production designer) and I going out in the car and scouting… I think that’s one of the moments I remember clearly: Ryan was sitting in the front seat, and Hannah had a little book and she opened her little sketchbook and said, “This is what I’m thinking about.” For the sake of the church. ”
After seeing the sketches, I knew Arkapaw would be a great shoot. When Ruth E. Carter costumed the actors for the scene, Arkapaw felt like she was transported back in time to a church service in the 1930s.
Arkapaw also talks about filming the film’s climactic battle, working with his fellow department heads and assistant director Marvin Williams, and how he avoided blood splatter.
“My camera team takes care of me, so we always have a tarpaulin or duvetin, a black material to wrap around your body.”
Alkapor also revealed what scenes were shot on the first day of filming. It was the end credits scene of a movie with blues legend Buddy Guy. “It was a very special day because we were shooting these two formats that had never shot together before and Buddy Guy just came to the set on the first day of shooting. There was a lot of pressure, but it turned out great,” she says. “No one imagined that it would be the first day of filming.
More than a decade ago, Arkapaw was named to Variety magazine’s list of 10 Cinematographers to Watch. This year, she staked her place in Oscar history.
Also in this episode, The Secret Agent star Wagner Moura and Roundtable discuss BAFTA nominations and the Television Academy’s revived Variety Series category.
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tunkay, Emily Longeretta and Michael Schneider, who also serves as a producer, is your one-stop destination for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode’s “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talents and creators, discussions and debates about the awards race and industry headlines. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you download your podcasts.
