Photo credit: Janet Donovan
“In all of my life as a cinematographer, I think The Deer Hunter was the one which qualifies for me to say it was one of the best films of all times,” Academy Award winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond told Hollywood on the Potomac at a dinner back in July of 2013 in his honor at the residence of H.E.Gyorgy Szapary, then Ambassador of Hungary to the US. “That’s not only my movie, it is everybody’s movie – directing, acting, script, music, everything in all departments. It’s a brilliant film.”
Photo credit: Courtesy of film.com
“The Deer Hunter is a 1978 American war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steelworkers and their service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep. The story takes place in Clairton, a small working class town in the south of Pittsburgh and then in Vietnam, somewhere in the woodland and in Saigon during the Vietnam War. The film won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walkin and was named by the American Film Institute as the 53rd Greatest Movie of All Time.” Wikipedia
Vilmos Zsigmond with journalist and author Myra MacPherson
We remember the evening well: Vilmos arrived late and our scheduled sit down interview was right on the heels of the seated dinner so we moved to the back porch and started reminiscing about his long career that included an Oscar for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, an Academy Award nomination for “The Deer Hunter,” “The River” (1984), and “The Black Dahlia” (2006). Vilmos liked to chat and we liked to listen so he took us through his life beginning with his Hungarian roots and ending with what he thought was his best accomplishment.
Photo credit:
The great Vilmos Zsigmond died on Sunday at the age of 85. “The cinematography world lost a great talent today. Vilmos’ genius was not only in his images, but in his sense of duty to honest storytelling,” said Stephen Poster, president of the American Society of Cinematographers Guild in a statement Sunday. “As one of our most esteemed members, Vilmos was an inspiration and mentor to many of us in the International Cinematographers Guild. There is not a member at the International Cinematographers Guild who has not been impacted by his brilliant photography and his personal story. His brave beginnings providing footage from the Hungarian revolution will always be an important part of his legacy and to future generations of cinematographers and film students. He made a difference. He will continue to be an inspiration to cinematographers everywhere.” Zsigmond ranked among the 10 most influential cinematographers in film history in a 2003 survey conducted by the International Cinematographers Guild.
One on one with Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and Hollywood on the Potomac:
A look back at The Deer Hunter:
Hungary, Hero and Myth: Immigrant Experience and the Artist’s Eye No Subtitles Necessary: Courtesy of PBS
