What did you make of the President and Melania? And what’s different about filming a movie in the White House or on Air Force One?
Well, the film we were doing was actually a documentary. The organization was highly impressive because, on Inauguration Day, we had something like twelve crews all around town. Once they were set in position, they could not move. I was the person in the White House. I was waiting for the President and Melania to come back at the end of the day. It was kind of interesting. How else do you have the occasion to see the center of power? Don’t ask me about my political opinions of the President, because I’d rather not answer.
But do you feel like you learned anything about the President that maybe people who have never seen him up close don’t know, or don’t understand?
Well, I would say, if I learned anything, it was in a very superficial way. My curiosity was to see the center of power and the White House, which is a beautiful place. Also, it was interesting to figure out how to photograph Melania. Photographing human faces is always really interesting, especially female faces. The key is not so much about beauty photography. It’s about making sure that you take away distracting elements from a face. When you take away distracting elements from a face, you can let the original beauty of the person come out and reveal itself and become interesting.
So you take out the distracting elements?
If you light the face, yes. If someone has an irregularity or something destructive, it takes away from the natural beauty, from the interest of a human face. You take the distracting element away, and now the face reveals itself for what it is. And it becomes interesting for the viewer. Beautiful, and interesting for the viewer.
There have been some critiques of the movie. People have said that it was essentially a payoff from Amazon to the White House, and that you’re doing propaganda for an authoritarian President. I know you said you don’t want to get into politics, but what do you think of that critique?
Well, you know, I felt like I was a reporter.
I see.
You see what I mean?
Sure.
It’s, like, would you do an interview with Melania or President Trump yourself? Probably yes. It doesn’t mean that you think the same way or that you approve of him doing what he’s doing.
You and I are two journalists talking, essentially.
Yeah. So, I mean, to me, the experience was about, yes, being a reporter—being a cinematographer in a documentary, and doing my best to make Melania look visually beautiful with the lighting.
One thing reporters try to do is to spotlight ideas or news stories, and what you’re trying to do is spotlight her face and its beauty. I do see a real similarity there.
Yeah. We were trying to do the best we could. Again, as I told you, I was the guy with a camera, with a couple of assistants in the Trumps’ apartment when they came back to the White House at night. So there’s an interview with Melania at that point, and we organized the lights in the best possible way.
It’s important to make them look as good as possible, too. That’s part of your job, or our job.
It’s not about making them look as good as possible. It is about making them look as they are without having anything that is distinctively not nice or proper.
Do you know—
Also, it was a great pleasure for me to work with Brett again, because I did movies years ago with Brett.
Well, he’s been down on his luck a little bit lately, so that was nice of you to give him some help.
And I always felt that as you do a movie with somebody, you’re very intimate with this person.
Brett Ratner, you are talking about?
Yeah. Not the intimacy level of when you go out with a girl. But, you’re close. It’s like a family. You live twenty-four hours with someone shooting a movie. So I know Brett very well, and I know he is a very good, generous soul.
