#1: 2006

 

   


LAWRENCE SHER   ASC

 

Born: 4 February 1970, Teaneck, N.J., USA, as Lawrence Elliott Sher. A.k.a. Larry Sher. His father Paul Phillip Sher was a doctor at New York University Medical Center, and his mother, Joan, was a teacher and taught at the Lexington School for the Deaf, Queens, New York.

Education: Teaneck High School; Wesleyan University [WU], Middletown, Connecticut [Economics; graduated in 1992].

Career: 'Mostly what I remember about Teaneck is its diversity. I grew up in an Orthodox area, on Warwick. Most of the people who surrounded us were Orthodox Jews, and we were Reform Jews. And then there was an Italian section and a black section. But, at the end of the day, it was so diverse, and in ways that I took tremendous pride in and got so much out of. So I thought it was a really great place to grow up. [...] My dad was a doctor and had a passion for nature photography. He had given me a camera when I was a kid and we took a school trip to Paris where I shot some photos. My dad looked at the photos and told me they were really good, which boosted my enthusiasm for photography. It gave me confidence that I had a good eye. But I put it away, and went to college, studying economics at Wesleyan University. While I was in college, I took a film class and it woke up a sleeping giant. I realized I was still interested in photography, so after I graduated with a degree in economics, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue cinematography. I literally spent every waking hour trying to get jobs as a c.asst or shoot with whatever cameras I could get my hands on. I was always in setup mode to try to shoot. I worked mostly on commercials for Marco Mazzai and Jeff Cutter, and worked briefly for Sal Totino, but I was mainly trying to get myself behind a camera. As soon as I could, I started shooting short films. I made a feature with a friend of mine: we wrote it together, produced it, raised the money, he starred and directed in it, and we took it all the way through editing and distribution. It was called 'Captain Jack', and we spent 18 months, from beginning to end, on it. To me, it was the equivalent of going to film school.' [From the Panavision website.]

Ph commercials dir by Don Handfield, Sophia Banks, a.o.

Ph music videos, e.g. 'Radio Ragga' [1996, a: Down by Law; d: Jason & Brendan] & 'Far Away' [2005, a: Bril; d: Pamela Littky].

Member of the ASC since 2012.

Awards: DVD Exclusive Award nom [2003] for 'Emmett's Mark'.

Website: Lawrence Sher


 FILMS

1992

The Return of Wes Lauren [Scott Wiper] c; short/37m; prod WU

1994

Captain Jack [Scott Wiper] c; + co-prod/co-scrpl

1997

Courting Courtney [Paul Tarantino] c; cph: William McDonald, Tom Oetzel & Serge Rodnunsky

1997

On the Border [Bob Misiorowski] c; 2uc: Steve Osbourne

1997

Progeny [Brian Yuzna] c; co-2uc; ph: James Hawkinson

1998

12 Stops on the Road to Nowhere [Jay Lowi] c; short/18m; ph opening seq: Chad Wilson; prod USC

1998

Shark Attack/Red Tide [Bob Misiorowski] c; 2uc: Peter Belcher & Harmon Cusack

1999

A Better Way to Die [Scott Wiper] c/V

2000

Boxing's Been Good to Me [Temple Brown] c; short/15m; prod USC

2000

Kissing Jessica Stein [Charles Herman-Wurmfeld] c

200?

A Lesson [Michael Cargile] HD/c; short/?m

200?

The Porcelain Perspective [Keith Snyder] c; short/30m; with Denise Richards & Brooke Langton

2001

Emmett's Mark/Killing Emmett Young [Keith Snyder] s35/c; 2uc: Jerry Holway

2002

[David Lee Roth's] No Holds Bar-B-Que [David Lee Roth] b&w-c/V; mus perf/67m; specialty camera (as Larry Shere); ph: Vasco Nunes; a collage of music video and reality-type surreal tv

2002

[Broken Lizard's] Club Dread [Jay Chandrasekhar] s35/c; 2uc: Robert Barocci & Leo Napolitano

 

[Right] with dir Zach Braff [behind camera] - "Garden State"

 

2003

Garden State [Zach Braff] s35/c; addph: Rick Lawrence; spec pfx: Josh Hakian

2003

Life of the Party/Glory Days [Barra Grant] scope/c

2004

The Chumscrubber [Arie Posin] s35/c; 2uc: Kirill Davidoff

2004

Grilled [Jason Ensler] s35/c

2004

The Dukes of Hazzard [Jay Chandrasekhar] s35/c; 2uc: Mitchell Amundsen

2006

When the Nines Roll Over [David Benioff] c; short/25m; Benioff: "[The film is] very much in the vault. I look back on it quite fondly, it was a great experience, but like the first time you do anything, aside from rare geniuses, there were so many mistakes made. I think it was another of those 'Fail again. Fail better' situations where I learned a lot from making that short movie and made many mistakes that I hopefully won't make on the next one."

2006

When a Man Falls/When a Man Falls in the Forest [Ryan Eslinger] p/c

2006

The Promotion/Quebec [Steve Conrad] p/c; 'b' cam ph Los Angeles: Alan Caudillo

 

"Dan in Real Life"

 

2006

Dan in Real Life [Peter Hedges] c; 2uc: Robert Barocci; aph: Dave Norris

2007

Trucker [James Mottern] HD (Genesis)-to-35mm scope/c; 2uc: Brandon Cox

2008

I Love You, Man [John Hamburg] s35-to-35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Alan Caudillo

2008

The Hangover [Todd Phillips] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; splinter unit ph: Alan Caudillo; aph: Michael Kelem

2009

Paul/What Is... Paul [Greg Mottola] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; addph: Jeff Cutter; aph: David B. Nowell

2009

Due Date [Todd Phillips] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Robert LaBonge; aph: Phil Pastuhov (New Mexico), David B. Nowell & David Norris (Atlanta)

2010

The Big Year [David Frankel] p (+ D-Cinema)/c; aph: Hans Bjerno

2010

The Hangover Part II [Todd Phillips] s35+HD (ARRI ALEXA)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Chris Duskin & Alan Caudillo; aph 2u: Hans Bjerno

2011

The Dictator [Larry Charles] HD (ARRI ALEXA)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; aph: Hans Bjerno & John Marzano (Spain)

2012

The Hangover Part III [Todd Phillips] s35+HD (Phantom HD)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Josh Bleibtreu; aph: Hans Bjerno; edge ph: Greg Baldi

2013

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty [Ben Stiller] Hawk Scope+s35+p-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; uncred co-addph (reshoots in May); ph: Stuart Dryburgh (in 2012)

2013

Godzilla [Gareth Edwards] HD (ARRI ALEXA Plus 4:3)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema [also 3-D version])/c; addph; ph: Seamus McGarvey

2013

Wish I Was Here [Zach Braff] HD (ARRI ALEXA Plus 4:3/p)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c

2013

Aloha/Volcano Romance [Cameron Crowe] s35-to-D-Cinema/c; addph; ph: Éric Gautier

2014

Unfinished Business/Business or Pleasure/Business Trip [Ken Scott] Hawk Scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; addph Boston (reshoots in October); ph: Oliver Stapleton (in 2013)

2015

War Dogs/Arms and the Dudes [Todd Phillips] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT Plus/p)-to-D-Cinema (scope)/c; aph: Hans Bjerno & David B. Nowell; inserts ph: Michael Svitak; edge ph: Ronald Hersey

2017

Godzilla: King of the Monsters [Michael Dougherty] HD (ARRI ALEXA 65/p)-to-D-Cinema (scope)/c; 2uc: Paul Hughen; addph (Los Angeles): Steven Holleran; aph: Phil Pastuhov; vfx ph: Hans Bjerno

2018

Joker [Todd Phillips] HD (ARRI ALEXA 65, LF & Mini)-to-D-Cinema/c; aph: Hans Bjerno

 

 TELEVISION

1998

A Story of Hope [Richard Davies] doc special/60m; cph: Doug Franks, Rick Robertson & Bill Sheehy

2001

The Facts of Life Reunion [Charles Herman-Wurmfeld] tvm; ep ABC-tv 'The Wonderful World of Disney'

2003

Legally Blonde [Charles Herman-Wurmfeld] pilot; for ABC-tv

2006

Andy Barker, P.I. [pilot dir by Jason Ensler] 6-part series, 2007; other ph: Byron Shah

2007

Cavemen [pilot dir by Will Speck & Josh Gordon] 12-part (6 unaired) series

2008

The Eastmans [Jason Ensler] pilot/HD (Genesis); 2uc: Alan Caudillo; for CBS-tv

2009

Enlightened [pilot dir by Mike White] 18-part series/s35-to-HD, 2011 & 2013; 1st season, 2011 (10 ep); other ph: Xavier Pérez Grobet

 

 MISCELLANEOUS

1993

Scanner Cop [Pierre David] co-2nd c.asst; ph: Jacques Haitkin

1995

Star Maps [Miguel Arteta] co-1st c.asst; ph: Chuy Chávez

1998

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money [Scott Spiegel] 'b' c.op addph; ph: Philip Lee

1999

On the Inside [ep 'Submarine Disasters: Deep Secrets' dir by Jane Armstrong; doc tv-series, 1999-2001] co-c.op; ph: Harry Makin

 

 FILMS AS DIRECTOR

2015

Father Figures/Bastards [feature] ph: John Lindley