LAWRENCE SHER

#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