TOM STERN

#1: Photo by Jean-Noël Ferragut [2008]

#2: [Right] with dir Clint Eastwood - "Gran Torino" [2008]

TOM STERN ASC/AFC

Born: 16 December 1946, Palo Alto, Calif., USA, as Thomas Evans Stern.

Education: St. John's College, Santa Fe [campus], New Mexico; Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

Career: 'I was born in Palo Alto, and grew up there until my family moved to France in 1960. We lived there for three years. My father was an aeronautical engineer for United Airlines. I have kind of an engineering DNA, so I was interested in mechanical things. I had a Kodak Retina reflex camera that we bought when we lived in France. I liked taking still pictures and fiddling around with black-and-white chemistry in the darkroom. […] I went to St. John's College in Santa Fe. They had just opened the campus. It was a four-year liberal arts program. During my second year, a kid transferred to Santa Fe from the school's campus in Annapolis [Maryland]. He wanted to make a movie. That seemed kind of cool to me. He asked me to photograph it. This was around 1965. I had no idea of what to do, so I read the ASC Manual from beginning to end. We had an ARRI SR and rented a blimp. The film must have been okay, because it helped to get me into graduate school at Stanford. Film studies was part of the communications department. I was the guy who shot all the student movies. […] It seemed like 60 percent of the people looking for jobs in the industry wanted to be directors and the others wanted to be cinematographers. I decided to concentrate on lighting. I had a mechanical aptitude, so I could fix things without electrocuting myself. I figured if I was any good at lighting, I could find a cameraman or two whom I had an affinity with, do interesting things and be challenged. I worked with Jon Else as his gaffer/first assistant on medical films and I was the lighting guy on a film about the birth of the semiconductor. I also met Urs Furrer, a feature cameraman. He was my first lighting mentor. I worked with him on 16mm quasi-documentaries around the country. I worked as a best boy on 'Between the Lines', a Joan Silver movie in New York. After that film, I went back to Palo Alto. I was thinking of settling down and finding some balance in my life. I got a call on a Saturday night. A gaffer had fallen out on a movie that Robbie Greenberg was going to shoot. I had never worked in Los Angeles before. While I was there, John Bailey introduced me to Willy Kurant. I did some interesting things. My first picture with Bruce Surtees was 'White Dog'. We had a wonderful time. Later that year, I did my first film with Bruce [Surtees] and Clint Eastwood. It was called 'Honkytonk Man'. I also worked on a lot of commercials, including some with Haskell Wexler and Conrad Hall. Hall's artistry was so rich that being his gaffer was kind of like being the bass player for a great maestro. It was sort of a mind meld thing. After Conrad died, I quit working for about six months. I had a lot of thinking to do. That Christmas I got a call saying that Clint Eastwood wanted me to shoot 'Blood Work' with him.' [From the KODAK OnFilm website.]

Member of the ASC and AFC since 2008.

Married to casting dir Françoise Combadière.

Appeared in the doc's "Eastwood & Co.: Making 'Unforgiven'" [1992, Richard Schickel; ph: Don Metz & Philip Hurn (addph)], 'Who Needs Sleep?' [2005, Haskell Wexler & Lisa Leeman; ph: H. Wexler, Joan Churchill, a.o.] & 'Cinematographer Style' [2005, Jon Fauer; ph: J. Fauer, Jeff Laszlo, Brian Heller & David Morgan].

Awards: Le Prix Vulcain de l'Artiste Technicien from the CST [2003]; Camerimage 'Golden Frog' nom [2003] & Golden Satellite Award nom [2004] for 'Mystic River'; Satellite Award [2006] for 'Flags of Our Fathers'; CFCA Award nom [2006] for 'Letters from Iwo Jima'; BAFTA Film Award nom [2008], BSC Film Award nom [2008] & 'Oscar' AA nom [2008] for 'Changeling'; 'César' Award nom [2009] for 'Faubourg 36'; ICFF Manaki Brothers, Bitola, 'Silver Camera 300' Award [2009] for 'Tsar'.

NOTE: Not to be confused with doph, dir and prod Tom Stern, who cph 'Mountain Mafia' [2007-08].

'Mystic River' [2002]: 'I was fortunate to work with Conrad Hall and other top people at the highest levels, and that really helped me develop my eye, which was very important on this film,' says Tom Stern. 'The idea was to make this movie somber, and take a lot of the color out of it, highlighting blacks to fit the story. My experience in lighting was very helpful in achieving this goal.' Stern says there was discussion about performing a digital intermediate on the film to desaturate the images to achieve Eastwood's vision, but there wasn't sufficient time to test for, and then perform, a DI before the movie debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. Therefore, creation of the desaturated look was largely an in-camera affair. 'I never used diffusion on the lens, my F-stops were reasonable enough to keep a very sharp focus, and we never used zoom lenses,' he says. 'There is almost no fill light in this movie, and there was also a certain amount of mechanical stuff done to remove stray light. Often, away from the key side of the frame, we set up black fabric panels to absorb light. In the mortuary scene, for instance, we have a transition out of darkness as Sean Penn's character emerges to identify his daughter's body. That is typical of how Clint likes to work and clearly expresses the tragedy of the film - fusing the themes of parental love with the need for revenge. That whole thing was done with just two or three little lights.' [From article by M.R. Goldman in 'Variety', 2004.]

FILMS
2002	Blood Work [Clint Eastwood] p/c
2002	Mystic River [Clint Eastwood] p/c; see above
2003	Bobby Jones, Stroke of Genius [Rowdy Herrington] s35/c
2004	Romance & Cigarettes [John Turturro] p/c
2004	Million Dollar Baby [Clint Eastwood] p/c
2004	The Exorcism of Emily Rose [Scott Derrickson] s35/c; addph: Andy Wilson
2005	The Last Kiss [Tony Goldwyn] p/c; remake of 'L'ultimo bacio' (2000, Gabriele Muccino; ph: Marcello Montarsi)
2005	Flags of Our Fathers [Clint Eastwood] 35mm+dv-to-p/c; 2uc: Richard Bowen; aph: David Norris
2006	Letters from Iwo Jima [Clint Eastwood] 35mm+dv-to-p/c
2006	Tenderness [John Polson] p/c; 2uc: Patrick Capone; uwph: David Knox
*2006*	Camille [Gregory Mackenzie] announced as doph, but prod was ph by Sharone Meir
2006	Midnight Son [Adam Davenport] p/c; short/23m; prod Yale University
2006	Things We Lost in the Fire [Susanne Bier] s35/c; uwph: Ian Seabrook
2006	Rails & Ties [Alison Eastwood] p/c

With actress Nora Arnezeder - "Faubourg 36"

2007	Faubourg 36/Paris 36 [Christophe Barratier] p (+ 70bu)/c
2007	Changeling [Clint Eastwood] p/c
2008	Tsar/Ivan Groznyy i mitropolit Filipp/Ivan the Terrible and Metropolitan Philip [Pavel Lungin] s35/c

[Right] with Clint Eastwood - "Gran Torino"

2008	Gran Torino [Clint Eastwood] p (+ D-Cinema)/c
2009	Invictus/The Human Factor [Clint Eastwood] p (+ D-Cinema)/c
2009	The Sound I Saw [Tony Goldwyn] c; short/4m; prod for 'The Responsibility Project' sponsored by Liberty Mutual Insurance
2009	The Home Run [Ron Shelton] c; short/7m; prod for 'The Responsibility Project' sponsored by Liberty Mutual Insurance
2009	Lawyers [Roger Donaldson] HD/c; short/8m; prod for 'The Responsibility Project' sponsored by Liberty Mutual Insurance
2009	Hereafter [Clint Eastwood] p+RED-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; vfx ph: Craig Kief; filmed 2009-2010
2010	Nuit blanche/Sleepless Night [Frédéric Jardin] HD/c
2011	J. Edgar/Hoover [Clint Eastwood] p (+ D-Cinema)/c
2011	The Hunger Games [Gary Ross] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc (+ c.op 'c' cam): Robert Baumgartner; addph: Patrick Loungway; aph: Kurt Soderling

[Left] with Robert Lorenz - "Trouble with the Curve"

Photo by Keith Bernstein

2012	Trouble with the Curve [Robert Lorenz] p (+ D-Cinema)/c
2012	Faites l'amour! [Tomer Sisley] c; short/10m
2012	Broken Horses [Vidhu Vinod Chopra] p (+ D-Cinema)/c; uwph: Tom Boyd; released in 2015
2013	RoboCop [José Padilha] HD (ARRI ALEXA M & Plus)+RED Epic/p-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc (Vancouver); ph: Lula Carvalho (2012); remake of film (1986-87, Paul Verhoeven; ph: Jost Vacano)
2013	Jersey Boys [Clint Eastwood] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT/p)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c
2014	American Sniper [Clint Eastwood] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT/p)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc (+ c.op 'b' cam): Barry Idoine
2014	Cessez-le-feu/Ceasefire [Emmanuel Courcol] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT)/c; filmed 2014-15
2015	Sully [Clint Eastwood] HD (ARRI ALEXA 65 & XT)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema & IMAX)/c; aph: Hans Bjerno; doc ph: John J. Moers
2015	Herstory/Nevera [Nicolo Dorian] ?; short/?m; announced
2016	The Meg [Jon Turteltaub] HD/c; 2uc: Andrew McGeorge; uwph: Kina Scollay; filmed 2016-17
2017	The 15:17 to Paris [Clint Eastwood] HD (ARRI ALEXA Mini/Master Scope + Sony a7s II)-to-D-Cinema (scope)/c

MISCELLANEOUS
1974	Johnny Cash - Ridin' the Rails - The Great American Train Story [Nicholas Webster; mus tv-doc/52m] lighting; ph: William Hartigan & Ross Kelsay
1974	The Grateful Dead/The Grateful Dead Movie [Leon Gast (loc dir) & Jerry Garcia (editorial dir); concert film] co-c.asst (as Thomas Stern); ph: Jonathan Else, Albert Maysles, David Myers, Robert Primes, Thomas D. Hurwitz, a.o.; filmed 16-20 October (San Francisco); released 1977; restored 2004
1975	Mustang: The House That Joe Built/Sex Ranch [Robert Guralnick; doc] gaffer; ph: R. Guralnick
1976	Renaldo and Clara [Bob Dylan] lighting; ph: Howard Alk, Paul Goldsmith, Michael Levine & David Myers; incl footage shot during the 'Rolling Thunder Revue' tour (1975; ph: Albert Maysles)
1976	False Face/Scalpel [John Grissmer] gaffer; ph: Edward Lachman
1976	The Displaced Person [Glenn Jordan; tvm/58m] best boy; ph: Kenneth Van Sickle
1976	Youngblood/YoungBlood [Noel Nosseck] gaffer; ph: Robbie Greenberg
1977	Between the Lines [Joan Micklin Silver] best boy; ph: Kenneth Van Sickle
1977	Harper Valley P.T.A. [Richard C. Bennett & Ralph Senensky] gaffer; ph: Willy Kurant
1979	Cardiac Arrest [Murray Mintz] gaffer; ph: Jon Else
1979	Homework/Growing Pains/Short People [James Beshears] gaffer; ph: Paul Goldsmith
1980	Running Scared/Back in the U.S.A./Desperate Men [Paul Glicker] co-c.op 2u; ph: Willy Kurant
1981	White Dog/Trained to Kill [Samuel Fuller] gaffer; ph: Bruce Surtees
1982	Bad Boys [Rick Rosenthal] co-gaffer; ph: Bruce Surtees & Donald Thorin
1982	Honkytonk Man [Clint Eastwood] gaffer; ph: Bruce Surtees
1983	All the Right Moves/All Right [Michael Chapman] gaffer; ph: Jan de Bont
1983	Sudden Impact [Clint Eastwood] gaffer; ph: Bruce Surtees
1984	The Wild Life [Art Linson] gaffer; ph: James Glennon
1984	Tightrope [Richard Tuggle] gaffer; ph: Bruce Surtees
1984	City Heat [Richard Benjamin] gaffer; ph: Nick McLean
1984	Twice in a Lifetime [Bud Yorkin] gaffer; ph: Nick McLean
1984	The Goonies [Richard Donner] gaffer; ph: Nick McLean
1985	Pale Rider [Clint Eastwood] gaffer; ph: Bruce Surtees
1985	Ratboy [Sondra Locke] gaffer; ph: Bruce Surtees
1986	Heartbreak Ridge [Clint Eastwood] gaffer; ph: Jack N. Green
1986	Spaceballs [Mel Brooks] chief lighting tech; ph: Nick McLean
1987	Like Father, Like Son [Rod Daniel] gaffer; ph: Jack N. Green
1987	Bird [Clint Eastwood] lighting cons; ph: Jack N. Green
1988	The Dead Pool [Buddy Van Horn] chief lighting tech; ph: Jack N. Green
1989	Impulse [Sondra Locke] chief lighting tech; ph: Dean Semler
1989	Class Action [Michael Apted] chief lighting tech; ph: Conrad L. Hall
1990	The Rookie [Clint Eastwood] chief lighting tech; ph: Jack N. Green
1991	Unforgiven [Clint Eastwood] chief lighting tech; ph: Jack N. Green
1993	A Perfect World [Clint Eastwood] chief lighting tech; ph: Jack N. Green
1994	Dangerous Minds [John N. Smith] chief lighting tech; ph: Pierre Letarte
1994	French Kiss/Paris Match [Lawrence Kasdan] gaffer; ph: Owen Roizman
1995	Sugartime [John N. Smith; tvm] gaffer (Los Angeles); ph: Pierre Letarte
1995	The Phantom [Simon Wincer] chief lighting tech (Los Angeles unit); ph: David Burr
1998	True Crime [Clint Eastwood] lighting cons; ph: Jack N. Green
1998	American Beauty [Sam Mendes] chief lighting tech; ph: Conrad L. Hall
1999	Space Cowboys [Clint Eastwood] chief lighting tech; ph: Jack N. Green
2001	Road to Perdition [Sam Mendes] chief lighting tech; ph: Conrad L. Hall