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IMDbPro

Robert Elswit

  • Cinematographer
  • Visual Effects
  • Camera and Electrical Department
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Robert Elswit
Robert Elswit is an American cinematographer. He is best known for Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), There Will Be Blood (2007), Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), Inherent Vice (2014), and Nightcrawler (2014).

Elswit frequently works with director Paul Thomas Anderson and has worked with George Clooney several times. He shot Clooney's black and white, multiple-Oscar nominated film Good Night, and Good Luck. Notably, Elswit shot the film in color, then converted the film into black and white in post production.

He received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography in 2006 for his work on the movie Good Night, and Good Luck. Two years later, he would again be nominated and this time win the Oscar for Best Cinematography, for his work on There Will Be Blood.
BornApril 22, 1950
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornApril 22, 1950
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Won 1 Oscar

Photos8

Robert Elswit in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
Robert Elswit, Fiona Robert, and Ava Capri in Write When You Get Work (2018)
Robert Elswit in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
Tom Cruise and Robert Elswit in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
Robert Elswit and Rebecca Ferguson in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
Robert Elswit and Rebecca Ferguson in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
Robert Elswit and Jeremy Renner in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)

Known for

Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (2007)
There Will Be Blood
8.2
  • Cinematographer
  • 2007
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
Good Night, and Good Luck.
7.4
  • Cinematographer
  • 2005
Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler (2014)
Nightcrawler
7.8
  • Cinematographer
  • 2014
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Punch-Drunk Love
7.3
  • Cinematographer
  • 2002

Credits

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IMDbPro

Cinematographer

  • Ripley
    • In Production
  • Will Smith, Saniyya Sidney, and Demi Singleton in King Richard (2021)
    King Richard
  • Pete Davidson in The King of Staten Island (2020)
    The King of Staten Island
  • Apple Snowbrawl (2019)
    Apple Snowbrawl
  • Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
    Velvet Buzzsaw
  • Dwayne Johnson in Skyscraper (2018)
    Skyscraper
  • Emily Mortimer, Finn Wittrock, and Rachel Keller in Write When You Get Work (2018)
    Write When You Get Work
  • Denzel Washington in Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)
    Roman J. Israel, Esq.
  • Julianne Moore, Matt Damon, and Oscar Isaac in Suburbicon (2017)
    Suburbicon
  • Matthew McConaughey in Gold (2016)
    Gold
  • Nespresso: Change Nothing (2016)
    Nespresso: Change Nothing
  • The Night Of (2016)
    The Night Of
  • Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, and Jeremy Renner in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
    Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
  • Inherent Vice (2014)
    Inherent Vice
  • Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler (2014)
    Nightcrawler
  • Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy (2012)
    The Bourne Legacy

Visual Effects

  • Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, Warwick Davis, David Prowse, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Carter, and Larry Ward in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
    Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
  • Henry Thomas in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
    E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
  • Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, and Peter Mayhew in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
    Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
    Star Trek: The Motion Picture
    • (as Robert Elswitt)

Camera and Electrical Department

  • Shine a Light (2008)
    Shine a Light
    • (as Bob Elswit)
  • Genesis (1978)
    Genesis
  • Fraternity Row (1977)
    Fraternity Row

Personal details

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    • April 22, 1950
    • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Helen Elswit(divorced)
  • Other works
    Director of photography for the following music videos (all directed by Paul Thomas Anderson):

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Has shot all of Paul Thomas Anderson's feature films ever since Hard Eight (1996) (A.K.A. "Sydney") except The Master (2012), which was shot by Mihai Malaimare Jr..
  • Quotes
    [on Gigli (2003)] Nobody sets out to make a bad movie. Marty Brest [Martin Brest] is one of the smartest, funniest, most intelligent, strange, neurotic human beings I've ever worked with, and I really loved it. What he can't do is write. He made a horrible mistake. He tried to write his own movie. There are some people whose imaginative skills are all about taking a screenplay and working it into something else, and that's Marty Brest. Marty decided to write this thing himself, and somehow he talked Joe Roth and all those guys over at Sony into doing it. It was just not a film. And you know what? Part of it was the personal relationships involved. Ben [Ben Affleck] fell in love with what's-her-name... [Jennifer Lopez] the whole thing was misshapen from the very beginning. I don't know if it ever would've worked out, but I think Marty Brest is not a screenwriter. He's a really interesting and compelling director and a lot of fun to be on the set with. He's a complicated guy. He does not get along with studio executives. He's not a great partner. When his films make money for his partners, they put up with it. And as soon as they didn't, he couldn't buy a job. He hasn't worked since. His work was held to pretty high standards, but his personal relationships are kind of what doomed him. His lack of charm and inability to compromise and interact with studio executives, particularly on a film that cost that much money, made things complicated. He was probably the most combative director I've ever worked with when it came to studio people. Not with the crew, or me, or anyone else, but when it came to his relationship with the people at Sony, he was a nightmare. But if the film had made $400 million, there would've been another one a year later.[2014]

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