Devon cameraman with an eye for great cinema

FEW boast a body of work like that of Roger Deakins, right, the most decorated cinematographer in BAFTA history, who has been knighted for services to film in the New Year Honours.

The Devon-born cameraman, 71, counts The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, 1917, A Beautiful Mind, Skyfall and Blade Runner 2049 among his best-known features.

Widely considered one of the most influential cinematographers of all time, his long-standing relationships with the Coen brothers and Sir Sam Mendes have won him countless awards.

Among those are five BAFTAs for best cinematography and two Oscars. He found notoriety for his lack of success at the Oscars, where he received 13 nominations before finally scoring a win in 2018 for Blade Runner 2049, and he returned to the stage just two years later to collect a gong for 1917 earlier this year.

Deakins was born in Torquay, Devon, on May 24, 1949.

After college he applied for the National Film School but failed to secure a place, as his photography was reportedly considered not “filmic” enough.

He spent the next year photographing the local area’s rural life and was eventually admitted.

After graduating, he worked as a cameraman on documentaries about conflicts in Africa, and as crew on a yacht for nine months to film the Whitbread Round The World Race.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, he worked on music projects, including Blue Suede Shoes, about the UK rockabilly scene, and films for Sir Van Morrison and Sir Ray Davies.

In 1991, he began his long-term collaboration with the Coen brothers, starting with the film Barton Fink before going on to O Brother, Where Art Thou? and True Grit.

Deakins and Sir Sam first worked together on the 2005 film Jarhead, then on Revolutionary Road and the James Bond adventure Skyfall.

However, it was Sir Sam’s ambitious and complex First World War film 1917 where their partnership was most challenged.

The film, starring George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman, was shot as if in a few long continuous takes.

Deakins said of this task: “With those long takes, when you get towards the end you think: ‘Now I’ve got to pan with them as they go round here and it’s really fast and am I going to get that right?’ The pressure was pretty extreme, really.”

His other film credits include Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario, Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, and John Crowley’s The Goldfinch.