Robert Elswit
Robert Christopher Elswit, is an American cinematographer.
He has collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson from 1996 to 2014, winning the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for There Will Be Blood.
Elswit has also collaborated with directors and screenwriters Tony and Dan Gilroy on all of the six films that either brother directed.
Early life
Elswit was born in Los Angeles.He is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and worked there as a teaching assistant.
Elswit is also the godfather to the actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
Career
An early short film he worked on was the 1982 television adaptation of Ray Bradbury's short story All Summer in a Day.He worked as a visual effects camera operator at John Dykstra's Apogee Productions Inc. on each film, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Empire Strikes Back and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, before shooting made-for-television films and shows.
Elswit has been a fierce defender of shooting on film, and whenever possible avoids using digital cameras. Images shot digitally, he said, have "no texture, no grain", though he started shooting digitally with Nightcrawler.
He shot his black and white, Oscar nominated film Good Night, and Good Luck. He first shot the film in color, and then converted the film into black and white in post production. According to Elswit, the technique preserved the subtlety of the colors and made the overall look much richer in the final film. His work on the film earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, but lost to Dion Beebe for Memoirs of a Geisha.
Elswit later won the award for There Will Be Blood in 2008.
He has cited early independent filmmaker John Cassavetes as a major influence.
Filmography
Television
TV movies| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1982 | All Summer in a Day | Ed Kaplan | |
| 1983 | Tiger Town | Alan Shapiro | |
| 1984 | A Single Light | Karl Epstein | |
| 1986 | The Children of Times Square | Curtis Hanson | |
| 1987 | A Different Affair | Noel Nosseck | |
| 1987 | Long Gone | Martin Davidson | |
| 1987 | Into the Homeland | Lesli Linka Glatter | |
| 1989 | Double Exposure: The Story of Margaret Bourke-White | Lawrence Schiller | |
| 1990 | A Killing in a Small Town | Stephen Gyllenhaal | |
| 1990 | Steel Magnolias | Thomas Schlamme | |
| 1990 | Opposites Attract | Noel Nosseck | |
| 1991 | Prison Stories: Women on the Inside | Donna Deitch Joan Micklin Silver | Segments "Esperanza" and "Parole Board" |
| 1991 | The Summer My Father Grew Up | Michael Tuchner | |
| 1991 | Paris Trout | Stephen Gyllenhaal | |
| 1991 | Vidiots | Howard Storm | |
| 1992 | A Murderous Affair: The Carolyn Warmus Story | Martin Davidson | |
| 2026 | Untitled Punisher television special | Reinaldo Marcus Green | TV special |
Feature film
| Denotes films that have not yet been released |
Accolades
Academy Awards| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2005 | Best Cinematography | Good Night, and Good Luck | Nomitated |
| 2007 | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Won |
American Society of Cinematographers
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2005 | Outstanding Cinematography | Good Night, and Good Luck | Nomitated |
| 2007 | Outstanding Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Won |
BAFTA Awards
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2007 | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Nomitated |
Boston Society of Film Critics
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2005 | Best Cinematography | Good Night, and Good Luck | Won |
British Society of Cinematographers
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2007 | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Nomitated |
Camerimage
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2005 | Golden Frog Award | Good Night, and Good Luck | Nomitated |
Chicago Film Critics Association
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2005 | Best Cinematography | Good Night, and Good Luck | Nomitated |
| 2007 | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Nomitated |
| 2014 | Best Cinematography | Inherent Vice | Nomitated |
Daytime Emmy Award
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 1984 | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | CBS Schoolbreak Special | Won |
Houston Film Critics Society
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2014 | Best Cinematography | Inherent Vice | Nomitated |
Independent Spirit Award
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 1997 | Best Cinematography | Hard Eight | Nomitated |
| 2005 | Best Cinematography | Good Night, and Good Luck | Won |
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2005 | Best Cinematography | Good Night, and Good Luck | Won |
| 2007 | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood |
National Society of Film Critics
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2002 | Best Cinematography | Punch-Drunk Love | |
| 2005 | Best Cinematography | Good Night, and Good Luck | |
| 2007 | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Won |
New York Film Critics Circle
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2005 | Best Cinematography | Good Night, and Good Luck | |
| 2007 | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Won |
Online Film Critics Society
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2005 | Best Cinematography | Good Night, and Good Luck | Nomitated |
| 2007 | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Nomitated |
Primetime Emmy Award
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2024 | Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Ripley | Won |
San Diego Film Critics Society
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2007 | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | |
| 2014 | Best Cinematography | Nightcrawler | Won |
Satellite Awards
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2005 | Best Cinematography | Good Night, and Good Luck | Nomitated |
| 2007 | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Nomitated |
| 2010 | Best Cinematography | Salt | Nomitated |
| 2014 | Best Cinematography | Inherent Vice | Nomitated |
St. Louis Film Critics Association
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2005 | Best Cinematography | Good Night, and Good Luck | Nomitated |
| 2007 | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Nomitated |
| 2014 | Best Cinematography | Nightcrawler | Nomitated |
Other awards
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
| 1988 | CableACE Award | Best Cinematography | Long Gone | Nomitated |
| 2007 | Austin Film Critics Association | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Won |
| 2007 | International Online Cinema Awards | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Nomitated |
| 2007 | New York Film Critics Online | Best Cinematography | There Will Be Blood | Won |
| 2014 | Utah Film Critics Association | Best Cinematography | Nightcrawler | Won |