‘Elvis’ Cinematographer Breaks Down Austin Butler’s Dance Scenes

The set of Elvis was fairly the dance get together. Cinematographer Mandy Walker revealed that filming Austin Butler’s dance scenes as Elvis Presley required simply as a lot dancing behind the digital camera.

“One among my largest challenges on this film was to bounce with the digital camera with Elvis,” the 60-year-old director of pictures completely informed Us Weekly on the 2023 Oscars pink carpet on the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 12. “And so from his very first workshop with Baz [Luhrmann], I used to be there with a digital camera taking a look at angles on him, what seemed most like Elvis, but in addition, simply to have the ability to transfer with him and we each really feel snug collectively. So, there was a choreography between once I had 5 cameras on stage with him and he felt snug doing his strikes that we have been there with him and we have been transferring in live performance.”

Warner Bros/Moviestore/Shutterstock

Not solely was she dancing, however so was the remainder of her crew. “Oh my God, my guys — a few of my workforce — have been standing off to the aspect working, wiggling their bottoms,” Walker hilariously added. “I cherished it.”

Each Walker and Butler — whom she referred to as “a beneficiant collaborator” and “a sort individual” — have been each up for Greatest Cinematography and Greatest Actor in a Main Function on the awards ceremony, respectively. Directed by Luhrmann, 60, the biopic scored a complete of eight Oscar nominations however did obtain any wins.

If Walker had received, she would have made historical past as the primary girl to win within the Greatest Cinematographer class. She informed Us that she was each “ready to win [and] ready to lose,” however that inspiring different girls in her subject was what she was probably the most enthusiastic about.

“It might simply be so encouraging to different girls who’ve needed to pursue my profession and be captivated with it and know that, that there’s potentialities,” she shared. “And likewise, there’s nonetheless solely seven p.c of cinematographers are girls. So I need to encourage extra girls to get into it.”

Whereas she continues to function an inspiration to girls within the leisure business, Walker said that she is commonly impressed by Luhrmann. “One of the best collaboration I’ve ever had is with Baz Luhrmann as a result of he’s a visionary and an amazing collaborator,” the Oscar nominee mentioned on the pink carpet. “To work on a workforce with him may be very inspiring and rewarding.”

She additionally dished some behind-the-scenes information in regards to the movie, together with that your entire film was filmed in her and Luhrmann’s native nation, Australia. “We additionally shot on stage. And we shot Graceland there and Beale Road, we created it, and recreated all of the live performance sequences in a stage,” she revealed to Us. “So, we by no means went to any theaters. We made them from scratch.”

When requested if there’s something followers can be stunned to find out about main man Butler, 31 — who misplaced out on the Greatest Actor Oscar to The Whale star Brendan Fraser — Walker mentioned what you see is what you get.

“He’s only a very variety, beneficiant individual and he works so arduous and I simply really feel like he was the right selection for this,” she mentioned of The Carrie Diaries alum, earlier than noting that she was rooting for him to win that evening.

Elvis wasn’t the one movie to not obtain any Oscars wins, as fellow Greatest Image nominees Tár and The Banshees of Inisherin additionally ended the evening empty-handed.

With reporting by Hannah Kahn