John Cassavetes

Greg Gross · August 26, 2004

Is there anyone on forum who knows what cameras Mr. Cassavetes

used? I often see a picture of him with a hand held camera(compact?,

shoulder supported camera?). Camera body appears to have a black

speckled finish and has a turret (rotatable)with three or four lenses

probably fixed on it (selectable). Camera body appears to be round.

I have a deep interest in the work of Mr. Casavetes and was curious

about the camera.

Wendell_Greene · August 26, 2004

He used an Eclair NPR for the filming of "Faces" . Later he used Arri cameras, for the filming of "A Woman Under The Influence" it was either an Arri 35-2C or a 3C, if I remember the photo from Ray Carney's book correctly. Cassavetes also shot a few union films one where he shot with a Mitchell. They shot with Panavision cameras for "Gloria"

Interesting fact is that Caleb Deschanel started out as the DP on AWUTHI and after he left, Frederick Elmes ASC finished up. Elmes went on to shoot "Opening Night" and "The Killing of A Chinese Bookie" for Cassavetes. Both films will be part of the upcoming 5 disc Criterion DVD set of Cassavetes films released next month.

Greg Gross · August 27, 2004

Thank you Mr.Greene for your reply concerning the cameras John

Cassavetes used. I often go on the John Cassavetes web site at

www.cassavetes.com and read about his films and his editing. I

definitely want to aquire the Criterion films when they are ready.

I understand that Mr. Cassavetes's wife does not want "Shadows"

to be viewed and has threatened Criterion with legal action if the

film is shown or produced on dvd for sale. I respect her position,

and she probably has some personal reason for protecting the film

from being shown. Shadows of course has been considered by many

to be his finest film. I only wish to see it because I love his work and

creativity. I did see "The Notebook" this year(directed by John's son)

and I thought it was a wonderful story. It just kept moving along frame

by frame with every action,detail telling the story.

IngmarRosengaard · August 27, 2004

In The Notebook, the old woman is Cassavetes' wife, Gina Rowlands. It is true that she did not want the film released with the alternate footage included, but she had no problem with the theatrical version, because, right or wrong, John made the call on it.