From Welsh hills to Oscars for Brutalist cinematographer

Cinematographer Lol Crawley has had a front row view of the evolution of the entertainment industry over a career spanning more than 25 years.

From listening to Bob Dylan "on a Welsh hillside" and studying A-level photography, to shooting some of the most iconic landscapes in modern film.

His much-acclaimed latest film, The Brutalist, is about a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor who emigrates to the US.

And as he prepares to attend his first Oscars as a nominee, Crawley looks back on his "formative" years in Wales with fondness.

He was born in Shrewsbury and grew up Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain, Powys, and loved watching films with his father.

"I remember insisting he woke me up to watch An American Werewolf in London. I was probably a bit too young for it… but I really wanted to see a horror movie," he recalled.

The launch of Channel 4, and in particular, a series called Road Dreams about road trips across America, was also "really influential".

Like many Welsh children, he was exposed to a lot of music and really connected with it.

"For me, there's a really big crossover between music and film. When I'm operating a handheld camera, there's a kind of rhythm and a partnership with the performer," he said.

He continued: "There's a real beauty and a gentleness to the landscape [in Wales] and I'm drawn to landscapes."

Crawley finished audio visual (AV) studies at college in Wrexham, followed by media production at university, before moving to Los Angeles in 2019.

His first film was The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, starring Hugh Grant and shot in Wales, a few miles from where he grew up.

A cinematographer, also known as the director of photography, is in charge of the look of the film, Crawley explained.

They work closely with the director and across the grip department, the lighting department and the camera department.

"Each day, we'll have a certain number of scenes that we really have to make," he said.

The Brutalist - the story of a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor who emigrates to the US, directed by Brady Corbet and starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce - was filmed in Budapest over 33 days on a budget of about $10m.

"[It] sounds like a lot, but considering how big the film is in scope, and how long it is, it's a fairly modest schedule and budget," he said.

Each day, the actors would spend time with the director on set as Crawley sat quietly in the corner, working out how best to shoot scenes.

"It's about movement of the actors and the camera, what is the focal length, how many shots do we need to tell this part of the story, and how am I going to light it," he said.

He said the least amount of time he had spent shooting was 21 days on Vox Lux - a film with Natalie Portman set in New York.

"The longest was probably 80 days or something, Mandela in South Africa," he added.

"So it does vary, but 33 days for this movie was very ambitious."

But, he said, budget did not determine success, as The Brutalist had proven.

Crawley himself has already been awarded a Silver Frog at Polish cinematography festival Camerimage, won an award at the British Society of Cinematographers, scooped the Robby Müller Award in Rotterdam, and picked up the BAFTA for best cinematography - not to mention the film's host of other recognitions.

"If it's a well-written story, well executed and if the performances are as fine as this, you can make a movie for a million dollars," he said.

He said audiences "living in troubling times in America" connect with the film's themes such as "abuse of power, art versus commerce, antiquity versus modernity".

"You look at the statue of liberty at the beginning of the movie and it's upended, it's untethered... the statue of liberty is supposed to represent the very best of what America can be in terms of providing a safe haven and a new life for people," he said.

"We're betraying that at the moment, in my opinion."

He added it was "unapologetic event cinema", at three-and-a-half hours long, and shot on film.

He said there was still "a long way to go", but he felt there had been big improvements on film sets.

"Thankfully there are far more female camera technicians and cinematographers working now than there were and attitudes on set have become a lot better, behaviour on set has become better," he said.

He said the story and the people were the biggest factors in picking a project, particularly when spending a minimum of three months away from his LA home, where he lives with his wife, film and TV producer Annie Marter.

Though he regularly rubs shoulders with A-list talent, he is not immune to being star-struck.

"I'm a huge Bob Dylan fan and I have been since I was like 10 years old, growing up on this hillside in Wales listening to the albums my dad had. I've worked with him twice now and each time I'm in awe and just find myself staring at him," he said.

"And I went to the [Oscars] nominees dinner, and it's like 'hello Ralph Fiennes, hello Kate Blanchett' and this is pretty wild."

On his bucket list is a sci-fi or space film, "as long as it's an exploration of the human mind at the same time" and not "spectacle cinema for the hell of it".

As for returning to Wales, he has ventured over to show his wife where he grew up and reunite with friends, but would "like to get back more, for sure".

"It would be remarkable to come back and film something in Wales, and there's a thriving film industry as well now. So who knows?"

For now, he plans to "embrace" the "rollercoaster" of the Oscars.