“Oppenheimer” DP Hoyte van Hoytema has won the American Society of Cinematographers, the most prestigious awards body of the craft. I guess the ASC loved all the close-up shots in Nolan’s film. This quite nicely sets up van Hoytema to win his first Oscar come next Sunday.
Van Hoytema has been Nolan’s go-to DP since 2014’s “Interstellar.” Before that, Wally Pfister had shot all of Nolan’s films, but he decided to branch out into directing (“Transcendence”), to mixed results. He’s also been shooting commercials. You think he regrets the decision to stop working with Nolan?
Van Hoytema works both the epic and the intimate, placing light sources outside the primary setting and downplaying light’s importance. There’s subtlety to his colors and lack of overexposure. The colors are muted, but gorgeous. His other non-Nolan credits include “Her,” “Let the Right One In,” “The Fighter,” “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” “Ad Astra” and “Nope.”