New Interview

Mr. Scola, is empathy an important quality for a cinematographer?

I think so, yes. Even though my discipline is cinematography, not directing or acting, I think you're a storyteller regardless. And so for me, I really am an empath and those moments where I'm connecting with the scene and the emotions the actor is bringing forth, that's my favorite part.

Are there times where you need to draw a line between yourself and the performance?

I don't think so. You're feeling a lot, at least I am. I'm feeling that attachment. For example with Greg Kwedar's film Sing Sing, in some cases we would clear the entire room out, and it would just be me and the camera and Greg and the actor. That's what it looked like filming some of those scenes, it was so intimate, and so you can't help but feel a lot.