Paul Daley on cinematography taking 'The Righteous Gemstones' to a darker place

The Righteous Gemstones final season began as most stories do, at the beginning. With a cameo from Bradley Cooper, episode one, 'Prelude', establishes the dark civil-war era past of the Gemstone family, brought into sharp relief against the technicolour family at present thanks to cinematographer Paul Daley's work, for which he received a Primetime Emmy nomination. 

Although Daley knew he could push the series into a darker place, "if you come into it with ideas and you force those ideas on the show or the scene, or the image, you're blowing it," he says.

Daley details how filming on-location was imperative to capturing the opening episode's melancholy, and why it's important to look to past masters of the craft.

The Righteous Gemstones is known for being visually bold, so going into season four, did you feel any impetuous to push the visual language in an even bolder way?

The whole thing is script driven. When I got the scripts, it was clear that the show, while maintaining the fun of the characters, it took a very dark turn. That in of itself was an opportunity to take it in the direction. We could add a little more contrast to make it a little darker. There was a sense this was potentially the last season, so it was go for broke time. 

With the episode Prelude, you’ve spoken about taking inspiration from The Ipcress File – how attentive were you to the balance between using that film as a touchstone versus pulling too much from an established cinematographically style? 

Everything's derivative, right. so it would be very difficult to rip off something to the point where a viewer goes 'Oh my goodness, I'm clearly watching The Ipcress Files.’ 

When you see something done well and you see how it worked, it's like ‘Ohh that an interesting way of doing it.’ It's about watching the past masters and applying some of their expertise to what you're doing.  

Bradley Cooper in episode one 'Prelude'; Source: Connie Chornuk/HBO

Did you know ahead of time that building on that style would suit Prelude? 

Well, you can always look at something and if it doesn't work [in situ], you can change it, and do that so quickly no one even knows that I looked at something and discarded it. You're not locked into a frame. Say, you've set up a symmetry shot. Then it's just not telling the story. The frame is beautiful. But it's just not getting it done. So that whole premise goes out the window and you go ‘let's do let's do what works’. 

Your primary goal is to get the story told as effectively and beautifully as you can. If you come into it with ideas and you force those ideas on the show or the scene, or the image, you're blowing it. 

There’s a moment in that episode where a soldier is talking about keeping his head up when he gets shot in the face. It’s funny and shocking at the same time. In setting up that shot, how do you balance those themes, and what the scene is trying to evoke in the audience? 

In that situation, I mean he's halfway through his soliloquy and you know what's going to happen, don't you? But my thought was just keep the camera wide. Don't tip anybody off. Like if I snapped in for a tight shot a second before his head exploded, you'd definitely know what's going to happen. 

But if you just sit back on that medium wide and he's delivering his speech and then boom, there's still a shock aspect to it.  

'Prelude'; Source: Connie Chornuk/HBO

To what extent did you think about how this episode fit visually in with the rest of the season? 

It didn't have to feel cohesive to the show. That was the that was the key.  We could have done anything we wanted and we did. 

There’s the rotating cast of background soldiers that’s really melancholy in the way its shot. 

You’re absolutely right - the homages to the silver nitrate photographs was supposed to be melancholy. It was supposed to change the tone completely.  

Danny came up with the idea - he mentioned these silver nitrate prints, which of course are famous. I asked our camera intern to get all the information he could on the format and I just matched it. I did four or five different tableaus and dropped those soldiers into them. 

Danny McBride and Paul Daley on set of 'Prelude'; Source: Connie Chornuk/HBO

When I shot it, we were a long way from holding. Which means when the rainstorms came the actors would hide in the tents get covered in dust and muck and everyone would get wet. A third of the way through the day, everyone's filthy dirty and perfect for what it is we were doing.  

Would you say that's something you wouldn't have been able to achieve on a soundstage?

100 percent.

When you're shooting and [it becomes over or under exposed], if you're on a soundstage, instinctively you would control that light. The next thing you know, you're in a world of averages - because every bulb is perfectly exposed. Every person is perfectly lit, within range of each other, but there's nothing going on. There's no levels, there's no texture. There's no bravery. 

I'm not interested in [that]. If it doesn't look good, I'll just change it.