CALLING THE SHOTS
RIGHT FROM THE START, RIAN JOHNSON HAS BEEN TAKING PHOTOS ON HIS SETS, CAPTURING CANDID MOMENTS FOR POSTERITY. HERE, HE LEADS US THROUGH A NOSTALGIC TOUR OF HIS WORK, INCLUDING SOME IMAGES NEVER SEEN BEFORE
CAPTIONS RIAN JOHNSON
HANGING OUT ON LOOPER
This is where we did this big crane shot where Joe [Gordon-Levitt] falls off a fire-escape ladder. He was up on wires and doing big stunts, and it happened to be his birthday. Yes, he got a bloody neck on his birthday. That’s the best you can hope for in our line of work.
BRICK (2005)
LOCKER ROOM WITH A VIEW
While on Brick, I was using my 2003-era Nokia cell phone to take photos. They’re pretty cool, though: they almost have an abstract quality because they’re so low-res.
TUNNEL VISION
Five or six years before Brick, I was trying and failing to get it made, and got really frustrated. So I took my little brother Chris down to my high school and we spent a day taking black-and-white photos, blocking out scenes from the movie. So this is Chris and his friends. Just a test shot that I did of them, on 35mm.