On Nov. 2, when “Bohemian Rhapsody” — the biopic of Freddie Mercury, lead singer of British rock group Queen — debuts on U.S. screens, it will mark latest in a long string of highly diverse films lensed by cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel.
The DP’s work, which goes back to the early ’80s, has encompassed war stories (“Three Kings”), dark comedy (“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”), historical drama (“Marshall”), TV movies and series, multiple documentaries — and the genre for which he is perhaps best known – superhero movies, including “Superman Returns” and four installments of the X-Men franchise.
Sigel was attracted to visual art from a young age, and at first honed his skills as a painter. He experimented with abstraction, but always came back to more representational imagery that served a narrative. He arrived in New York City from Detroit at age 18, having been invited to the Whitney Museum’s artist-in-residence fellowship program.
Sigel soon began making personal films and, given the political turmoil of the time, he gravitated to documentaries with social topics. Soon he was travelling to the world’s hot spots with a camera, especially Central America. He shot a documentary that showed U.S. audiences the first images of the Contras’ secret militia in Nicaragua.
His work came to the attention of master cinematographer, director and activist Haskell Wexler, who needed a DP for what became “Latino,” a 1985 film set against Ronald Reagan’s proxy war against the Nicaraguan government. “What drew me into narrative and feature filmmaking was the desire to control the visual storytelling more than you can with photojournalism,” Sigel says.
Despite his subsequent foray into indie and studio features, Sigel’s name still comes up among cinematographers as an under-the-radar trendsetter whose films are considered game-changers – “Drive” and “Three Kings” being the most often cited.
“Three Kings,” directed by David O. Russell in 1999, took a bold, even risky approach to color, contrast, film stocks and lab processes that is still influential. “Drive,” directed by Nicholas Winding Refn, used the then-new Arri Alexa digital camera.
Along the way, Sigel has forged working relationships with numerous directors, working most often with Bryan Singer. The forthcoming “Bohemian Rhapsody” will be their 12th narrative project together.
The visual artist and social documentary aspects of Sigel’s mindset still have a strong impact on his choices. Director Reginald Hudlin worked with Sigel on “Marshall,” last year’s biopic about the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.