\n\tArkapaw sat down with The Hollywood Reporter at the Camerimage<\/a> film festival to talk nominative determinism, her love of old school celluloid and using her platform to open doors for the next generation of women behind the camera.<\/p>\n \n\tIs it true that you were named after a John Ford Western? <\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tYeah, my full name is Autumn Cheyenne Shadow Durald. My father and mother both named me, but one of my father\u2019s favorite films was Cheyenne Autumn (1964) which is a John Ford Western, and it was also shot on 65 millimeter. So that\u2019s a kind of circular thing that\u2019s very odd.<\/p>\n \n\tDo you see it as fate that you ended up making history as the first woman to shoot a 65 mm film in IMAX?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI mean, my mom thinks that. But I\u2019m a little more level headed. I\u2019m still trying to absorb how the press and everyone has responded [to the film]. It\u2019s just been so lovely. So I laugh when I think about it.<\/p>\n \n\tYou started with photography. What was the turning point where you decided, \u201cI\u2019m going to become a DP\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI did a photography course in high school, developing my own film that sort of thing. Then in college I went to LMU (Loyola Marymount University) for art history. I had a camcorder, and I would make little movies with my friends and edit them in iMovie but I never thought anything of it. Then I took a film course at LMU, and had to write a paper on Broadway Danny Rose and Raging Bull. And that really opened my mind up to what a cinematographer did. <\/p>\n \n\tSo I started looking up research on who shot my favorite films. And I couldn\u2019t find a woman. Finally I looked at Blow, which is my favorite film from Ted Demme, and I saw Ellen Kuras\u2019 name, and I was like: \u2018Oh, well, there\u2019s one. There can be more.\u2019 I became kind of obsessed with the job. I started looking at film schools and at the AFI you can do cinematography as a master\u2019s. So I went to AFI in 2007.<\/p>\n \n\tHow did the transition come from doing independent films like Palo Alto<\/a> to bigger studio projects, leading up to Ryan approaching you for Black Panther: <\/strong>Wakanda Forever<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tPalo Alto was actually my third film. My first feature [2009\u2019s Macho]\u00a0was done in between my first and second year at AFI, which was lovely, because I got to collaborate with like the people I met at school. We shot on 35mm it was a very tiny film where the director [Rafael Palacio Illingworth] was also the lead actor. It won best micro-budget feature at Raindance. So it was nice to be able to graduate and say: I\u2019m a DP now. I have a feature. <\/p>\n \n\tI did Palo Alto as my third film and I met [director] Gia [Coppola] through another cinematographer classmate of mine. He was unavailable one day, and she was shooting some small videos for James Franco to show him the vibe of what she wanted to do. So I filled in, I did that film. I dabbled in indies for a while, but was always looking to, you know, graduate into the studio film world. And that didn\u2019t happen until I did The Sun is Also a Star (2019), which was for MGM.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tRyan Coogler recruited Arkapaw to shoot \u2018Black Panther: Wakanda Forever<\/a>\u2018 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Marvel Studios<\/p>\n \n\tBut I think [Disney+ series] Loki was my biggest break into what you are talking about. Having a big budget, having the authority to kind of set the look and be more aggressive in setting the mood and tone. It was a new streaming series for Marvel and [lead actor] Tom Hiddleston was very excited to do something new and bold. So the idea of using lighting as a character, getting moodier lighting to set the tone, was embraced by the studio and the director. We pushed the envelope on that series, and it was great. <\/p>\n \n\tThen Rachel Morrison [DP on Black Panther] decided to move into directing, so she was unavailable for Panther 2. Rachel texted me: I think you should meet Ryan because I\u2019m not gonna be able to do this, and you guys would get along great. We had a Zoom call. And I felt like I was talking to my cousin. We got on right from the start.<\/p>\n \n\tOn Loki and <\/strong>Wakanda Forever<\/strong>, you seemed to bring a darker tone and different color scheme to the MCU, which had often been very bright.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tKate Herron, the director of Loki, had a great meeting, and we were both on the same page as far as the visual storytelling of that film. We had all the same references. We were allowed to think big and make things darker, use more aggressive lensing, do everything in camera. We built ceilings on Loki, which is rare for Marvel. We fought to have full structures that actors could walk through. Which I was really appreciative of, because I definitely don\u2019t want to be shooting blue screen. I want the actors to have a real space. I want to get everything in camera as much as I can.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tArkapaw helped shape the darker palate for Disney+\u2019s \u2018Loki\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Marvel Studios\/Disney+<\/p>\n \n\tIt was really nice to be able to operate in that zone on that high of a level, and have the financing to support the big sets, put cameras on cranes and light things aggressively. We were able to spread our wings. Then it was nice to see audiences respond to that, to notice that it was a shift and to really enjoy it. Because it was all in service of the story.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen it can be cohesive like that, audiences appreciate it. It\u2019s the same for Sinners, where you have a director like Ryan who really wants to push the visual style and be brave. I\u2019m always down to support that, because I feel that\u2019s when you get the biggest emotional response from the audience.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat were the discussions with Ryan about shooting Sinners in a wide format on celluloid, given that <\/strong>Wakanda Forever<\/strong> was shot digitally?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tWell, Ryan wanted to originally shoot on 16 mm because he had such a great time using that on [his debut film] Fruitvale Station (2013)<\/a>. He loved shooting that picture with the camera. It\u2019s a very ergonomic camera. You can be fast, you can run around. So that was the original concept for Sinners. I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve heard, but the code title for the film was Grilled Cheese. You know something you can make quickly with your friends but still tastes good. We joke we took the grilled cheese and made it into a Michelin star meal.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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