Tak Fujimoto

Takashi Fujimoto ASC (born July 12, 1939) is a retired American cinematographer,^[1] known for his frequent collaborations with directors Jonathan Demme and M. Night Shyamalan. He had won a Primetime Emmy Award, and was nominated for the BAFTA and Satellite Awards. In 2016, IndieWire named him one of the 11 best cinematographers to have never won an Academy Award.^[2]

Tak Fujimoto ASC
Born	Takashi Fujimoto (1939-07-12) July 12, 1939 (age 86) San Diego, California, U.S.
Education	San Dieguito High School
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley London Film School
Years active	1970–2013
Relatives	Jack Fujimoto (brother)

Early life and education

Takashi Fujimoto (Japanese: 藤本 隆) was born in San Diego, California to Japanese American parents. His father, Morizo, was an Issei (first-generation) from Hiroshima, and his mother, Emi, was a Nisei (second-generation) born in Glendale, California. His older brother was academic Jack Fujimoto.^[3] During World War II, Fujimoto and his family were interned at the Poston War Relocation Center due to Executive Order 9066.^[4]

Fujimoto graduated San Dieguito High School from 1957. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley and the London Film School. He began his career as an assistant to Haskell Wexler at his production company Dove Films.

Career

Fujimoto's first film as cinematographer was Chicago Blues, a 1970 music documentary featuring the likes of Dick Gregory, Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. He was one of three directors of photography that worked on Terrence Malick's 1973 directorial debut Badlands, earning rave reviews. He shot a string of low-budget exploitation films for producer Roger Corman, including Death Race 2000 and Switchblade Sisters (as second unit photographer). He was also one of several second unit cinematographers who worked on the first Star Wars film.

During this period, he also began his long-running collaboration with director Jonathan Demme. Their first film together was Caged Heat in 1974. He would shoot a total of 11 films with Demme, as well as the 2013 pilot episode of the television drama A Gifted Man. He also had fruitful collaborations with John Hughes, shooting Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and with M. Night Shyamalan, shooting The Sixth Sense, Signs, and The Happening.

Fujimoto has been a member of the American Society of Cinematographers since 1997.^[5]

Personal life

Fujimoto had retired by 2015, and lived with his wife Anthea in Santa Fe, New Mexico.^[6]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1970	Chicago Blues	Harley Cokeliss	Documentary film
1973	Badlands	Terrence Malick	With Stevan Larner and Brian Probyn
1974	Caged Heat	Jonathan Demme	1st collaboration with Demme
	Bootleggers	Charles B. Pierce
1975	Death Race 2000	Paul Bartel
1976	Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde	William Crain
	Cannonball	Paul Bartel
1977	Chatterbox	Tom DeSimone
	Bad Georgia Road	John Broderick
1978	Remember My Name	Alan Rudolph
	Stony Island	Andrew Davis
1979	Last Embrace	Jonathan Demme
1980	Where the Buffalo Roam	Art Linson
	Borderline	Jerrold Freedman
	Melvin and Howard	Jonathan Demme
1983	Heart Like a Wheel	Jonathan Kaplan
1984	Swing Shift	Jonathan Demme
1986	Pretty in Pink	Howard Deutch
	Ferris Bueller's Day Off	John Hughes
	Something Wild	Jonathan Demme
1987	Backfire	Gilbert Cates
1988	Married to the Mob	Jonathan Demme
	Sweet Hearts Dance	Robert Greenwald
	Cocoon: The Return	Daniel Petrie
1990	Miami Blues	George Armitage
1991	The Silence of the Lambs	Jonathan Demme
	Crooked Hearts	Michael Bortman
1992	Gladiator	Rowdy Herrington
	Singles	Cameron Crowe	With Ueli Steiger
	Night and the City	Irwin Winkler
1993	Philadelphia	Jonathan Demme
1995	Devil in a Blue Dress	Carl Franklin
	Grumpier Old Men	Howard Deutch
1996	That Thing You Do!	Tom Hanks
1997	A Thousand Acres	Jocelyn Moorhouse
1998	Beloved	Jonathan Demme
1999	The Sixth Sense	M. Night Shyamalan
2000	The Replacements	Howard Deutch
2002	Signs	M. Night Shyamalan
	The Truth About Charlie	Jonathan Demme
2004	The Final Cut	Omar Naim
	The Manchurian Candidate	Jonathan Demme
2007	Breach	Billy Ray
2008	The Great Buck Howard	Sean McGinly
	The Happening	M. Night Shyamalan
2010	Devil	John Erick Dowdle
2013	Gods Behaving Badly	Marc Turtletaub

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1982	Growing Yourself	Bob Giraldi	Segments of National Lampoon's Movie Madness
	Success Wanters
1994	The Complex Sessions	Jonathan Demme

Television

TV movies

Year	Title	Director
1976	Almos' a Man	Stan Lathan
1978	Lawman Without a Gun	Jerrold Freedman
1979	Some Kind of Miracle
1982	Divorce Wars: A Love Story	Donald Wrye
1984	The Seduction of Gina	Jerrold Freedman
1985	Seduced
	Blackout	Douglas Hickox
1989	Cast the First Stone	John Korty

TV series

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1978	At Home with Shields and Yarnell	Andrew Davis	TV short
1985	MacGyver	Jerrold Freedman[a]	Episode "Pilot"
2008	John Adams	Tom Hooper	4 episodes
2011	A Gifted Man	Jonathan Demme	Episode "Pilot"

Awards and nominations

Award	Year	Category	Title	Result
American Society of Cinematographers Award	1999	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases	The Sixth Sense	Nominated
British Academy Film Awards	1992	Best Cinematography	The Silence of the Lambs	Nominated
Boston Society of Film Critics	1991	Best Cinematography		Won
Chicago Film Critics Association	1999	Best Cinematography	Beloved	Nominated
National Society of Film Critics	1995	Best Cinematography	Devil in a Blue Dress	Won
Primetime Emmy Awards	2008	Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie	John Adams ("Independence")	Won
	2009		John Adams ("Don't Treat Me")	Nominated
Satellite Awards	1999	Best Cinematography	Beloved	Nominated

Notes

1. Credited as Alan Smithee