(Only in Hollywood) Will a third Oscar nomination be a charm for Fil-Am Matthew Libatique?
LOS ANGELES, USA – Will a third Oscar nomination be a charm for Filipino-American cinematographer Matthew “Matty” Libatique?
After receiving two previous nominations for Best Cinematography from the Academy for Darren Aronofsky black Swan And Bradley Cooper A star is bornMatty is gunning for his next chance at the Golden Man Trophy with his amazing work Artist, band leaderAnd with Bradley too.
“This is an honor that will never get old,” Matty, whose family roots come from Dagupan, Pangasinan, and Lucena, Quezon, said of his recent Oscar nomination.
“Thank you to all my fellow filmmakers at the Academy for granting them this high honor. Thank you to the brave crew Artist, band leader Most of all, thanks to Bradley Cooper for bringing me on board this beautiful journey.
Matty has come to prominence in the last 96y The Academy nominees were having lunch in Beverly Hills when he stood on the red carpet with his arms folded across his chest, palms spread — note his charcoal gray manicured nails.
The Pinoy DP also made it easier for me to see him in the sea of faces in the traditional class photo. In that category of 2024 photos, amid hundreds of the world’s best cinematic talents – from Steven Spielberg, Celine Song, Yorgos Lanthimos and Martin Scorsese, to Colman Domingo – you can’t miss Matty striking the same pose, in the fourth row. From the front, right.
Matty’s achievement Artist, band leader It dramatizes, in black and white and then in colour, the life and times of the celebrated composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein (Bradley) and his wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) from the 1940s to the 1980s.
In the Academy race, he faces Edward Lachman El Conde; Rodrigo Brito, Moonflower Killers; robbie ryan, Bad things; And Hoyt van Hoytema, Oppenheimer. It’s the first time since 2017 that Oscar nominees will match the list of finalists for the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), which awards its awards on March 3. The Academy Awards will be announced on March 10.
Each year, the ASC honors the best feature films, documentaries, and television cinematography. Like the Oscars, it’s also Matty’s third ASC nomination.
Whether he wins or loses, Mattei will receive the American Film Institute (AFI) Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal at a ceremony that will also honor Nicole Kidman in Hollywood on April 27. DP is a member of the AFI Class of 1992.
“Matthew Libatique is one of our generation’s defining voices in the art of visual storytelling,” Bob Gazzaley, president and CEO of AFI, said in a statement. “Now, AFI is honored to highlight him – celebrating his impact on the art form and the pride he brings to us as an AFI Conservatory graduate.”
The AFI describes the Schaffner Alumni Medal as a recognition “of the extraordinary creative talents of AFI Conservatory graduates who embody the qualities of director Franklin J. Schaffner: talent, flair, dedication, and commitment to quality storytelling in film and television. Past recipients include Darren Aronofsky, Leslie Lenka Glatter, Sian Heder, and Patti Jenkins, Janusz Kaminski, Mimi Leder, David Lynch, Terrence Malick, Melina Matsoukas, and Rachel Morrison.
Very excellent company that Matty will be joining soon.
Matty and Darren, who met on their third day at AFI, have both said in previous interviews that they immediately instinctively felt a desire to work with each other.
It is true that the duo went on to produce eight films together and perhaps more in their future: Bye (1998); Requiem for a Dream (2000), for which Matty won the Film Spirit Award for Best Cinematography; fountain (2006); black Swan (2010); Noah (2014); the mom! (2017); Whale (2022); And Postcard from Earth (2023), the documentary is now showing at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In an interview with IndieWire in 2021, Darren talked about his collaboration with Matty in black Swanthe latter of which earned him his first DP Academy citation: “I think he reads the performance just like a director, and engages with it emotionally.”
“I think because of that empathy, and he also has this amazing technical skill set, he can feel what’s happening in front of him and then he can apply his incredible experience to figure out the best way to capture it.”
Matty really captured Natalie Portman’s performance effectively black Swan She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2011.
Jennifer Lawrence, who played the title role the mom!is credited with the recent collaboration between Matty and Bradley.
“We are,” Matty told Collider’s Nate Richard I first met him at a job interview for A star is born. I was actually shooting the movie the mom! With Darren Aronofsky and Jennifer Lawrence. I think Bradley, who worked with Jennifer Lawrence, asked Jennifer for a DP recommendation, And fortunately for me, Jennifer Lee said. So when I finished back in Los Angeles, I met up with Bradley, and we hit it off right away.
A star is bornThe film starring Lady Gaga and Bradley (in addition to his directorial duties) was a critical and commercial success, earning multiple Academy and Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture and Matty’s second Motion Picture Academy nod.
In their second match with the team Artist, band leaderBradley cited his “synchronicity” with Matty in a filing Vanity gallery Interview: “I’ve worked as an actor on film sets for many years, and if there’s not that synchronization between director and director, if there’s not that ability to pivot, which is always based on insecurity about what someone wants, then things start to get blurry.”
“The thing I love is that we have developed confidence and an unspoken language about how to create, which is preparation is everything. Preparation is everything, but on the day we have to ask ourselves the question: ‘Is this the best?’ And if not Also, we focus and execute.
“…The other thing I have to say about Matty is that all he cares about is the story too. When that’s the case and the cinematographer cares about the story, it’s kind of fun instead of saying, “No, I have this shot in my head that I want to do.”
As early as October and November of last year, awards forecasters, film critics and journalists were predicting the possibility of another Oscar for Matty for his sophomore collaboration with Bradley in Artist, band leader.
One of those writers, Eric Bloom, of The Film Experience, explained why the Academy might cite Mattei again: “Matthew Libatique worked on… Artist, band leader It is one of the best elements of the movie. He looks a lot like Florian Hofmeister tar Last year, Libatique felt firmly in control of the classical music sequences, working in huge spaces to keep things intimate until greater grandeur was needed.
“And he and Cooper captured one of the most amazing shots of the year: that absurdly high camera with Carey Mulligan’s Felicia offstage, slowly engulfed by Bernstein’s shadow as he drives. The shot is so metaphorical that it should be clumsy and obvious, But Libatique executes it with a technical finesse that makes it soar.
Last January 23, at the early morning Academy Nominations ceremony in Beverly Hills, actors Jack Quaid and Zazie Beetz announced Mattie as one of the nominees for cinematography.
He is accompanied by distinguished photography directors:
Rodrigo Brito, based on Martin Scorsese Moonflower Killersnominated by the Academy three other times: the unforgettable Ang Lee Brokeback Mountain (2005), Martin Silence (2016), and Irish (2019).
Edward Lachman, like Matty, is a three-time nominee for Todd Haynes’ film. Far from heaven (2002) and Carol (2015) and Pablo Larraín El Conde (2023). The latter, a historical fantasy comedy that imagines the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year-old vampire, shot by Edward in black-and-white. It is not surprising that the late former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos is mentioned in the film.
Yorgos Lanthimos Bad things (2024) marks Ryan Robbie’s second nod since then Favorite (2018), also by Liorgos.
Hoyt Van Hoytema is also present in his second adaptation, thanks to his work with Christopher Nolan – Dunkirk (2018) and Oppenheimer (2024).
Who among these five cinematographers will receive their first motion picture Oscar? Matty, Hoyt and Rodrigo were mentioned by award forecasters as among the top three contenders.
The other nagging question is: Will Matty ever again wear a tuxedo designed by Filipino designer Oliver Tolentino? Matty has proudly worn Oliver’s creations on the Oscars red carpet for his past nominations. In his first nod to the Democratic Party in 2011, Matty wore an abaca jacket and tie for a touch of Filipino pride.
Meanwhile, Matty is quietly working on a new project on the East Coast. – Rappler.com
