
Cinematographer Todd Banhazl shot Hustlers, currently in theaters, and the upcoming HBO series Showtime. His work on the seaside noir film Blow the Man Down recently won Special Jury Mention for Cinematography at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. Todd has also compiled music video and fashion credits, including work for Janelle Monae, Muse, Lorde, Imagine Dragons, John Legend, A$AP Rocky, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Death Cab for Cutie. He lives with his curly-haired wife and straight-haired dog in Los Angeles.
What led you to cinematography?
The original Blade Runner was a light bulb moment when I was a kid where I realized you could photograph mood. I used to go in my bedroom, play the Blade Runner soundtrack, and drink apple juice pretending it was whiskey and imagining that I was Deckard. I would imagine shots of myself drinking the whisky thinking about the pressures of being a replicant! My first cinematographer crushes were Jordan Cronenweth, ASC, Lance Accord, ASC and Harris Savides, ASC. Lost in Translation was really important for me. Something about the delicate exposure matching the delicate emotions. It's never left me.
Can you tell us about some of your earliest experiences?
I remember I was starting out as a DP in Los Angeles shooting small music videos, branded content, etc. I wanted to start getting familiar with all the beautiful Panavision glass I had heard so much about. So, I reached out and Mike Carter generously invited me to a lunch to get to know me. I think we had cheeseburgers. Over the years Mike Carter, Marni Zimmerman, and so many wonderful Panavision team members from Los Angeles, New York, and around the world have been so supportive of my projects no matter how big or small the budgets have been. They've customized lenses for me, figured out ways to make things work, and have always treated me like I was one of the big cats that I look up to. It really is a family with Panavision and I've always felt supported and embraced by them. We used customized Standard Speeds to captured the glow of an affair in Between Us; brought an SLZ11 zoom onto the salty cliffs of Baja for an H&M commercial; shot beautiful B Series in Cape Town on a commercial; used my favorite C Series zoom to create existential dread in The Strange Ones; and they outfitted our film Hustlers with DXL2's and customized large format lenses.
Motion Picture Artwork 2019 STX Financing, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
What do you think was your real first big break?
I've had so many little breaks along the way thanks to the generosity of so many wonderful collaborators. I'm so grateful to all of them. The biggest one that comes to mind is (writer-director) Lorene Scafaria asking me to shoot her movie Hustlers. Somehow, she believed in me based on our first conversation, my initial visual ideas for the film, and my previous work. Hustlers was a big jump for me in terms of budget. She fought hard to get me on that film. I am forever indebted to her.
What project to date are you most proud of, and why?
I cant choose between my children. At the moment, Im particularly proud of two films that got into TIFF: Blow the Man Down and Hustlers. For me they are spiritual cousins in that they are both exploring ways of photographing women in ways that I feel passionately about in ways we dont traditionally see female characters on the big screen.
Your latest film, Hustlers, has been getting great buzz. Can you describe the look for this film, and tell us a little about how you achieved it?
Lorene (Scafaria) and I nicknamed our look gritty glamour. It's a mix of 2007 pop with gritty gangster lighting. We looked at Goodfellas, Boogie Nights, The Wolf of Wall Street, Heat, and, of course, Flashdance, which is an early example of a female-centric perspective on stripping and dancing. We also looked at a lot of sports movies for cues on how to shoot strippers like athletes.
We chose the DXL2 with customized Panaspeeds and various filter combinations to further degrade the image. We modulated between 8K, 7K, 6K, 5K and some 4K to express the different levels of control or pressure that the characters were experiencing. When the ladies are clocking the club in full power, we shot a lot of low angle 8K on wide lenses. When their world comes crashing down, we used a lot of longer zooms at 4K or 5K, including my favorite Primo zoom, the SLZ11. Lorene wanted the Usher scene at the end during the height of the happy times to look like a full on music video from the mid-2000's, so we shot that scene on E Series anamorphics and flared the lens with green sharpies as much as possible. It's the height of glamour before the financial crash.
Do you have any advice for aspiring cinematographers on how to achieve success?
Never accept no as the answer the first time, especially as it relates to camera and light placement. There is always a way. People want to be a part of things that are exciting and new and challenge the ways they normally do things; you just have to show them youre on the same team.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
AI has moved firmly beyond experimentation in UK advertising, with more than eight in ten marketers (83%) now actively using or piloting AI in production, accor...
09/09/2026
IBC2026 - Stand 7.D22
At IBC2026, Pixitmedia by DataCore will showcase its latest capabilities designed to simplify distributed production, accelerate workflow...
09/09/2026
Stockholm, Sweden September 9th, 2026 At IBC2026, on booth 1.B47, Net Insight will showcase Open Live Media, its architecture for delivering resilient live ...
09/09/2026
Net Insight today announced that DMC Production Norway is continuing the use of its Open Live Media technology for premium European football, deploying Nimbra 5...
09/09/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, will showcase four new AI-native capabilities at IBC2026, Hall 5, S...
09/09/2026
Limecraft today announces version 2026.6 of its AI-powered production platform, extending capabilities for connected media operations. An AI-assisted approach t...
09/09/2026
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced the next evolution of its Practical AI strategy, evolving its comprehensive portfoli...
09/09/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the appointment of Brian Doheny as Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
09/09/2026
LiveU is now a Clarus Integrated Reseller, bringing Starlink's fast, reliable broadband directly into LiveU's cellular bonding EcoSystem through a singl...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
Wisycom is showcasing the latest additions to its ecosystem of professional RF technologies at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.D60). This includes its new MATF Wideband Anten...
09/09/2026
AMSTERDAM, IBC2026 VisualOn, Inc. and Cires21 today released an updated joint whitepaper at IBC 2026 demonstrating measurable, high-impact improvements in visu...
09/09/2026
Sony Electronics Introduces Its First Fisheye Zoom G Lens
Brie Clayton September 8, 2026
0 Comments
Compact, lightweight SEL814G Full-frame lens deliv...
09/09/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 21.1
Brie Clayton September 8, 2026
0 Comments
Major update adds AI assistant integration, expanded camera...
09/09/2026
Cuez Integrates AI into a Unified Broadcast Production Workflow
Brie Clayton September 8, 2026
0 Comments
Cuez announces the expansion of its cloud-ba...
09/09/2026
RT brings three packed days of live radio, entertainment, news, weather and fun
Join RT Radio 1: Morning Ireland, Oliver Callan, Today with David McCullagh,...
08/09/2026
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced a multi-year agreement with A E...
08/09/2026
Spectra Logic today announced the availability of Media Insight, a new capabilit...
08/09/2026
Rogers Communications and Quebecor have announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games beginning with the 2026-27 season. TVA...
08/09/2026
Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies will demonstrate two integrations...
08/09/2026
Boland Communications will make the European debut of its 4K55HDR7SNB 55-inch super-narrow-bezel monitor at IBC2026 (Stand 12.C57, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a collaboration comb...
08/09/2026
Haivision has joined the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme as part of t...
08/09/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced price reductions on its PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K models, effective immediately through Blackmagic Design resellers worldwid...
08/09/2026
AI-Media will demonstrate its LEXI Suite at IBC2026 (Booth 5.C34, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform (AIP) have announced the first live deploymen...
08/09/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate story-centric media workflows at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), connecting newsroom production, content ma...
08/09/2026
M2A Media and Ateme have announced a partnership integrating Ateme's video processing solutions into M2A Media's MediaToAnywhere platform for live sport...
08/09/2026
Ikegami will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 12.A31, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), including a Day 1 introduction of new cameras in the UNICAM XE series. Additiona...
08/09/2026
Broadcast industry analysts will be gathering plenty of insights at the 2026 IBC Show this weekend in Amsterdam, but Caretta Research has offered up some though...
08/09/2026
SENSHI and DAZN have announced a global broadcast partnership that will bring SENSHI's live events free to viewers in more than 200 markets. The partnership...
08/09/2026
New architecture built with Evertz will bring 4K HDR to Monday Night Football, N...
08/09/2026
Built for rap producers, by rap producers
Sauceware Audio, the independent plug-in company founded by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob (Travis Scott, 21 Sava...
08/09/2026
Classic Sound Techniques design revived
Warm Audio's latest release delivers a meticulous recreation of the preamp circuitry employed by the Sound Techn...
08/09/2026
Latest soft synth inspired by the Memorymoog
XILS Lab have just launched a software instrument that draws its inspiration from Moog's iconic Memorymoog,...
08/09/2026
The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026
8 September, 2026
Media releases
1.67 million viewers on National Total TV to date
Best...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...
08/09/2026
New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...
08/09/2026
Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...
08/09/2026
Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...