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 ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
08/10/2026
Modern venues have come a long way since the tinny, echoing audio of the mid 20t...
08/10/2026
ESPN's first Super Bowl production will stream in English and Spanish on Disney+, while the ESPN App carries the full slate of game, ManningCast, studio, an...
08/10/2026
From high-school videoboards to War Eagle Productions, the Opelika native is learning how to lead shows and capture big moments
The future of live sports produ...
08/10/2026
The Television Academy and Prime Video have announced a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning with the 20...
08/10/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show New York 2026 (Booth 623, Javits Center, October...
08/10/2026
X Games has announced the appointment of Steve Rogers as Chief Operating Officer. Rogers previously served as COO of World Supercross and spent nearly a decade ...
08/10/2026
Fonn Group has appointed Trevor Spielmann as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spielmann joins from EVS, where he held sales and business de...
08/10/2026
The flagship program will originate from major PG events with a four-camera production, live distribution across PGTV, social platforms
Perfect Game is bringin...
08/10/2026
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. More often, it happens at the point of collision: when worlds that have run on separate tracks begin to converge. That is...
08/10/2026
For decades, the production and broadcast services business has run on a familia...
08/10/2026
Uplynk, Zixi, BroadView Software, and Grass Valley have published The IP Converg...
08/10/2026
The NFL has announced the return of the Big Data Bowl, the league's analytics competition, now in its ninth year and again powered by AWS. Registration is o...
08/10/2026
Eutelsat has renewed its partnership with T l diffusion d'Alg rie (TDA), Algeria's national broadcasting network operator, for continued distribution of...
08/10/2026
Disney will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, alongside the game's broadcast on ESPN and ABC. All Disney subscribers in the United States wi...
08/10/2026
RHStv and Red House Streaming have announced an expansion of their partnership w...
08/10/2026
Gray Media has announced a distribution agreement with TEGNA and DAZN to simulca...
08/10/2026
SVG readers can save 10% on registration and receive a complimentary Solutions H...
08/10/2026
PROTON Camera Innovations GmbH has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology a...
08/10/2026
Industry leaders discuss real-world cloud workflows for live game production, pl...
08/10/2026
The next-gen audio technology joins Dolby Vision as part of Apple TV's immersive F1 experience...
08/10/2026
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tils...
08/10/2026
Dynamic panning plug-ins get an upgrade
Sound Particles have just announced major updates for two of their popular dynamic panning plug-ins. Energy Panner 2...
08/10/2026
New expandable instrument boasts full DMNO engine
UDO Audio have just announced the upcoming release of a new, expandable synth that packs the power of the ...
08/10/2026
Two new subwoofers added to monitoring line-up
ADAM Audio's monitoring range has just been expanded with two new DSP-equipped subwoofers, the Sub8 PRO a...
08/10/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
08/10/2026
Calrec gives broadcasters freedom of choice at NAB Show New York We're looking forward to meeting up with you all at NAB New York on 21st-22nd October.
Cal...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will showcase its next generation of media orchestration services at NAB S...
08/10/2026
Clear-Com played a critical role in the production communications infrastructure for Rock in Rio 2026, one of the world's largest and most recognized music...
08/10/2026
Sohonet Launches ClearView Rush: A Leap Forward in Studio Review, Built for Crea...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Ikegami announces a major expansion to its range of broadcast-quality live production cameras. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami booth 708 at NAB New York, ...
08/10/2026
Calrec will be located at Booth 444.
Freedom to choose
The media landscape is evolving quickly, and the broadcasters best placed for what comes next will be...
08/10/2026
LiveU has announced that CRD Audiovisuel relied on LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit, with built-in native LiveU IQ (LIQ ) connectivity, to deliver live...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Marshall Electronics, a globally recognized provider of high-performance video solutions for broadcast, streaming, AV and professional production, will exhibit ...
08/10/2026
14-hour package also includes A Remarkable Place to Die season 2 as well as libr...
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.
