A Conversation With Producer Daniel Lupi
Brie Clayton June 29, 2022
0 Comments
The line producer of the upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon discusses past projects and his longtime collaboration with Panavision.
Producer Daniel Lupi's credits include the features Catch Me If You Can, Lincoln, Ready Player One and West Side Story with director Steven Spielberg; Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice and Phantom Thread with director Paul Thomas Anderson; and, most recently, Killers of the Flower Moon with director Martin Scorsese. He began his career in the mid-1980s as a production assistant in New York. I've been around cameras for 39 years, he shares, and I'm still learning.
Panavision recently caught up with Lupi to discuss his work as a line producer, what he looks for when partnering with a rental provider, and the logistics he's had to navigate for some of his far-flung productions.
West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg, cinematography by Janusz Kaminski. Image courtesy of Disney.
Panavision: As a line producer, how do you determine where you'll rent your cameras and lenses for any given project?
Daniel Lupi: Honestly, it's DP-driven. With some line producers, I'm sure it's about budget and where you can get a better deal, but to me, the point of the camera rental is all about the DP.
I have a bit of a unique r sum . I've done something like 30 movies as a line producer, and I think only two of those have been digital jobs. When we did Her with Spike Jonze, we shot digital, and that was because we were trying to have a really low footprint. And then on Us with Jordan Peele, we went digital, and that was because we had a lot of night work. Killers of the Flower Moon was film. Spielberg only shoots film. Paul Anderson only shoots film. Also, Paul loves anamorphic, so that's been a big part of what's brought us to Panavision.
Us, directed by Jordan Peele, cinematography by Michael Gioulakis. Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.
When do you make your first call to the rental house for a new project, and what is that first conversation about?
Lupi: I'll sometimes call before we've done the deal with the DP, but on a lot of those jobs, we still usually know who the DP will be, so I'll say, Robert Elswit [ASC] is shooting it,' or Janusz Kaminski is shooting it.' And the first conversation is, There's a job in six months,' and it's about making sure we have the right lenses on hold and most times, it's about anamorphic.
The films I do tend to be budget-challenged. I've never gone on one of those films where there's 10 cameras. For me, it's always been an A and a B camera, and then you've got backups. On Killers of the Flower Moon, we shot for 20-odd weeks, so we probably ended up taking more than we needed, as backups. Now, though, we're getting into the world of split packages. On Killers, with cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto [ASC, AMC], we were shooting film during the day and digital at night, and that was partly because we were shooting in the middle of nowhere, and you could never light the exterior. You can push a sunset that much longer if you use a digital camera. But cost-wise, that approach is more challenging.
Because you're essentially doubling your cameras?
Lupi: It's the same number of lenses, but you're doubling the cameras. And you shoot a lot of footage with digital. With film, when you're shooting a thousand-foot mag, which is about 11 minutes, everyone is far more cognizant of a take. With digital, they just tend to let it roll, so you're shooting a lot more footage than you are with film, and memory's not cheap. You can't wipe the cards until you've completed the transfer, so you're doubling up on the camera cards, and then all that footage has to be dumped into the Avid. If you're doing a cost analysis between film and digital, I could show you how film's not any more expensive - but then I could probably show you how digital is less expensive as well. It really depends how much you're going to shoot.
It's also a question of where you're shooting and how quickly you can back up. Because we're shooting film, we're obviously not doing on-site colour, so basically it's all going back to L.A., New York or London for processing. Depending on where you're shooting, the turnaround can end up being so big that it might be cost-prohibitive.
There Will Be Blood, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, cinematography by Robert Elswit, ASC. Image courtesy of Paramount.
What's kept you and your collaborators coming back to Panavision so consistently?
Lupi: I think it all comes down to relationships and service. The DP, the director, the focus pullers, what they want is service, and no one beats Panavision. The staff is amazing. I've known them for 35, 40 years. They're always there for you. We've done shows where Panavision's sent techs out on weekends or during the week to service the cameras. I remember in Texas, on There Will Be Blood, techs were sent out mid-shoot to completely clean and service the cameras because of all the sand. And when we shot The Master on 65mm cameras, Panavision sent us a technician who basically stayed with us whilst we shot out of town.
Panavision's also great at despatch things out and back to be serviced lenses, cameras, all of it, and turning it around quickly. And of course [Panavision's senior vice president of optical engineering and lens strategy] Dan Sasaki and his Special Optics team, and the wonders they can do with building lenses and tweaking them, are amazing. You really want that person who understands what you're going for, and Dan is a
North America Stories
03/12/2025
CINCINNATI GatesAir has introduced Maxiva XTK, an update to its Maxiva XTE software-defined TV exciter. XTK is a new cost-efficient model primarily developed fo...
03/12/2025
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications is partnering with Haivision, a global provider of mission-critical, real-time video networking and visual collaboratio...
03/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar acquisition for Tegna and set deadlines f...
03/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
03/12/2025
NEW YORK Great American Media said it plans to launch Pure Flix Familia, a dedicated Spanish-language platform, in 2026....
03/12/2025
SOUTHPORT, Conn. Main Street Sports Group has announced that the FanDuel Sports Network app is now available directly on Vizio and on smart TVs with Vizio OS. T...
03/12/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced that Telia, the second-largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's c...
03/12/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. Sinclair said Jay Zollar, vice president and general manager of WLUK-WCWF here, will retire Dec. 31 after 26 years running the stations. Station...
02/12/2025
Case Study: How Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Moved to All-IP Distribution in 60 D...
02/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Lee Corso, Coach, Commentator, FirebrandBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | S...
02/12/2025
SVG All-Stars: Dan Nabors, Senior Director, Remote Engineering, TNT SportsThe veteran tech leader is helping guide Warner Bros. Discovery's at-home' re...
02/12/2025
National Lacrosse League Opens Season With New Cloud-Based Official Replay-Revie...
02/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: The Cinematic Look in Live Production - Bridging Aesthetic...
02/12/2025
SVG India Announces Advisory Board; JioStar's Prashant Khanna Named ChairmanBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 11:15 am
Print This Story |...
02/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: New AI Production Tools Workshop' Features ESPN, F...
02/12/2025
Written and directed by Hailey Gates, Atropia won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival....
02/12/2025
The lightweight and highly portable CORVUS-RAVEN, recently demonstrated at the V...
02/12/2025
The lightweight, rugged Panther 2 tri-band VSAT delivers high-speed data communications for Internet, VPN connectivity and video transmission over commercial an...
02/12/2025
NGID volunteers in the United States
NGID volunteers in Mexico
NGID volunteers in India
NGID volunteers in Spain
NGID volunteers in Australia
NGID voluntee...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
SAN DIEGO Sony Electronics today introduced the Alpha 7 V (ILCE-7M5), the fifth generation of its Alpha 7 full-frame mirrorless lineup, powered by the newly dev...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on Nexstar Media Group's proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna and se...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters has added a trio of media executives, Veronica Rodriguez, Matt Schnaars and Jeff Warshaw, to its board of di...
02/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
02/12/2025
BCNEXXT, the developers of the advanced playout platform Vipe, today announced a new Service Provider Partner agreement with NPC Media, the Australian managed p...
02/12/2025
DPA Microphones today announces the immediate availability of its new N-Series Digital Wireless Microphone System for customers throughout the U.S. In addition ...
02/12/2025
Hiltron Communications reports a well attended and successful Space Tech Expo exhibition, held at the Messe Bremen from Tuesday November 18 through Thursday Nov...
02/12/2025
The beginning of September saw Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, in association with Channel 9 and Triple M, kick off the 2025 Brisbane Festival in spec...
02/12/2025
SGM Lighting is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with ACT Entertainment, under which ACT will serve as the exclusive distributor for SGM's ne...
02/12/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that Telia, the second largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's i...
02/12/2025
European cloud data protection specialist Keepit is expanding its sales network in the DACH region and has gained TIM AG, one of the leading value-added distrib...
02/12/2025
Featured products at ISE 2026
This year s ISE 2026 theme "Push Beyond" reflects Calrec s direction of travel. The company is dedicated to supporting the AV an...
02/12/2025
Czech Television, the national public broadcaster, has deployed one of the largest LiveU live production projects in the region for live sports and news coverag...
02/12/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, has announced the release of v8.2 software for its ZEN and ZEN-W Series, bringing advanced cinematic camera se...
02/12/2025
Global provider of video streaming software and services, Accedo, and OTT platform provider, Magine Pro, have signed a binding agreement to carve out and merge ...
02/12/2025
With proven success in broadcast, OTT, and content supply chains, K.S Avinash set to scale Skandha's service-first approach across APAC
Skandha Media Servi...
02/12/2025
AJA Video Systems has joined the RAVENNA community, a network of partners devoted to advancing the RAVENNA standard for distributing real-time audio over intern...
02/12/2025
HUNT VALLEY, Md. Sinclair and its wholly-owned subsidiary One Media Technologies have released a new report focused on how ATSC 3.0, the IP-based NextGen TV sta...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON Members of the Advanced Television Systems Committee have elected four industry veterans to three-year terms on the organization's board of direc...
02/12/2025
A new survey from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan highlights how important social media is for younger consumers, with Gen Z spending 5.1 hours a day on so...
02/12/2025
Faculty Notes: Fall/Winter 2025 Recent accomplishments, releases, and events by Berklee faculty.
December 1, 2025
By
Editorial Staff
The cast of Kind of M...
02/12/2025
Today, Mistral AI announced the Mistral 3 family of open-source multilingual, multimodal models, optimized across NVIDIA supercomputing and edge platforms.
M...
02/12/2025
Ring In The Holidays With Our Biggest Sale Ever On Ivory II Pianos!From now until December 31st, you can save 50% or more on every Ivory II piano and collection...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Made in America: How Stranger Things' Electrified the US Economy
Entertainment
02 December 2025
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to cl...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Culinary Class Wars' Season 2 Trailer Teases New Rules, R...
02/12/2025
At AWS re:Invent, NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services expanded their strategic collab...
01/12/2025
L3Harris and PentenAmio formalise their teaming agreement at MilCIS 2025, streng...
01/12/2025
Artemis II is NASA's first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The crew, from left: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Vic...
A Conversation With Producer Daniel Lupi 
