Interview: Cinematographer Michael Bauman Returns to Discuss the Look of ‘One Battle After Another’

The look of a Paul Thomas Anderson film, it goes without saying, is quite singular. For One Battle After Another, Anderson and his cinematographer Michael Bauman were opting to shoot on film, in VistaVision, making it all the more complicated. It so easily could have gone wrong. Instead, it wound up one of the best looking movies of the year. Yesterday, I spoke to editor Andy Jergensen here about the flick. Today, hours before Bauman and company likely become Oscar nominees, it’s his time to chat.

Last time I spoke to Bauman, it was for Licorice Pizza, where he and Anderson shared the cinematographer’s credit. I introduced that conversation here like so:

The look of a Paul Thomas Anderson project is always something worth talking about. They always vary, whether it’s his explorations of Southern California, or something seemingly totally out of the blue like Phantom Thread. Anderson is a master craftsman, so it stands to reason that his department heads and technical crew are masters as well. One such individual is Michael Bauman, a longtime gaffer who actually shares the cinematographer label with PTA on Licorice Pizza. As the flick is awaiting its Academy Award fate, I recently spoke to the artisan about this tremendous work. 

My four star review of the film here includes the following bit about Bauman and PTA’s filmmaking:

Paul Thomas Anderson is flexing a new directorial muscle here, giving us action scenes, a blockbuster scale (done on a blockbuster budget), and even making some moves towards the mainstream. One Battle After Another is almost certainly his most accessible film, yet at the same time, it’s also easily his most political. The fascist government the revolutionaries are fighting against are unnamed white supremacists, though you don’t have to squint too hard to see who Anderson is raging at. The loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon‘s Vineland never feels preachy, instead consistently seeking to entertain. The real world timeliness of the message just gives it all weight. PTA’s writing and direction is once again impeccable here, aided by another mesmerizing Jonny Greenwood score, as well as stunning cinematography (see it in VistaVision if you can!) from Michael Bauman.