{"id":272912,"date":"2026-01-31T01:20:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T01:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/272912\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T01:20:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T01:20:06","slug":"sinners-cinematographer-autumn-durald-arkapaw-on-buddy-guys-cameo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/272912\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Sinners’ Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw on Buddy Guy’s Cameo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAutumn Durald Arkapaw<\/a> made history when she became the first woman of color to be nominated for a best cinematography Oscar for her work on Ryan Coogler\u2019s \u201cSinners<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou dream about those things. It\u2019s a dream come true,\u201d she tells Variety\u2018s Awards Circuit Podcast. Arkapaw also landed British Society of Cinematographers, BAFTA and American Society of Cinematographers nominations. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true. I feel like we been celebrating the movie for a while now since it came out in April. I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019ve processed it\u2026and realized.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tArkapaw wasn\u2019t the only one to make history. \u201cSinners\u201d landed a whooping 16 Oscar nominations breaking the all-time record.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film marks the second collaboration between Coogler and Arkapaw, and she reveals she\u2019ll be reuniting with him again on his \u201cX-Files\u201d reboot. They\u2019re also planning ahead and discussing \u201cBlack Panther 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe recalls meeting him for the first time: \u201cI saw him once at a cafe, and I told him this after the fact. We were both eating, and he was with (his wife and producer) Zinzi, and I remember I was with my agent having lunch, and I saw that he was at the table next to me, but we had never met. I didn\u2019t know if he knew who I was. So that was the first time I was in the same space as him, and I clocked him,\u201d she tells\u00a0Variety\u2018s\u00a0Awards Circuit Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tA few years later, fellow cinematographer Bradford Young recommended her for \u201cCreed\u201d but she reveals that didn\u2019t work out \u201cbecause the studio didn\u2019t think I had enough credits, and so I wasn\u2019t able to explore that option to shoot that film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe went on to shoot \u201cThe Sun Is Also a Star,\u201d \u201cMainstream\u201d and Marvel\u2019s \u201cLoki.\u201d When Rachel Morrison transitioned into directing, she sent Arkapaw a text suggesting she would be a good fit. \u201cShe felt that I would take care of him and we would work well together.\u201d A Zoom called followed, and \u201cit felt like talking to family,\u201d Arkapaw says. The met shortly after in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSinners\u201d marked a turning point for the cinematographer \u2013 she was the first female cinematographer to shoot on Imax 65mm and Ultra Panavision. Arkapaw admits the challenging aspects were the things that were outside of her control: \u201cThe weather never plays ball all the time, so that stuff would be challenging for me, especially on this shoot summer in New Orleans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about her favorite shot to pull off, Arkapaw says, \u201cThe church. I\u2019ve spoken about this a lot, and I think it\u2019s really one of those moments where I can clearly remember its conception and being in a car with Hannah [Beachler, the film\u2019s production designer], where she we\u2019re on a scout. Ryan was in front seat. Hannah had a little book, and she opened it up, and she had a sketchbook, and she\u2019s like, \u2018This is what I\u2019m thinking of for the church.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn seeing the sketch, Arkapaw knew it was going to be gorgeous to shoot. Once Ruth E. Carter had dressed the actors for the scene, Arkapaw felt like she had stepped back in time and she was going to a service in the 1930s. <\/p>\n

\n\tArkapaw also talks about shooting the film\u2019s climactic fight, collaborating with her fellow department heads and assistant director \u2013 Marvin Williams, and how she avoided getting splattered in blood.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy camera team, takes care of me. So we always have a tarp or duvetyne, a black material that you wrap around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tArkapaw also shared what scene they shot on the first day of filming \u2013 it was the film\u2019s end credit scene with blues legend Buddy Guy. \u201cIt was a very special day because we were shooting these two formats that had never been shot before, and then also just having Buddy Guy on set your first day of shooting is the pressure was on so but it went beautifully,\u201d she says. \u201cNo one ever imagined that was our first day of shooting.<\/p>\n

\n\tMore than 10 years ago, Arkapaw made Variety\u2019s 10 Cinematographers to Watch list<\/a>. This year, she has staked her place in Oscar history. <\/p>\n

\n\tAlso on this episode,\u00a0\u201cThe Secret Agent\u201d star Wagner Moura, and the Roundtable discuss the BAFTA nominations and the Television Academy\u2019s revived variety series category.<\/p>\n

\n\tVariety\u2019s \u201cAwards Circuit\u201d podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, \u201cAwards Circuit\u201d features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history when she became the first woman of color to be nominated for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[133260,86405,93,61,60,270,2625,71212],"class_list":{"0":"post-272912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-autumn-durald-arkapaw","9":"tag-awards-circuit-podcast","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-oscars","15":"tag-sinners"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}