Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe LOS ANGELES, May 5 (UPI) -- Writer-director Stephen Sommers' new movie, "Van Helsing," is not just a state-of-the-art rendering of a classic Hollywood genre, it's also an homage to the monster-movie tradition, according to cinematographer Allen Daviau. "Van Helsing" stars Hugh Jackman as the legendary 19th century monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, as he takes on Count Dracula, the Wolf Man and the Frankenstein monster. Advertisement Daviau -- a five-time Oscar nominee for "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial," "The Color Purple," "Empire of the Sun," "Avalon" and "Bugsy" -- counts himself among the many contemporary filmmakers whose earliest influences were the black-and-white pictures of Hollywood's so-called golden age. He told United Press International he was happy to learn that "Van Helsing" would honor the legacy of "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" and the other great Universal horror films of the '30s and '40s. "I grew up with those pictures, seeing them in bad prints on television," he said. Daviau's appreciation of the craft that went into the movies grew when, later in life, he saw decent prints of them. "I would love newer, younger audiences to see those films and realize what they accomplished in those days," he said. "I've seen people who've never seen black-and-white projected in a theater be stunned at how beautiful they are." Advertisement The audience for "Van Helsing" will get a taste of that, as the first eight minutes of the movie are in black-and-white. Daviau was particularly enthusiastic about the finished product on "Van Helsing" because he shot it with a new film stock from Kodak that he called "the best motion-picture film ever made." "This film has such a tremendous contrast range, it allows us to use a really extreme range of sunlight to shadow, with a very fine grain," he said. "There are a number of scenes in the village in Transylvania where we desaturated color made it cooler and chillier and emphasized the wintry aspects of it. You gain greater control over all the parameters of the technology." Daviau -- whose film credits also include "Harry and the Hendersons," "The Falcon and the Snowman" and "Twilight Zone: The Movie" -- won the top feature-film prize from the American Society of Cinematographers for "Empire of the Sun" and "Bugsy." He does not look at film images the same way that typical moviegoers do. Most cinematographers have a fine eye for detail that casual consumers of film might only dimly perceive. "We're supposed to," he said. "We're always judging the state of the art." Advertisement Daviau's work on "Van Helsing" began in 2002, when he shot costume and makeup tests in Los Angeles. He said the makeup department on the picture was glad for the opportunity. "It's not all that common," he said. Daviau has represented the American Society of Cinematographers and the International Cinematographers Guild on the Artists Rights Foundation. He has traveled to Washington, D.C., frequently to lobby for artists' rights and for film preservation. -- (Please send comments to [email protected].)
