# Mikael Salomon

Mikael Salomon (born 24 February 1945) is a Danish cinematographer, director and producer of film and television.
After a long cinematography career in Danish cinema, he transitioned to the Hollywood film industry in the late 1980s, earning two Academy Award nominations.
Salomon then transitioned to a television director career, whose credits include Band of Brothers, Salem's Lot, Rome, and The Andromeda Strain.
His directing awards and nominations include a Primetime Emmy Award and a Directors Guild of America Award.

## Life and career

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Salomon photographed dozens of films in his native country, earning awards including the Robert Award and Bodil Awards. In the late 1980s, he relocated to Hollywood and shot his first mainstream American film with Torch Song Trilogy, a 1988 comedy-drama starring Harvey Fierstein, Anne Bancroft, and Matthew Broderick. The following year, he shot the James Cameron-helmed science fiction film The Abyss, a film that helped to pioneer the field of computer-generated visual effects. Salomon used three cameras in watertight housings that were specially designed. Another special housing was designed for scenes that went from above-water dialogue to below-water dialogue. The filmmakers had to figure out how to keep the water clear enough to shoot and dark enough to look realistic at 2,000 feet (700 m), which was achieved by floating a thick layer of plastic beads in the water and covering the top of the tank with an enormous tarpaulin. His work on the film earned Salomon a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
In the following years, Salomon shot several blockbuster films like Always, Backdraft, and Far and Away, collaborating with directors like Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard.
In 1993, Salomon directed A Far Off Place, an adventure drama film filmed on location in Namibia and Zimbabwe, replacing original director René Manzor after being recommended to producer Kathleen Kennedy by Steven Spielberg. That same year, he directed an episode of the short-lived science fiction series Space Rangers, beginning a career as a television director. In 1998, he directed the Emmy-nominated Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, the first in many television miniseries which Salomon would helm. The most notable of these was Band of Brothers, a 10-part series executive produced by Spielberg for which Salomon won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special and a Christopher Award.
Since then, Salomon has over thirty-five programs, including the miniseries adaptations of The Andromeda Strain and Coma broadcast on the A&E Network.

## Personal life

Salomon is of Jewish descent on one parent's side.

## Filmography
### Cinematographer
#### Film

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1966 | Søskende | Johan Jacobsen | With Rolf Rønne |
| 1967 | Fantasterne | Kirsten Stenbæk | |
| 1967 | Brødrene på Uglegaarden | Ib Mossin Alice O'Fredericks | |
| 1967 | Me and My Kid Brother | Lau Lauritzen Jr. | |
| 1968 | Det er så synd for farmand | Ebbe Langberg | |
| 1968 | Magic in Town | Annelise Reenberg | |
| 1969 | Sonja - 16 år | Hans Abramson Brandon Chase | |
| 1969 | De 5 og spionerne | Katrine Hedman | |
| 1970 | Five Get into Trouble | Katrine Hedman | |
| 1970 | Daddy, Darling | Joseph W. Sarno | |
| 1970 | Threesome | Brandon Chase | |
| 1970 | Tintomara | Hans Abramson | |
| 1971 | Welcome to the Club | Walter Shenson | |
| 1971 | Kid Gang on the Go | Annelise Reenberg | |
| 1972 | Rektor på sengekanten | John Hilbard | |
| 1972 | Motorvej på sengekanten | John Hilbard | With Aage Wiltrup |
| 1974 | Jorden runt med Fanny Hill | Mac Ahlberg | |
| 1975 | Violer er blå | Peter Refn | |
| 1975 | Kun sandheden | Henning Ørnbak | |
| 1976 | Hjerter er trumf | Lars Brydesen | |
| 1976 | Strømer | Anders Refn | |
| 1976 | Elvis! Elvis! | Kay Pollak | |
| 1977 | Mind Your Back, Professor | Jens Okking | |
| 1977 | Skytten | Franz Ernst Tom Hedegaard | |
| 1977 | Bedside Freeway | Boerge Hilbarth | |
| 1978 | The Heritage | Anders Refn | |
| 1981 | Tell It Like It Is, Boys | Peter Curran | |
| 1985 | De flyvende djævle | Anders Refn | |
| 1986 | The Wolf at the Door | Henning Carlsen | |
| 1986 | Early Spring | Astrid Henning-Jensen | |
| 1987 | Peter von Scholten | Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt | |
| 1988 | Zelly and Me | Tina Rathborne | |
| 1988 | Stealing Heaven | Clive Donner | |
| 1988 | Torch Song Trilogy | Paul Bogart | |
| 1989 | The Abyss | James Cameron | |
| 1989 | Always | Steven Spielberg | |
| 1990 | Arachnophobia | Frank Marshall | |
| 1991 | Backdraft | Ron Howard | |
| 1992 | Far and Away | Ron Howard | |
Short film
| Year | Title | Director |
| 1966 | Om ti minutter | Hans Engberg |
| 1967 | De forsvundne breve | Annelise Hovmand |
| 1969 | Frk. Julie 1970 | Kirsten Stenbæk |

#### Documentary works

Film
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1963 | Hurra for os | Hagen Hasselbalch | With Dirk Brüel and Henrik Heger |
| 1967 | Prinsesse Margrethes bryllup | Ole Roos | With Arne Abrahamsen, Morten Find, Rolf Rønne and Erik Wittrup Willumsen |
| 1971 | Hvorfor gør de det? | Eberhard Kronhausen Phyllis Kronhausen | |
| 1971 | Et døgn med Ilse | Annelise Hovmand | |
| 1979 | At danse Bournonville | Jørgen Leth | With Dan Holmberg, Peter Klitgaard and Jan Weincke |
| 1979 | Kalule | Jørgen Leth | With Peter Roos |
Short film
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1967 | Capriccio | Ole Askman | |
| 1972 | Kinesisk bordtennis | Jørgen Leth | With Henning Camre |
| 1979 | Med Danmarks regentpar i Kina | Carl Otto Petersen | |

#### Television

TV movies
| Year | Title | Director |
| 1968 | Expo 68 | Annett Wolf Sr. |
| 1975 | Stumpen | Ingvar Skogsberg |
| 1976 | På flykt undan mina landsmän | Hans Dahlin |
| 1976 | Det begyndte med Mathilde | Hans Engberg |
| 1987 | The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains | Daniel Mann |
Miniseries
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1974 | De tre från Haparanda | Ulf Andrée | |
| 1987 | Een gang strømer... | Anders Refn | Episode "1. del" |

### Director

Film
* A Far Off Place (1993)
* Hard Rain (1998)
* Freezer (2014) (Direct-to-video)
* Instrument of Hope (2020) (Documentary short)

#### TV series

| Year | Title | Episode(s) | Notes |
| 1993 | Space Rangers | "Fort Hope" | |
| 1998 | Nash Bridges | "The Tourist" | |
| 2000 | The Fugitive | "Pilot" | |
| 2000 | The Fugitive | "The Hand of a Stranger" | |
| 2001 | Alias | "Parity" | |
| 2001 | The Agency | "Pilot" | |
| 2001 | The Agency | "Deadline" | |
| 2005 | Over There | "I Want My Toilets" | |
| 2005 | Rome | "The Stolen Eagle" | Uncredited |
| 2005 | Rome | "An Owl in a Thornbush" | Uncredited |
| 2005 | Rome | "The Spoils" | |
| 2006 | Nightmares & Dreamscapes | "The End of the Whole Mess" | |
| 2006 | Nightmares & Dreamscapes | "Autopsy Room Four" | |
| 2006 | Runaway | "Pilot" | Also co-executive producer |
| 2009 | Hawthorne | "Pilot" | Also executive producer |
| 2010 | Unnatural History | "Pilot" | Also executive producer |
| 2010 | Unnatural History | "Thor's Slammer" | |
| 2011 | Camelot | "The Long Night" | |
| 2011 | Camelot | "The Battle of Bardon Pass" | |
| 2011 | Camelot | "Reckoning" | Co-directed with Stefan Schwartz |
| 2014 | Falling Skies | "Exodus" | |
| 2015 | Blood & Oil | "The Birthday Party" | |
| 2015–16 | Powers | "The Raconteur of the Funeral Circuit" | |
| 2015–16 | Powers | "F@#K the Big Chiller" | |
| 2015–16 | Powers | "Caracas, 1967" | |
| 2015–16 | Powers | "Hell Night" | |
| 2015–16 | Powers | "Legacy" | |
| 2016 | Damien | "Seven Curses" | |
| 2017 | Six | "Man Down" | |
| 2017 | Six | "Blood Brothers" | |
| 2017 | The Expanse | "The Weeping Somnambulist" | |
| 2017 | The Expanse | "Cascade" | |
| 2017 | Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders | "The Ripper of Riga" | |
| 2018 | The Brave | "Grounded" | |

#### Miniseries

| Year | Title | Director | Executive Producer | Notes |
| 1999 | Aftershock: Earthquake in New York | Yes | No | |
| 2001 | Band of Brothers | Yes | No | Episodes "Carentan" and "Points" |
| 2004 | Salem's Lot | Yes | No | |
| 2004 | The Grid | Yes | No | |
| 2006 | Fallen | Yes | No | |
| 2007 | The Company | Yes | No | |
| 2008 | The Andromeda Strain | Yes | Co-executive | |
| 2012 | Coma | Yes | Yes | |
| 2015 | To Appomattox | Yes | Yes | |
| 2017 | The Long Road Home | Yes | Yes | Episodes "Into the Unknown", "In the Valley of Death" and "Abandon Hope" |

#### TV movies

| Year | Title | Director | Co-Executive Producer |
| 2000 | Sole Survivor | Yes | No |
| 2001 | A Glimpse of Hell | Yes | No |
| 2002 | Young Arthur | Yes | No |
| 2003 | Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor | Yes | No |
| 2007 | Fallen: The Journey | Yes | No |
| 2008 | Flirting with Forty | Yes | No |
| 2008 | Natalee Holloway | Yes | Yes |
| 2010 | Who Is Clark Rockefeller? | Yes | Yes |
| 2010 | The Lost Future | Yes | Yes |
| 2012 | Drew Peterson: Untouchable | Yes | Yes |
| 2012 | Blue Lagoon: The Awakening | Yes | No |
| 2014 | Big Driver | Yes | No |
* ↑ Co-directed with Eric Bross (credited as "Jake Newsome")

## Awards and nominations

Academy Awards
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 1989 | Best Cinematography | The Abyss | Nominated |
| 1991 | Best Visual Effects | Backdraft | Nominated |
American Society of Cinematographers
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 1989 | Outstanding Cinematography | The Abyss | Nominated |
BAFTA Awards
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 1991 | Best Special Visual Effects | Backdraft | Nominated |
Directors Guild of America
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2007 | Outstanding Directing in a Movie for a Miniseries | The Company | Nominated |
| 2008 | Outstanding Directing in a Movie for a Miniseries | The Andromeda Stain | Nominated |
| 2010 | Outstanding Directing for a Children's Program | Unnatural History | Nominated |
Primetime Emmy Awards
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2001 | Outstanding Directing | Band of Brothers | Won |
| 2007 | Outstanding Directing | The Company | Nominated |
| 2008 | Outstanding Limited Series | The Andromeda Strain | Nominated |
Other awards
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
| 1985 | Danish Film Academy | Robert Award for Best Cinematography | De flyvende djævle | Won |
| 1987 | CableACE Award | Direction of Photography in a Miniseries | The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains | Won |
| 2001 | Christopher Television & Cable Award | Christopher Television & Cable Award | Band of Brothers | Won |