# Stephen Goldblatt

Stephen Goldblatt, A.S.C., B.S.C. (born 29 April 1945) is a South African-born British cinematographer, noted for his work on numerous high-profile action films, including the first two entries in the Lethal Weapon series, as well as for his recent collaborations with director Mike Nichols and Tate Taylor.

## Early life

Goldblatt was born on 29 April 1945 in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a Jewish family. When he was seven years old, he and his family moved to London, where at the age of 18 he started working as a photojournalist for the London Sunday Times.
Goldblatt attended Guildford School of Art for photography, but later discovered his interest in film while working on a special assignment for Lion Films at Shepperton Studios. It was this interest that motivated him to attend London's Royal College of Art Film School.

## Career

Upon graduation, he went to work shooting documentaries and animation, much of it in 16mm. Among his assignments were two Disappearing World episodes for Granada TV.
Goldblatt began his career as a cameraman for documentaries and commercials. From 1972-75, he worked shooting TV commercials for directors such as Hugh Hudson, Alan Parker, Ridley Scott, and Brian Gibson. Goldblatt made the transition to feature films in 1979, when he shot Breaking Glass for Gibson, then in the following decade he worked with directors Peter Hyams on Outland (1981), Tony Scott on The Hunger (1983), Francis Coppola on The Cotton Club (1984), and Richard Donner on Lethal Weapon (1987) and Lethal Weapon 2 (1989).
In the 1990s, Goldblatt joined the Batman series with director Joel Schumacher and shot Batman Forever (1995) and Batman and Robin (1997). In the late 1990s, during a “film sabbatical” and after many years of only taking snapshots, Goldblatt built a darkroom and began to photograph his life and surroundings again. After his sabbatical Goldblatt worked with directors such as Mike Nichols on Angels in America (2003), Closer (2004) and Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Chris Columbus on Rent (2005) and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), Nora Ephron on Julie & Julia (2009), and most recently Tate Taylor on The Help (2011) and Get On Up (2014).
Stephen Goldblatt now lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and has three grown children. When he is at home, Goldblatt enjoys tending to his pond and koi fish, gardening, playing his guitar, cooking, reading every day, and mastering the art of husbanding with his wife Deborah.

### Photography

One of Stephen Goldblatt's most significant photo shoots was of the British band The Beatles in 1968, who at the time had just finished recording what came to be known as The White Album. The Beatles wanted some fresh publicity photos shot by an unknown photographer, with whom they planned to travel all over London to take random photos. One of Goldblatt's shots became a two-page spread in Life magazine, and a few others were used as album art on Beatles compilations.
In 2019, more than 2,000 unpublished photographs were found in an external storage unit at the Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin. He had taken them as a still photographer in Nigeria in 1970 during the production of Things Fall Apart (1971/1974). An extensive research, digitisation and presentation project has since been able to generate a great deal of knowledge about the pre-Nollywood era of Nigerian film on this basis. In his essay ‘Why ‘Things Fall Apart’ is still a very relevant Black film till this day’, Mudi Yahaya describes the background.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Director |
| 1969 | Forum | Mireille Dansereau |
| 1972 | Pass of Arms | Peter Elford |
| 1980 | Breaking Glass | Brian Gibson |
| 1981 | Outland | Peter Hyams |
| 1982 | The Return of the Soldier | Alan Bridges |
| 1983 | The Hunger | Tony Scott |
| 1984 | The Cotton Club | Francis Ford Coppola |
| 1985 | Young Sherlock Holmes | Barry Levinson |
| 1987 | Lethal Weapon | Richard Donner |
| 1988 | Everybody's All-American | Taylor Hackford |
| 1989 | Lethal Weapon 2 | Richard Donner |
| 1990 | Joe Versus the Volcano | John Patrick Shanley |
| 1991 | For the Boys | Mark Rydell |
| 1991 | The Prince of Tides | Barbra Streisand |
| 1992 | Consenting Adults | Alan J. Pakula |
| 1993 | The Pelican Brief | Alan J. Pakula |
| 1995 | Batman Forever | Joel Schumacher |
| 1996 | Striptease | Andrew Bergman |
| 1997 | Batman & Robin | Joel Schumacher |
| 1999 | The Deep End of the Ocean | Ulu Grosbard |
| 2004 | Closer | Mike Nichols |
| 2005 | Rent | Chris Columbus |
| 2007 | Charlie Wilson's War | Mike Nichols |
| 2009 | Julie & Julia | Nora Ephron |
| 2010 | Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief | Chris Columbus |
| 2011 | The Help | Tate Taylor |
| 2014 | Get On Up | Tate Taylor |
| 2015 | The Intern | Nancy Meyers |
| 2017 | Our Souls at Night | Ritesh Batra |
| 2020 | Ava | Tate Taylor |
| 2020 | Wild Mountain Thyme | John Patrick Shanley |
| 2023 | Red, White & Royal Blue | Matthew Lopez |
* ↑ Co-cinematographer with Tony Scott

### Television

Miniseries
| Year | Title | Director |
| 1971-1972 | The Flight of the Arctic 7 | |
| 2003 | Angels in America | Mike Nichols |
TV movies
| Year | Title | Director | Note |
| 2001 | Conspiracy | Frank Pierson | |
| 2002 | Path to War | John Frankenheimer | With Nancy Schreiber |

## Awards and nominations

Academy Awards
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 1991 | Best Cinematography | The Prince of Tides | Nominated |
| 1995 | Best Cinematography | Batman Forever | Nominated |
American Society of Cinematographers
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 1991 | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | The Prince of Tides | Nominated |
| 1995 | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | Batman Forever | Nominated |
| 2003 | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Limited Series | Angels in America | Nominated |
| 2023 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Lifetime Achievement Award | Won |
Primetime Emmy Awards
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2001 | Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Conspiracy | Nominated |
| 2002 | Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Path to War | Nominated |
| 2003 | Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Angels in America | Nominated |
Hollywood Film Awards
| Year | Category | Result |
| 2007 | Cinematography of the Year | Nominated |
Camerimage
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
| 2007 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Lifetime Achievement Award | Won |
| 2014 | Golden Frog | Get on Up | Nominated |