BALLHAUS, Michael 1935–

(Michael Alexander)

PERSONAL

Born August 5, 1935, in Berlin, Germany (some sources say Eichelsdorf, Germany); immigrated to the United States, 1982; son of Oscar Ballhaus (an actor) and Lenna (maiden name, Huhev) Heinz (an actress); married Helga Mavia Betten, August 23, 1958; children: Florian (a camera operator), Jan Sebastian (a production assistant). Education: Studied photography for two years.

Addresses:

Agent—William Morris Agency, 1325 6th Ave., New York, NY 10019–6026. Manager—Parseghian/Planco Management, 23 East 22nd St., New York, NY 10010; Untitled Entertainment, 23 East 22nd St., 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10010.

Career:

Cinematographer, producer, director, and actor. Worked with German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1970–c. 1982.

Member:

American Society of Cinematographers, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Akademie der Kuente Berlin.

Awards, Honors:

Film Strip in Gold, outstanding individual achievement: cinematography, German Film Awards, 1973, for Die Bitteren Traenen der Petra von Kant; Film Strip in Gold, outstanding individual achievement, German Film Awards, 1978, for Despair; Independent Spirit Award nomination, best cinematographer, 1986, for After Hours; Academy Award nomination, best achievement in cinematography, 1988, for Broadcast News; Academy Award nomination, best achievement in cinematography, Achievement Award for best cinematography, best cinematography, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Society of Film Critics Award, best cinematography, 1989, all for The Fabulous Baker Boys; Los Angeles Critics Award, best cinematography, 1990, for Goodfellas; Best Cinematography Award nomination, British Society of Cinematographers, 1990, Film Award nomination, best cinematography, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1991, both for Goodfellas; Golden Frog Award nomination, Camerimage, 1993, for The Age of Innocence; Film Award nomination, best cinematography, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1994, for The Age of Innocence; Honorary Award, German Camera Awards, 1996; Golden Screen—Special Achievement, 2000, for lifetime achievement; Golden Goblet, best technology, Shanghai International Film Festival, Golden Satellite Award nomination, best cinematography, 2001, both for The Legend of Bagger Vance; Academy Award nomination, best cinematography, Online Film Critics Society Award nomination, best cinematography, Golden Satellite Award nomination, best cinematography, Chicago Film Critics Association Award nomination, best cinematography, Film Award nomination, best cinematography, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, ASC Award nomination, outstanding achievement in cinematography in theatrical releases, American Society of Cinematographers, 2003, all for Gangs of New York.

CREDITS

Film Cinematographer:

Traumland der Sehnsucht (also known as Dreamland of Desire and Ellas, i hora ton oneiron), 1961.

Deine Zaertlichkeiten, 1969.

Darf ich Sie zur Mutter machen? (also known as Mehrmals taeglich), 1969.

Whity, Atlantis Film/Antiteater–X–Film, 1970.

Wir zwei (also known as We Two), 1970.

Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte, Antiteater–X–Film/Nova International, 1970, released in the United States as Beware of a Holy Whore (also known as Beware the Holy Whore), New Yorker, 1971.

Sand, 1971.

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (also known as Die bitteren Traenen der Petra von Kant), New Yorker, 1972.

Tschetan, der Indianerjunge (also known as Tschetan, the Indian Boy), 1973.

(As Michael Alexander) Das Suendige Bett (also known as The Sinful Bed), 1973.

Made in Germany und USA, 1974.

Aus der Familie der Panzereschen, 1974.

Das Amulett des Todes (also known as Cold Blood), 1975.

Das Faustrecht der Freiheit, Fox (also known as Fist–Fight of Freedom), Tango Film, 1975, released in the United States as Fox and His Friends (also known as Survival of the Fittest), New Yorker, 1976.

Mutter Kuesters faehrt zum Himmel, Tango Film, 1975, released in the United States as Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (also known as Mother Kuster's Trip to Heaven), New Yorker, 1976.

Satansbraten (also known as Satan's Brew), New Yorker, 1976.

Summer Guests (also known as Sommergaeste), Constantin, 1976.

Also es war so …, 1976.

Chinesisches Roulette (also known as Chinese Roulette and Roulette chinoise), New Yorker, 1977.

Adolf und Marlene (also known as Adolph and Marlene and Der Mann vom Obersalzberg—Adolf und Marlene), 1977.

Nur zum Spass, nur zum Spiel (also known as Kaleidoskop Valeska Gert and Valeska Gert), 1977.

Despair (also known as Despair—Eine Reise ins Licht), Swan Diffusion, 1978.

(With Juergen Juerges, Bodo Kessler, Dietrich Lohmann, Colin Mounier, and Joerg Schmidt–Reitwein) Germany in Autumn (also known as Deutschland im Herbst), Projekt–Filmverlag der Autoren–Hallelujah–Kairos Film, 1978.

Die erste Polka (also known as The First Polka), 1978.

Venedig—Die Insel der Glueckseligen am Rande des Untergangs, 1978.

Bourbon Street Blues, 1978.

Die Ehe der Maria Braun Albatros–Film, 1978, released in the United States as The Marriage of Maria Braun, New Yorker, 1979.

Der Aufstand (also known as The Uprising and La insurreccion), 1979.

Gross und Klein (also known as Big and Little), 1980.

Looping (also known as Looping—Der lange Traum vom kurzen Glueck), 1981.

)(Uncredited) Lili Marleen, 1981.

Heute spielen wir den Boss (also known as Die Blonde mit den scharfen Kurven and Wo geht's denn hier zum Film?), 1981.

Oye Raimundo, adonde vas? (also known as Kindheit in Amacueca and Oye Rey … A donde vamos?), 1981.

Malou, 1981.

Der Zauberberg (also known as The Magic Mountain and La montagne magique), 1982.

Baby, It's You, Paramount, 1983.

Dear Mr. Wonderful (also known as Ruby's Dream), Lilienthal, 1983.

Friends and Husbands (also known as Heller Wahn, L'amie, and Sheer Madness), Miracle, 1983.

Edith's Tagebuch (also known as Edith's Diary), 1983.

Reckless, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer/United Artists, 1984.

The Autograph (also known as Das Autogramm and L'autographe), Cine–International, 1984.

Old Enough, Orion Classics, 1984.

Heartbreakers, Orion, 1984.

After Hours, Geffen/Warner Bros., 1985.

The Color of Money, Buena Vista, 1986.

Under the Cherry Moon, Warner Bros., 1986.

The Glass Menagerie, Cineplex Odeon, 1987.

Broadcast News, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1987.

The House on Carroll Street, Orion, 1988.

The Last Temptation of Christ, Universal, 1988.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Orion, 1988.

Working Girl, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1988.

The Fabulous Baker Boys, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1989.

Postcards from the Edge, Columbia, 1990.

Goodfellas (also known as GoodFellas), Warner Bros., 1990.

Guilty by Suspicion (also known as La liste noire), Warner Bros., 1991.

What about Bob?, Buena Vista, 1991.

The Mambo Kings, Warner Bros., 1992.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (also known as Dracula), Columbia, 1992.

The Age of Innocence, Columbia, 1993.

I'll Do Anything (also known as Make Believe It's Only a Movie), Columbia, 1994.

Quiz Show, Buena Vista, 1994.

Outbreak, Warner Bros., 1995.

Sleepers, Warner Bros., 1996.

Kreuz & quer, 1996.

Air Force One (also known as AFO), Sony Pictures Entertainment, 1997.

Primary Colors (also known as Mit aller Macht and Perfect Couple), Universal, 1997.

Wild Wild West, Warner Bros., 1999.

What Planet Are You From?, Columbia, 2000.

The Legend of Bagger Vance, DreamWorks, 2000.

Gone Underground (short film), 2000.

Gangs of New York, Miramax, 2002.

Uptown Girls, Metro–Goldwyn–Entertainment, 2003.

Something's Gotta Give, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 2003.

Also worked as cinematographer on Two of Us.

Film Work; Other:

Executive producer, The Thirteenth Floor (also known as The 13th Floor), Columbia TriStar, 1999.

Consulting producer, Last Night (short film), 2004.

Visual consultant, Stranded (short film), Zero Film Berlin, 2004.

Film Appearances:

Second film director's cameraman, Der Kleine Godard, 1978.

Dr. Mueller, Spiel der Verlierer, 1978.

Anwalt, Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Albatros–Film, 1978, released in the United States as The Marriage of Maria Braun, New Yorker, 1979.

Interviewee, Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography (documentary), American Film Institute/NHK Japan Broadcasting Corp., 1992.

Himself, Ich will nicht nur, dass ihr mich liebt (documentary; also known as I Don't Just Want You to Love Me), Pro–ject Filmproduktion im Filmverlag der Autoren, 1993.

(In archive footage) Himself, Ausverkauft! (short film), 1999.

Himself, Fuer mich gab's nur Fassbinder (also known as Fassbinder's Women), 2000.

Himself, Michael Ballhaus—Begegnung mit dem Auge Hollywoods (documentary short film), 2001.

Himself, Starbuck Holger Meins (documentary), 2002.

Himself, Fassbinder in Hollywood (documentary), 2002.

Himself, Getting Made: The Making of 'GoodFellas' (documentary short film), Warner Home Video, 2004.

Television Cinematographer; Series:

Ein Haus fuer uns—Jugenderholungsheim, 1974.

Television Director; Movies:

Fassbinder Produces Film No.8 (also known as Fassbinder produziert: Film Nr. 8), 1970.

Television Cinematographer; Specials:

Landscape with Waitress, PBS, 1986.

Television Cinematographer; Movies:

Die Nachbarskinder, 1960.

Die Kassette, 1961.

Das Martyrium des Peter O'Hey, 1964.

Grosse Liebe, 1966.

Abschied, 1966.

Ein Haus aus lauter Liebe, 1966.

Ganze Tage in den Baeumen, 1968.

Adele Spitzeder, 1972.

Der Marquis von Keith, 1972.

Ich bin ein Buerger der DDR, 1973.

Welt am Draht (also known as World on Wires and World on a Wire), 1973.

Tatort—Tote brauchen keine Wohnung, 1973.

Martha, 1973.

Ich will doch nur, dass ihr mich liebt (also known as I Only Want You to Love Me), 1976.

Frauen in New York (also known as Women in New York), 1977.

Bolweiser (also known as The Stationmaster's Wife), 1977.

Der Gehilfe, 1978.

Alpensaga–Teil 5: Der Deutsche Fruehling, 1979.

Der Deutsche Fruehling (also known as German Spring), 1979.

Trilogie des Wiedersehens, 1979.

Also es war so… (also known as Willy and the Chinese Cat), 1980.

Der Ausloeser, 1982.

Death of a Salesman (also known as Der Tod eines Handlungreisenden), CBS, 1985.

Baja Oklahoma, HBO, 1988.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

"Private Conversations: On the Set of 'Death of a Salesman,'" American Masters, PBS, 1986.

"Martin Scorsese Directs," American Masters, PBS, 1990.

RECORDINGS

Music Videos; as Cinematographer:

Cinematographer on Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" and "True Blue," 1986.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 4: Writers and Production Artists, 4th edition, St. James Press, 2000.

BALLHAUS, Michael

Cinematographer. Nationality: German. Born: Berlin, 5 August 1935; family moved to Bavaria 1942; son of the actors Oskar Ballhaus and Lenna Huter. Career: Inspired to become a cinematographer after watching Ophüls's Lola Montès, 1950s; studied photography; employed as assistant cameraman for television; promoted to Director of Photography, 1960; began collaboration with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1971; settled in the United States, 1982. Awards: German Film Awards Film Strip of Gold-Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography, for Die Bitteren Tranen der Petra von Kant, 1972; German Film Awards Film Strip of Gold-Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography, for Despair, 1978; National Society of Film Critics Best Cinematography, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Best Cinematography, for The FabulousBaker Boys, 1989; Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Cinematography, for GoodFellas, 1990; German Camera Awards Honorary Award, 1996. Address: c/o Lawrence A. Mirisch, Triad Artists, Inc., Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.

Films as Cinematographer:

1971

Whity (Fassbinder); Sand (Politzsch); Warnung vor einer Heiligen Nutte (Beware of a Holy Whore) (Fassbinder)

1972

Die Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant (The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant) (Fassbinder)

1973

Tschetan, der Indianerjunge (Bohm)

1974

Martha (Fassbinder)

1975

Faustrecht der Freiheit (Fox and his Friends) (Fassbinder)

1976

Satansbraten (Satan's Brew) (Fassbinder); Sommergäste (Summer Guests) (Stein); Adolf & Marlene (Lommel); Also es war so . . . (Thome); Chinasisches Roulette (Chinese Roulette) (Fassbinder); Ich will doch nur, das Ihr mich liebt (I Only Want You to Love Me) (Fassbinder)

1977

Mütter Küsters fahrt zum Himmel (Mütter Küsters Goes to Heaven) (Fassbinder); Frauen in New York (Fassbinder)

1978

Despair (Fassbinder); Venedig—die Insel der Glückseligen am Rande am des Untergangs (The Team; Venice) (Rischert);Bolwieser (The Stationmaster's Wife) (Fassbinder); Deutschland im Herbst (Germany in Autumn) (Fassbinder); Die Erste Polka (Emmerich); Der Kleine Godard (Fassbinder)

1979

Kaleidoskop: Valeska Gert (For Fun—for Play) (Schlöndorff); Die Ehe der Maria Braun (The Marriage of Maria Braun) (Fassbinder) (+ro as Counsel); Deutscher Frühlung

1980

Der Aufstand (The Uprising) (Lilienthal); Gross und Klein (Stein)

1981

Looping (Bockmayer)

1982

Dear Mr. Wonderful (Citydreams) (Lilienthal); Friends and Husbands (Heller Wahn) (von Trotta); Der Zauberberg (Geissendörfer)

1983

Malou (Merrapfel); Baby It's You (Sayles); Edithes Tagebuch (Edith's Diary) (Geissendörfer)

1984

Reckless (Foley); Old Enough (Silver); Heartbreakers (Roth); Das Autogram (Lilienthal)

1985

After Hours (Scorsese); The Death of a Salesman (Schlöndorff); Private Conversations (Blackwood)

1986

The Color of Money (Scorsese); Under the Cherry Moon (Prince)

1987

Broadcast News (James L. Brooks); The Glass Menagerie (Newman)

1988

Baja Oklahoma (Roth); The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese); Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Oz); Working Girl (Nichols); The House on Carroll Street (Yates)

1989

The Fabulous Baker Boys (Kloves)

1990

GoodFellas (Scorsese); Postcards from the Edge (Nichols)

1991

Guilty by Suspicion (Winkler); What about Bob? (Oz); The Mambo Kings (Glimcher); Fear No Evil (Winkler)

1992

Bram Stoker's Dracula (Coppola)

1993

The Age of Innocence (Scorsese)

1994

I'll Do Anything (James L. Brooks)

1995

Outbreak (Petersen)

1996

Der Tote vom anderen Ufer (Krawinkel); Sleepers (Levinson)

1997

Air Force One (Petersen)

1998

Primary Colors (Nichols)

1999

Wild Wild West (Sonnenfeld)

2000

What Planet Are You From? (Nichols); The Legend of Bagger Vance (Redford); The Gangs of New York (Scorsese)

Other Films:

1970

Fassbinder Produces Film No. 8 (d?for TV)

1992

Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography (Glassman and McCarthy) (appearance)

1999

The Thirteenth Floor (Rusnak) (exec pr)

Publications

By BALLHAUS: articles—

Film, no. 4, April 1985.

Cinéma (Paris), no. 1, January 1986.

Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), no. 397, June 1987.

Films in Review (Denville), November 1987.

EPD Film (Frankfurt/Main), March 1994.

On BALLHAUS: articles—

American Cinematographer (Hollywood), vol. 67, no. 11, November 1986, and vol. 68, no. 11, November 1987.

American Film (Washington, D.C.), vol. 13, no. 3, December 1987.

Film Comment (New York), vol. 25, no. 5, September/October 1989.

American Cinematographer (Hollywood), vol. 72, no. 3, March 1991.

American Cinematographer (Hollywood), November 1992.

American Cinematographer (Hollywood), October 1993.

Film & TV Kameramann (Munich), February 1995.

American Cinematographer (Hollywood), October 1996.

Variety (New York), 21 July 1997.

For decades, foreign cinematographers had little chance of getting anywhere in Hollywood. Nevertheless, a loosening of union restrictions in the late 1970s enabled a host of European "lensers" to colonize a corner of the American film industry. The new wave of emigré camera wizards—Nykvist, Storaro, and Robby Müller among them—had become so influential by 1989 that one critic, Todd McCarthy, was able to write in Film Comment: "The Yanks have been virtually wiped off the map . . . foreign lensers now utterly dominate."

At the helm of the invasion was an unassuming German cameraman, Michael Ballhaus—a relative of Max Ophüls—whose infatuation with the celluloid muse had started when he saw Ophüls at work on Lola Montès. Ballhaus cut his teeth as a cinematographer on pictures by several of the pioneers of the so-called "New German Cinema." Most notably, he shot 15 films for that tyrant of excess, Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Working with Fassbinder was never easy. Contemporaries recall him as a fiercely jealous, insanely competitive figure, a dynamic and mercurial director who liked to engender a mood of tension and fear on the set. Early collaborations between Fassbinder and Ballhaus hardly can be said to be distinguished by their cinematography. Fassbinder, in those days, operated at a break-neck pace, and was not overly concerned with allowing his cameraman the leisure to devise complex lighting patterns. Pictures such as The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant were lit rapidly and crudely, and compulsive as these tales of role playing and sexual jealously may be to watch, they are certainly not shining advertisements for Ballhaus's skills.

Later collaborations, notably Chinese Roulette and The Marriage of Maria Braun, have more to recommend them. The former is set in a country house, and is full of exquisite pastoral compositions of twilights and dawns, shot in the "magic hour." The latter recreates postwar Germany in all its speedy splendor as the country rollicks into the Adenauer years. Moreover, in The Marriage of Maria Braun, Ballhaus does for Hanna Schygulla what von Sternberg did for Dietrich in The Blue Angel. (Ballhaus has a knack for photographing female stars: his work with Schygulla prefigures his later Hollywood movies such as Working Girl and The Fabulous Baker Boys, where he frames Melanie Griffith and Michelle Pfeiffer, respectively, with the same kind of teasing deference accorded Garbo in the 1930s.) Fassbinder's voracious appetite for cocaine in his latter years was a source of much stress to his colleagues: it is little wonder that around the time of his death Ballhaus fled west.

In 1984, he shot his first American film, Baby It's You, for John Sayles, and in his subsequent assignments, Ballhaus has shown extraordinary versatility. He has worked within the constraints of theatrical adaptation, shooting a dim and lugubrious Death of a Salesman for Volker Schlöndorff as well as Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie for Paul Newman. Ballhaus has shot super-slick Mike Nichols movies such as Working Girl, Postcards from the Edge, Primary Colors, and What Planet Are You From?, which showed him as equally adept at photographing the urban sprawl of New York, the many shades of blue of California, and the vistas of the American South and Southwest. He was just as expert when working on soundstages, where he filmed practically all of Bram Stoker's Dracula for Francis Ford Coppola. Perhaps missing his former mentor, he even teamed up with another egotist, namely Prince, to shoot Under the Cherry Moon. Established as a veteran, he nurtured Steve Kloves in his remarkably assured directing debut, The Fabulous Baker Boys. While his well-earned reputation as a solid and reliable professional won him a range of other high-prestige Hollywood assignments, Ballhaus probably will be best remembered for his work with Scorsese; for the elaborate circular tracks he laid down so that the camera could prowl round the pool table as Newman and Cruise hustled their way through The Color of Money, and, by way of contrast, for his filming of dust and desert in The Last Temptation of Christ, and the elegant period detail of 1870s New York in The Age of Innocence. He certainly reached some kind of peak with his incredibly fluid camera work, perectly complementing the quick-fire narrative, on the brilliant GoodFellas.

In Europe, Ballhaus asserts, filmmaking is by necessity an art: budgets are tight, and there is rarely the prospect of making much money. In the States, though, film is a business. One senses that Ballhaus is happier in Hollywood than he ever was in Germany. For a start, American directors are far less likely to interfere with the lighting than are their European counterparts. After his years with the erratic Fassbinder, the strict hierarchies of the Hollywood scene, where the director of photography rarely operates the camera and where everybody knows his or her role, must come as something of a relief. Having served his apprenticeship shooting films high on concept but low on finance and unlikely to reach a mass audience, Ballhaus—like fellow countryman Wolfgang Petersen, for whom he photographed Outbreak and Air Force One—now shows himself to be a consummate Hollywood professional, delighted with the opportunities that he is offered.

—Geoffrey Macnab, updated by Rob Edelman