To realize director Kassovitz’s vision, Walker developed a distinctive color palette. "I tried to create a foreboding sense with muted colors, grays and browns and fairly non-colored tones I’d never used before," says Walker, who previously designed the films Ghost Ship, Queen of the Damned and The Island of Dr. Moreau.
Walker and Kassovitz worked closely with cinematographer Matthew Libatique, who won the 2001 Independent Spirit Award for his haunting cinematography in Requiem for a Dream, to establish Gothika’s eerily striking mood and inventive shooting style. "I wanted the camera to be like a ghost, going places where it physically shouldn’t be able to go," Kassovitz explains. "We also had some complicated sets, particularly the glass cell walls, which are difficult to shoot because of reflections. Matty and I knew we wanted that grainy, edgy feel and it sort of became a cross between stylized glamorous noir and down and dirty guerrilla-style filmmaking."
"Mathieu really knows how to move the camera to bring you into Miranda’s journey," Silver observes. "There are many scenes in which it’s just two characters talking in a cell, and that’s a real challenge for a director. Mathieu made each one of them interesting and unique. There are also a number of scenes where Miranda is trying to figure out if she’s sane or going mad, and Halle had to react with almost nothing around her. That speaks to her strength as an actress, but also to Mathieu’s talent as a director. He keeps the audience invested and involved in the movie with her."
Berry, who has worked with such diverse directors as Warren Beatty, Martha Coolidge, Lee Tamahori, Tony Scott and Spike Lee, says her collaboration with Kassovitz yielded the textured, compelling performances and tone they envisioned. "Mathieu has a great eye and a really unique, edgy way of telling a story with the camera. And as an actor himself, he understands and appreciates the craft of acting. He has a very independent style to his filmmaking and I think that helps to make this movie is so unique and special."
"Mathieu was terrific because from the first day we literally worked together," says Robert Downey Jr. "He helped me to make playing Pete effortless. It wasn’t easy, but it was effortless. Right before we started shooting I had this more conservative look, and Mathieu walked over, messed up my hair, took off his t-shirt and put it on me and said ‘Pete’s gotta be more cool.’ That comforted me, because often I’m ready to be more conservative or unlike myself in a role, but Mathieu didn’t want that. He said ‘No, Pete should be more like you.’"
"Acting is such a difficult, intimate process," Kassovitz notes. "As an actor myself, I feel like I’m able to communicate especially well with my cast. But I prefer directing; it’s more interesting for me."
Because Berry appears in nearly every scene of the film, production went on hiatus for one month after the actress injured her wrist while shooting a scene with Downey. "Gothika is a testament to Halle’s strength and talent," Silver attests. "She’s a terrific actress with tremendous emotional range and incredible energy."
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