Though Jeff Nathanson was already established as one of Hollywood’s top screenwriters, the creative team behind “The Last Shot” helped him make the transition to the director’s chair. “When you’re a writer, you’re pretty much alone in a room for ten hours a day,” Nathanson explains. “It’s something I’m used to because I’ve been doing it my whole life. It’s second nature to me. But directing is a very social experience, and most writers are not social animals,” he admits.
When David Hoberman and Jeff Nathanson began to assemble the production team for “The Last Shot,” they considered only the most talented professionals in the industry. “My job was to provide Jeff with the best production designer, the best director of photography, and the best line producer,” Hoberman explains. “We wanted to gather together a great group of creative people to make this film, and we succeeded.”
Selecting a director of photography is of utmost importance to every director. Nathanson was thrilled to attract the talents of the noted cinematographer John Lindley, ASC. During his illustrious career, Lindley has worked with many acclaimed directors, and his collaborative efforts with Nathanson were a tremendous asset to both the first-time director, and the production as a whole. “John has been a mentor and he’s been a friend,” Nathanson says of his association with Lindley. “There would be no movie without him. He’s an amazing guy with great vision.”
David Hoberman sums up the director/cinematographer relationship between Nathanson and Lindley. “John Lindley, as a cinematographer and a human being, brings a lot of knowledge and experience to Jeff. When we first met with John Lindley, I knew that he was the right man for this job. He has been an enormous help to Jeff, and I think Jeff has learned a great deal about filmmaking from John.”
For the overall look of “The Last Shot” the filmmakers turned to production designer William Arnold. A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Arnold possesses a vast knowledge of the area and pays great attention to the smallest details. One of the big challenges stemmed from the locations doubling as altogether different locations and time period. As Arnold explains, “So much of this film project was shot on location. It's supposed to be a film about Arizona, so using places that are the exact opposite of Arizona is one of the many things that makes it funny.”
Shooting a movie that is supposed to be Providence doubling as Arizona, in Los Angeles, and utilizing more than thirty-five different locations on a forty-five day shooting schedule provided unique challenges. “Most of our film was supposed to be shot in Los Angeles, and we were deciding how much could be shot in Providence, if any at all,” Arnold explains. “The questions were, what would make sense to actually film in Providence, and how do we get away with locations looking like Providence here in Los Angeles? To make it all work, we had to be imaginative,” Arnold says of his convoluted dilemma.
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