To give MAN ON FIRE a taught, claustrophobic, and reality-based feel, the production filmed mostly on location throughout Mexico City. Shooting in the oldest, largest and most traffic-congested city in North America was a constant challenge. More than 50 vehicles moving cast, crew and equipment had to negotiate the city’s narrow and crowded streets, spending hours making their way through grinding traffic. In addition, general strikes were an almost daily fact of life, and the filmmakers had to wade through Mexico City’s labyrinthine bureaucracy of 17 mini-states, each with its own municipality and governor. “But it was all worth it,” says Foster, “because audiences will see a contemporary Mexico of extremes, brimming with light, color and extraordinary people.”
“Extremes” might also describe Tony Scott’s and director of photography Paul Cameron’s use of light, color, exposures, and film processes to reflect Creasy’s emotional and psychological upheaval during and after the kidnapping. “I like experimenting with different cinematic methods to identify emotions,” says Scott who, like Cameron, cut his filmmaking teeth in the often-non-traditional world of making commercials. “The kidnapping scene seemed a good point to try to identify the internal workings of Creasy’s mind through cinematic technique.”
To achieve an often startling photographic style, Scott and Cameron hand-cranked the camera to slow down or speed up movement (a technique dating back to the silent film era), used reversal film stock to make the colors more vivid, created multiple exposures by imprinting three sets of images on the same plate of film, and used Panavision XL cameras and even 16mm cameras for maximum maneuverability. To add even greater visual impact to specific sequences, Scott and Cameron employed multiple cameras, which often proved a formidable challenge to the cinematographer. “Multiple cameras are insane!” Cameron remembers. “We had to keep them all on a specific axis of light, which is really tricky. But among the many advantages of using multiple cameras is that you’re getting the performances precisely as they happen.”
Denzel Washington continues to be awed by Scott’s directorial skills – and his penchant for multiple cameras. “Yeah, we called him ‘Nine-Camera Tony’,” jokes the actor. “I didn’t know what the heck he was doing with all those cameras [in reality, Scott used “only” four], but it’s inspiring because he paints beautiful canvasses with them.” Adds Washington, who made his directorial debut with ANTWONE FISHER in 2002: “It was a real education for me as a new filmmaker.”
However formidable MAN ON FIRE’s look and occasional non-linear editing style, Scott is quick to point out that the technique is there to serve the story, its characters and its emotions. “The film is an emotional journey,” says Scott. “It’s about rebirth and second chances, and the lengths one man will go to when those very things are taken away from him.”
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