Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history when she became the first woman of color to be nominated for a best cinematography Oscar for her work on Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners.”
“You dream about those things. It’s a dream come true,” she tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast. Arkapaw also landed British Society of Cinematographers, BAFTA and American Society of Cinematographers nominations. “It’s a dream come true. I feel like we been celebrating the movie for a while now since it came out in April. I’m not sure if I’ve processed it…and realized.”
Arkapaw wasn’t the only one to make history. “Sinners” landed a whooping 16 Oscar nominations breaking the all-time record.
The film marks the second collaboration between Coogler and Arkapaw, and she reveals she’ll be reuniting with him again on his “X-Files” reboot. They’re also planning ahead and discussing “Black Panther 3.”
She recalls meeting him for the first time: “I saw him once at a cafe, and I told him this after the fact. We were both eating, and he was with (his wife and producer) Zinzi, and I remember I was with my agent having lunch, and I saw that he was at the table next to me, but we had never met. I didn’t know if he knew who I was. So that was the first time I was in the same space as him, and I clocked him,” she tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast.
A few years later, fellow cinematographer Bradford Young recommended her for “Creed” but she reveals that didn’t work out “because the studio didn’t think I had enough credits, and so I wasn’t able to explore that option to shoot that film.”
She went on to shoot “The Sun Is Also a Star,” “Mainstream” and Marvel’s “Loki.” When Rachel Morrison transitioned into directing, she sent Arkapaw a text suggesting she would be a good fit. “She felt that I would take care of him and we would work well together.” A Zoom called followed, and “it felt like talking to family,” Arkapaw says. The met shortly after in Atlanta.
“Sinners” marked a turning point for the cinematographer – she was the first female cinematographer to shoot on Imax 65mm and Ultra Panavision. Arkapaw admits the challenging aspects were the things that were outside of her control: “The weather never plays ball all the time, so that stuff would be challenging for me, especially on this shoot summer in New Orleans.”
Asked about her favorite shot to pull off, Arkapaw says, “The church. I’ve spoken about this a lot, and I think it’s really one of those moments where I can clearly remember its conception and being in a car with Hannah [Beachler, the film’s production designer], where she we’re on a scout. Ryan was in front seat. Hannah had a little book, and she opened it up, and she had a sketchbook, and she’s like, ‘This is what I’m thinking of for the church.’”
On seeing the sketch, Arkapaw knew it was going to be gorgeous to shoot. Once Ruth E. Carter had dressed the actors for the scene, Arkapaw felt like she had stepped back in time and she was going to a service in the 1930s.
Arkapaw also talks about shooting the film’s climactic fight, collaborating with her fellow department heads and assistant director – Marvin Williams, and how she avoided getting splattered in blood.
“My camera team, takes care of me. So we always have a tarp or duvetyne, a black material that you wrap around.”
Arkapaw also shared what scene they shot on the first day of filming – it was the film’s end credit scene with blues legend Buddy Guy. “It was a very special day because we were shooting these two formats that had never been shot before, and then also just having Buddy Guy on set your first day of shooting is the pressure was on so but it went beautifully,” she says. “No one ever imagined that was our first day of shooting.
More than 10 years ago, Arkapaw made Variety’s 10 Cinematographers to Watch list. This year, she has staked her place in Oscar history.
Also on this episode, “The Secret Agent” star Wagner Moura, and the Roundtable discuss the BAFTA nominations and the Television Academy’s revived variety series category.
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.