“We are all there to help the actor do their job. I could have spent two days lighting a set, but if the performance is off, it is just pretty pictures.”
Born in Australia but raised in South Africa, Dion Beebe returned to Australia to study cinematography at the Australian Film Television and Radio School from 1987 to 1989. He started his career in features shooting Alison Maclean’s Crush in 1992, moving onto other notable local films including Clara Law’s Floating Life (1996), John Curran’s Praise (1998) and Niki Caro’s Memory & Desire (1998). His first major production was Jane Campion’s Holy Smoke (1999) starring Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel. This led him to bigger international productions including Gillian Armstrong’s Charlotte Gray (2001), and action movie Equilibrium (2002) starring Christian Bale. His career soared when, in 2002, he landed the cinematographer job on Rob Marshall’s feature debut Chicago which went on to win the Best Picture Oscar and a nomination for Beebe. He has subsequently worked with Marshall on Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), for which he won an Oscar, and Nine (2009). He has worked twice with Michael Mann, on Collateral (2004) and Miami Vice (2006), and reteamed with Campion on In the Cut (2003). Other credits include Rendition (2007), Land of the Lost (2009), and Green Lantern (2011).
