Director of photography Adriano Goldman, ASC, BSC, ABC, is Emmy nominated for his work on Netflix's The Crown. Goldman is recognized in the "Outstanding Cinematography For A Series (One Hour)" category for the "Sleep, Dearie Sleep" episode.
"I was invited to join The Crown in 2015 by (director) Stephen Daldry and (show creator) Peter Morgan, and we started this eight-year journey," he recalls. "And I remember us going through research to set the tone and the look of the whole series. This is right after the second World War. London is in bad shape. Some of the royal houses and castles were kind of run down. They used to look very black outside because of the smog. So basically, it was sort of the opposite of the glamorous approach that you usually see for period dramas."
Goldman (pictured) says the goal was to stay grounded and create a look of real people who are suffering and have their own dilemmas.
"From my perspective, I always wanted to light it and frame it in a very realistic and objective sort of way," he explains. "The color palette should be muted. The interiors mean the light should always be coming from the windows. And at night, interiors mainly from practicals. I really rely very much on actual practical sources as key sources. We really want to be able to feel the dust and feel the characters and the fabric, so there’s always a little bit of haze because we don’t want the Cinderella look. We don’t want the super glossy period look. That was kind of consistent throughout six seasons."
Since show creator Peter Morgan wanted to change the cast every two seasons, Goldman also switched up his lens choices.
"We did the first two seasons on Sony F55s and Cooke Panchros – they’re now like 100 years old," he explains. "And then in Season 3, I changed to the Zeiss Super Speeds – still vintage lenses. And in Season 4, I changed cameras to the Sony Venice I, so there was a kind of sensor upgrade for us. Then in Seasons 5 and 6, we shot on the Venices and the Cooke S4s. I know that’s very subtle, but it was something for me to adjust to the period and to a new cast. There is always a different approach. I remember we used to do Claire Foy’s close-ups on 40mm or 50mm lenses, physically very close to the actors. And then for Seasons 5 and 6, specifically for the first four episodes, because of the paparazzi nightmare around Diana, we chose to go a little bit more observational to embrace even longer lenses and watch her life from almost a paparazzi perspective.
"There’s one very iconic shot that we loved the idea from the very beginning to reproduce. The last shot on act two is Diana on the jetty with the blue swimsuit, so that’s something we always said, 'We’ve got a yacht, we’ve got a location, we’ve got the swimsuit, so we should probably try and do that.' You explore historical moments, but you also want to bring your own angle and your own perspective. You don’t want to get overwhelmed by the historical accuracy because it’s not a documentary in any way, so you have to embrace a little bit of freedom. I mean there’s no good photography that can save a bad script or a bad performance, so as a DOP you feel more confident that you will be able to deliver something special because what you see is special."
Goldman shot 28 episodes in total, including the first one and the very last.
"I specifically love 'Sleep, Dearie Sleep' because it’s my last episode and it was full circle for me and (director) Stephen Daldry. Also, because it’s the longest ever episode, it’s 70 minutes long. We shot for more than 25 days, which is really unusual for a TV series episode.
"With regards to final sequences, it’s not unusual that you somehow work backwards. There was a lot of discussion about three last shots - the three Queens - and then you cut around, she walks away and there’s a frame within the frame. You see her walking away and then you cut to the wide shot and she crosses the whole nave. I think that’s something we kind of agreed on. So if these are the three last shots, how do we get there with a non-glamorous sort of approach while still being very much present on the very last scene? I really remember saying, 'I don’t think we need to exaggerate it.' I mean, this is so beautiful. We are just again observers from a vantage point. And then the last shot for the last episode was the last shot we did for the series, and it was a single take."
Goldman says The Crown literally changed his life.
"Really, I mean, changed everything for me," he states. "I now see many other shows that try to deliver the same kind of lighting quality. We’ve been very influential as well, in terms of how you frame period dramas. So, I’m really proud of what we did."