'Mudbound,' 'Black Panther' DP Rachel Morrison On Breaking Boundaries: "My Entire Career I've Been Chasing This Target"

February 23, 2018

Photographed by Spencer Lowell

IN THIS STORY

Black Panther

Mudbound

The first woman nominated for cinematography talks shooting in flash rainstorms and her work on the Marvel juggernaut' "something so completely outside my wheelhouse."

It’s the morning of Feb. 5, and Rachel Morrison is sitting on her bed at the Beverly Hilton, getting ready to attend the Oscar Nominees Luncheon. She asks me for a second opinion on her nail color; we agree on clear. “I’m still wrapping my head around it,” she admits of her historic nomination for Mudbound, which made her the first woman to receive a cinematography nod (for which she got one of the biggest rounds of applause at the Beverly Hilton luncheon). “It’s exciting, and if it means more women start shooting, then that’s the best thing that could possibly come from this.”

As if being nominated for an Oscar weren’t enough, February provided another highlight for Morrison: She reteamed with Ryan Coogler (she DPed on his 2013 film, Fruitvale Station) to shoot Marvel’s $200 million superhero movie Black Panther, which opened to north of $235 million for a Presidents Day weekend record. “It was exciting to do something so completely outside my wheelhouse,” she says.

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