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richest man in the world, Pa Kegan (John Huston). Illustrator and Production Designer Harold Michelson laid out the shot precisely in a beautiful sketch. Vilmos was a little leery of the idea: a hanging miniature in the foreground, a full-size ramp forty feet below with the actors (Anthony Perkins and Jeff Bridges), and a painted backing on the floor ten feet below that. It all had to be lit by Vilmos so that it tied together seamlessly and at a high enough T-stop to have sharp depth of field with an anamorphic lens of a specified focal length (24mm). All of this would be delivered in-camera" with no optical effects (the magic of digital effects were not invented yet). Vilmos did not trust the idea, but he had learned to trust Bob, and first-time director Bill Richert literally danced with excitement when Bob and Vilmos (both motion picture legends at that time) went out on the edge. I was tasked, along with the second assistant cameraman and best boy grip, with taking the "B" camera and the appropriate lens—but no film magazine—up to the grid of Stage 30 at MGM Studios to position the lens and the set pieces in precisely the correct spots, as designated by Harold's sketch. It took us all morning with repeated tweaks and nudges from a very talented grip who knew all the tricks. Vilmos had the gaffer position the preliminary lighting based on his best guesses after looking at the sketch. They were all busy shooting a different, much larger set at the same time on the same stage. Later in the day, it was time to shoot the downshot. The actors got into position and Vilmos climbed up the fifty-foot-tall ladder to the camera position. I crouched on the edge of the scaffold to observe. Vilmos sat down by the camera, also on the edge of the scaffold, and leaned in to look through the viewfinder. "OH MY GOD! THIS IS FANTASTIC!" he shouted, not taking his eye off the shot. "BILL, COME UP HERE. YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS!" Bill declined; he would not dare go up the ladder through the empty space and dance across the grid like the rest of us. "Take a Polaroid," he said. We got the shot and Bill watched it over and over at dailies the next day. He said, "WOW," every time the scene opened. ADG A short filmography of movies shot by Vilmos Zsigmond: McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) (BAFTA Award nomination – Cinematography) Dir: Robert Altman – Prod Des: Leon Ericksen Deliverance (1972) (BAFTA Award nomination – Cinematography; Oscar nomination – Best Picture) Dir: John Boorman (Oscar and DGA Award nominations) – Prod Des: Fred Harpman Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (BAFTA Award nomination and Oscar win – Cinematography) Dir: Steven Spielberg (BAFTA Award, Oscar and DGA Award nominations) Prod Des: Joe Alves (BAFTA Award and Oscar nomination) Art Dir: Dan Lomino (Oscar nomination) The Deer Hunter (1978) (BAFTA Award and Oscar nomination – Cinematography; Oscar win and BAFTA Award nomination – Best Picture) Dir: Michael Cimino (Oscar and DGA Awards; BAFTA Award nomination) Prod Des: Ron Hobbs Heaven's Gate (1980) Dir: Michael Cimino – Prod Des: Tambi Larsen (Oscar nomination) Blow Out (1981) Dir: Brian De Palma – Prod Des: Paul Sylbert The River (1984) (Oscar nomination – Cinematography) Dir: Mark Rydell – Prod Des: Charles Rosen Maverick (1994) Dir: Richard Donner – Prod Des: Tom Sanders The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) (ASC Award nomination – Cinematography) Dir: Stephen Hopkins – Prod Des: Stuart Wurtzel The Black Dahlia (2006) (ASC Award and Oscar nominations – Cinematography) Dir: Brian De Palma – Prod Des: Dante Ferretti You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) Dir: Woody Allen – Prod Des: Jim Clay American Society of Cinematographers Lifetime Achievement Award (1999)