Caleb Deschanel

American cinematographer and film director (born 1944)

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Caleb Deschanel

Caleb Deschanel, 2009 in San Diego

Born|

Joseph Caleb Deschanel

(1944-09-21) September 21, 1944 (age 80)[1]

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Education|

* Johns Hopkins University
* USC School of Cinematic Arts
* AFI Conservatory

Occupation(s)| Cinematographer, film director
Years active| 1969–present
Spouse|

Mary Jo Weir

(m. 1972)​

Children|

* Emily Deschanel
* Zooey Deschanel

Deschanel on the set of The Spiderwick Chronicles, April 2007

Joseph Caleb Deschanel (born September 21, 1944)[1] is an American cinematographer and director of film and television.[1] He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography six times.[2] He is a member of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress, representing the American Society of Cinematographers.[3] He has been married to actress Mary Jo Deschanel since 1972, with whom he has two daughters, actresses Emily and Zooey Deschanel.

## Early life and professional education

[edit]

Deschanel was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Ann Ward (née Orr) and Paul Jules Deschanel. His father was French, from Oullins, Rhône, and his mother was American.[4] Deschanel was raised in his mother's Quaker religion.[5]

He enrolled[when?] in Severn School for his high school. He attended Johns Hopkins University from 1962 to 1966, where he met Walter Murch, with whom he staged "happenings," including one in which Murch sat down and ate an apple for an audience.[citation needed] Murch graduated a year ahead of him and encouraged Deschanel to follow him to the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where he graduated in 1968. During this time, Deschanel was a member of a band of film students called "The Dirty Dozen;" this group attracted attention from the Hollywood system. Following his graduation, he attended the American Film Institute (AFI) Conservatory and graduated in 1969 as a member of its first class.[6]

## Personal life

[edit]

Deschanel joined the American Society of Cinematographers (A.S.C.) in 1969, the year of his graduation from the AFI Conservatory. In 1972, three years later, he married actress Mary Jo Weir.[7] They have two daughters, actresses Emily and Zooey.

## Filmography

[edit]

### As director

[edit]

Film

* The Escape Artist (1982)
* Crusoe (1988)

Music video

* Rhythm of My Heart (1991)

Television

Year  | Title  | Episode(s)

|
|

1990-91  | Twin Peaks | "Realization Time"
"Drive with a Dead Girl"
"The Black Widow"
2005  | Law & Order: Trial by Jury | "41 Shots"
"Bang & Blame"
"Day"
2006  | Conviction | "Savasana"
"Madness"
2007  | Bones | "The Glowing Bones in the Old Stone House"

### As cinematographer

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Director  | Notes

|
|
|

1979  | Being There | Hal Ashby |
More American Graffiti | Bill L. Norton |
The Black Stallion | Carroll Ballard |
1982  | Let's Spend the Night Together | Hal Ashby  |
1983  | The Right Stuff | Philip Kaufman |
1984  | The Natural | Barry Levinson |
1985  | The Slugger's Wife | Hal Ashby  |
1994  | It Could Happen to You | Andrew Bergman |
1996  | Fly Away Home | Carroll Ballard  |
1998  | Hope Floats | Forest Whitaker |
1999  | Anna and the King | Andy Tennant |
Message in a Bottle | Luis Mandoki |
2000  | The Patriot | Roland Emmerich |
2003  | The Hunted | William Friedkin |
Timeline | Richard Donner |
2004  | National Treasure | Jon Turteltaub |
The Passion of the Christ | Mel Gibson |
2006  | Ask the Dust | Robert Towne |
2008  | Killshot | John Madden |
The Spiderwick Chronicles | Mark Waters |
2009  | My Sister's Keeper | Nick Cassavetes |
2011  | Dream House | Jim Sheridan |
Killer Joe | William Friedkin  |
2012  | Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter | Timur Bekmambetov |
Jack Reacher | Christopher McQuarrie |
2014  | Winter's Tale | Akiva Goldsman |
2016  | Rules Don't Apply | Warren Beatty |
2017  | Unforgettable | Denise Di Novi |
2018  | Never Look Away | Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck |
2019  | The Lion King | Jon Favreau |
2025  | Wildwood | Travis Knight |
Additional photography credits  Year  | Title  | Director  | Cinematographer  | Notes

|
|
|
|

1971  | Angels Hard as They Come | Joe Viola | Stephen M. Katz  |
THX 1138 | George Lucas | David Myers
Albert Kihn  | Uncredited
1972  | The Godfather | Francis Ford Coppola | Gordon Willis | Newspaper sequence
1974  | A Woman Under the Influence | John Cassavetes | Mitch Breit
Al Ruban  |
1979  | Apocalypse Now | Francis Ford Coppola  | Vittorio Storaro | Insert photography
1983  | The Black Stallion Returns | Robert Dalva | Carlo Di Palma |
1997  | Titanic | James Cameron | Russell Carpenter | Halifax contemporary shoot
2013  | Gangster Squad | Ruben Fleischer | Dion Beebe |
2019  | Ad Astra | James Gray | Hoyte van Hoytema |

## Awards and nominations

[edit]

Academy Awards

Year  | Title  | Category  | Result
1983  | The Right Stuff | Best Cinematography | Nominated
1984  | The Natural | Nominated
1996  | Fly Away Home | Nominated
2000  | The Patriot | Nominated
2004  | The Passion of the Christ | Nominated
2018  | Never Look Away | Nominated
BAFTA Awards

Year  | Title  | Category  | Result
1979  | The Black Stallion | Best Cinematography | Nominated
American Society of Cinematographers

Year  | Title  | Category  | Result
1996  | Fly Away Home | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | Nominated
2000  | The Patriot | Won
2004  | The Passion of the Christ | Nominated
National Society of Film Critics

Year  | Title  | Category  | Result
1979  | Being There | Best Cinematography | Won
The Black Stallion | Won
Satellite Awards

Year  | Title  | Category  | Result
1999  | Anna and the King | Best Cinematography | Nominated

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Caleb Deschanel". Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
2. ^ "Caleb Deschanel". Oscars Awards Databases. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
3. ^ "National Film Preservation Board Members". Library of Congress.
4. ^ Powell, Kimberly (November 1, 2011). "Ancestry of Emily and Zooey Deschanel". ThoughtCo. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
5. ^ Olsen, Mark (February 27, 2005). "A passion to convey a director's vision". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
6. ^ King, Susan (September 18, 2019). "At 50, the AFI Conservatory keeps its focus on developing great filmmakers". Los Angeles Times.
7. ^ "American Film". American Film. Vol. 9, no. 1–10\. American Film Institute (AFI). 1983. p. 10\. ISSN 0361-4751.1–10&rft.pages=10&rft.date=1983&rft.issn=0361-4751&rft_id=https://books.google.com/books?id=3_08AAAAMAAJ&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Caleb+Deschanel" class="Z3988">

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Caleb Deschanel.

* Caleb Deschanel at IMDb

Awards for Caleb Deschanel

* v
* t
* e

American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film

1986–1999|

* Jordan Cronenweth (1986)
* Allen Daviau (1987)
* Conrad L. Hall (1988)
* Haskell Wexler (1989)
* Dean Semler (1990)
* Allen Daviau (1991)
* Stephen H. Burum (1992)
* Conrad L. Hall (1993)
* Roger Deakins (1994)
* John Toll (1995)
* John Seale (1996)
* Russell Carpenter (1997)
* John Toll (1998)
* Conrad L. Hall (1999)

2000–present|

* Caleb Deschanel (2000)
* Roger Deakins (2001)
* Conrad L. Hall (2002)
* John Schwartzman (2003)
* Bruno Delbonnel (2004)
* Dion Beebe (2005)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (2006)
* Robert Elswit (2007)
* Anthony Dod Mantle (2008)
* Christian Berger (2009)
* Wally Pfister (2010)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (2011)
* Roger Deakins (2012)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (2013)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (2014)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (2015)
* Greig Fraser (2016)
* Roger Deakins (2017)
* Łukasz Żal (2018)
* Roger Deakins (2019)
* Erik Messerschmidt (2020)
* Greig Fraser (2021)
* Mandy Walker (2022)
* Hoyte van Hoytema (2023)
* Edward Lachman (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography

1975–2000|

* John Alcott (1975)
* Haskell Wexler (1976)
* Douglas Slocombe (1977)
* Néstor Almendros (1978)
* Caleb Deschanel (1979)
* Ghislain Cloquet and Geoffrey Unsworth (1980)
* Vittorio Storaro (1981)
* Jordan Cronenweth (1982)
* Sven Nykvist (1983)
* Chris Menges (1984)
* David Watkin (1985)
* Chris Menges (1986)
* Vittorio Storaro (1987)
* Henri Alekan (1988)
* Michael Ballhaus (1989)
* Michael Ballhaus (1990)
* Roger Deakins (1991)
* Zhao Fei (1992)
* Stuart Dryburgh / Janusz Kamiński (1993)
* Stefan Czapsky (1994)
* Lü Yue (1995)
* Chris Menges / John Seale (1996)
* Dante Spinotti (1997)
* Janusz Kamiński (1998)
* Dante Spinotti (1999)
* Peter Pau (2000)

2001–present|

* Roger Deakins (2001)
* Edward Lachman (2002)
* Eduardo Serra (2003)
* Dion Beebe and Paul Cameron (2004)
* Robert Elswit (2005)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (2006)
* Janusz Kamiński (2007)
* Yu Lik-wai (2008)
* Christian Berger (2009)
* Matthew Libatique (2010)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (2011)
* Roger Deakins (2012)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (2013)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (2014)
* John Seale (2015)
* James Laxton (2016)
* Dan Laustsen (2017)
* Alfonso Cuarón (2018)
* Claire Mathon (2019)
* Shabier Kirchner (2020)
* Ari Wegner (2021)
* Michał Dymek (2022)
* Robbie Ryan (2023)
* Jomo Fray (2024)

* v
* t
* e

National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography

1967–2000|

* Haskell Wexler (1967)
* William A. Fraker (1968)
* Lucien Ballard (1969)
* Néstor Almendros (1970)
* Vittorio Storaro (1971)
* Sven Nykvist (1972)
* Vilmos Zsigmond (1973)
* Gordon Willis (1974)
* John Alcott (1975)
* Haskell Wexler (1976)
* Thomas Mauch (1977)
* Néstor Almendros (1978)
* Caleb Deschanel (1979)
* Michael Chapman (1980)
* Gordon Willis (1981)
* Philippe Rousselot (1982)
* Hiro Narita (1983)
* Chris Menges (1984)
* Takao Saito, Shoji Ueda, and Asakazu Nakai (1985)
* Frederick Elmes (1986)
* Philippe Rousselot (1987)
* Henri Alekan (1988)
* Michael Ballhaus (1989)
* Peter Suschitzky (1990)
* Roger Deakins (1991)
* Zhao Fei (1992)
* Janusz Kamiński (1993)
* Stefan Czapsky (1994)
* Tak Fujimoto (1995)
* Robby Müller (1996)
* Roger Deakins (1997)
* John Toll (1998)
* Conrad L. Hall (1999)
* Agnès Godard (2000)

2001–present|

* Christopher Doyle and Pin Bing Lee (2001)
* Edward Lachman (2002)
* Russell Boyd (2003)
* Xiaoding Zhao (2004)
* Christopher Doyle, Lai Yiu Fai, and Kwan Pun Leung (2005)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (2006)
* Robert Elswit (2007)
* Anthony Dod Mantle (2008)
* Christian Berger (2009)
* Roger Deakins (2010)
* Emmanuel Lubezki (2011)
* Mihai Mălaimare Jr. (2012)
* Bruno Delbonnel (2013)
* Dick Pope (2014)
* Edward Lachman (2015)
* James Laxton (2016)
* Roger Deakins (2017)
* Alfonso Cuarón (2018)
* Claire Mathon (2019)
* Joshua James Richards (2020)
* Andrew Droz Palermo (2021)
* Michał Dymek (2022)
* Rodrigo Prieto (2023)
* Jomo Fray (2024)

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Czech Republic
* Spain
* Norway
* Poland
* 2
* Israel
* Catalonia

People|

* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* IdRef
* SNAC

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