Michael Chapman

Michael Chapman

Birth : 1935-11-21, New York City, New York, USA

Death : 2020-09-20

History

Michael Crawford Chapman, A.S.C. (November 21, 1935 – September 20, 2020) was an American cinematographer and film director well known for his work on many films of the American New Wave of the 1970s and in the 1980s with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Ivan Reitman. He shot more than forty feature films, over half of those with only three different directors. Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Chapman (cinematographer), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Profile

Michael Chapman
Michael Chapman

Movies

Shooting Hardcore
Cinematographer Michael Chapman recalls his work with director Paul Schrader on Hardcore, and explains how the film's visual style quickly evolved after George C. Scott was cast to play Jake VanDorn.
Peter Gabriel - Live In Athens 1987
Director
In October 1987 after many months on the road, it was in the elevated surroundings of the hillside open-air theatre at Lycabettus overlooking Athens that the So tour came to a climactic close. The three nights were filmed in what was the first-ever Peter Gabriel concert to be committed to film.
Youssou N'Dour et Le Super Etoile de Dakar - Fatteliku
Director
October, 1987. An open-air amphitheatre cut into a mountain overlooking the twinkling sprawl of nighttime Athens. Thousands of people are going crazy for a young Senegalese singer they’d never heard of until moments before, when headline act Peter Gabriel walked onstage and introduced him. Here, then, is N’Dour’s opening set from that legendary Live in Athens show, as performed by an act on the cusp of Western stardom. An act that had transformed Senegalese music by playing traditional rhythms on electric instruments, fronted by a singer whose charisma, multi-talents and social conscience would eventually see him acknowledged as one of the most celebrated African musicians in history.
An Amazing Time: A Conversation About End of the Road
Self
Documentary about the 1970 film, "End of The Road."
Side by Side
Self
Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Keanu Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters, such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.
Bridge to Terabithia
Director of Photography
Jesse Aarons trained all summer to become the fastest runner in school, so he's very upset when newcomer Leslie Burke outruns him and everyone else. Despite this and other differences, including that she's rich, he's poor, and she's a city girl, he's a country boy, the two become fast friends. Together, they create Terabithia, a land of monsters, trolls, ogres, and giants and rule as king and queen.
Hoot
Director of Photography
A young man moves from Montana to Florida with his family, where he's compelled to engage in a fight to protect a population of endangered owls.
House of D
Director of Photography
In the present, artist Tom Warshaw recalls his traumatic coming of age. As a 13-year-old growing up in New York City in 1973, Tom hangs out with Pappass, a mentally disabled man. With Tom's mother battling depression after the death of her husband, the young boy is left to his own devices. When Tom develops a crush on schoolmate Melissa, Pappass feels abandoned and begins behaving erratically.
Raging Bull: After the Fight
Self
The fourth and final installment of a four-part documentary about the production of "Raging Bull."
Raging Bull: Outside the Ring
Self
The third part of a four-part documentary about the production of "Raging Bull."
Raging Bull: Inside the Ring
Self
The second part of a four-part documentary about the production of "Raging Bull."
Eulogy
Director of Photography
A black comedy that follows three generations of a family, who come together for the funeral of the patriarch - unveiling a litany of family secrets and covert relationships.
Suspect Zero
Prosecutor #1
A killer is on the loose, and an FBI agent sifts through clues and learns that the bloodthirsty felon's victims of choice are other serial killers.
Suspect Zero
Director of Photography
A killer is on the loose, and an FBI agent sifts through clues and learns that the bloodthirsty felon's victims of choice are other serial killers.
Evolution
Sheriff Long
A comedy that follows the chaos that ensues when a meteor hits the Earth carrying alien life forms that give new meaning to the term "survival of the fittest." David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, and Julianne Moore are the only people standing between the aliens and world domination... which could be bad news for the Earth.
Evolution
Director of Photography
A comedy that follows the chaos that ensues when a meteor hits the Earth carrying alien life forms that give new meaning to the term "survival of the fittest." David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, and Julianne Moore are the only people standing between the aliens and world domination... which could be bad news for the Earth.
The Watcher
Director of Photography
FBI agent Joel Campbell, burnt-out and shell-shocked after years spent chasing serial killers, flees L.A. to begin a new life for himself in Chicago. But five months later, Joel's best laid plans are abruptly cut short when his new hometown becomes the setting for some particularly gruesome murders--murders that could only have been committed by one man: David Allen Griffin. One of Joel's most elusive and cunning nemeses, Griffin has followed his former pursuer to Chicago in order to play a sadistic game of cat and mouse. Taunting Joel with photographs of his intended victims and leaving his crime scenes meticulously free of clues in order to keep the police at bay, Griffin derives as much pleasure out of watching Joel react to every movement as watching his victims die. But when Griffin moves into Joel's inner circle, Joel must quickly find some way to stop him before someone close to him becomes the next one to die.
The Story of Us
Waiter
Ben and Katie Jordan are a married couple who go through hard times in fifteen years of marriage.
The Story of Us
Director of Photography
Ben and Katie Jordan are a married couple who go through hard times in fifteen years of marriage.
The White River Kid
Director of Photography
Two con men are traveling through the American South when they are held hostage by a serial killer, who is running from the authorities.
Six Days Seven Nights
Mechanic
When Quinn, a grouchy pilot living the good life in the South Pacific, agrees to transfer a savvy fashion editor, Robin, to Tahiti, he ends up stranded on a deserted island with her after their plane crashes. The pair avoid each other at first, until they're forced to team up to escape from the island -- and some pirates who want their heads.
Six Days Seven Nights
Director of Photography
When Quinn, a grouchy pilot living the good life in the South Pacific, agrees to transfer a savvy fashion editor, Robin, to Tahiti, he ends up stranded on a deserted island with her after their plane crashes. The pair avoid each other at first, until they're forced to team up to escape from the island -- and some pirates who want their heads.
In the Teeth of Jaws
Self
BBC documentary about the making of Steven Spielberg's Jaws.
Space Jam
Director of Photography
Jokes fly as the Tune Squad takes on the Nerdlucks in a hardcourt game to decide if the Looney Tunes remain here... or become attractions at a far-off galactic off-ramp called Moron Mountain. The Nerdlucks have a monstrous secret weapon: they've stolen the skills of top NBA stars like Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing and become Monstars. But that's not all, folks. The Tune Squad’s secret weapon just happens to be the finest player in this or any other universe. He's outta this world. So's the fun.
Primal Fear
Director of Photography
An arrogant, high-powered attorney takes on the case of a poor altar boy found running away from the scene of the grisly murder of the bishop who has taken him in. The case gets a lot more complex when the accused reveals that there may or may not have been a third person in the room.
The Viking Sagas
Story
The film chronicles a long-ago time when men relied not on their intellect to make points, but on their swords. A mythical warrior ('Ralf Moeller (I)') wanders the snow-capped landscapes of the North territories on an arduous quest for vengeance. Amid nobles and schemers, saints and brutes, and lovers and fools, this Viking swings his sword for his family's honor, his beloved's hand, and the very survival of his pitiless culture.
The Viking Sagas
Director
The film chronicles a long-ago time when men relied not on their intellect to make points, but on their swords. A mythical warrior ('Ralf Moeller (I)') wanders the snow-capped landscapes of the North territories on an arduous quest for vengeance. Amid nobles and schemers, saints and brutes, and lovers and fools, this Viking swings his sword for his family's honor, his beloved's hand, and the very survival of his pitiless culture.
The Fugitive
Director of Photography
Wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to death, Richard Kimble escapes from the law in an attempt to find the real killer and clear his name.
Rising Sun
Fred Hoffman
When a prostitute is found dead in a Los Angeles skyscraper occupied by a large Japanese corporation, detectives John Connor and Web Smith are called in to investigate. Although Connor has previous experience working in Japan, cultural differences make their progress difficult until a security disc showing the murder turns up. Close scrutiny proves the disc has been doctored, and the detectives realize they're dealing with a cover-up as well.
Rising Sun
Director of Photography
When a prostitute is found dead in a Los Angeles skyscraper occupied by a large Japanese corporation, detectives John Connor and Web Smith are called in to investigate. Although Connor has previous experience working in Japan, cultural differences make their progress difficult until a security disc showing the murder turns up. Close scrutiny proves the disc has been doctored, and the detectives realize they're dealing with a cover-up as well.
Visions of Light
Self
Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.
Whispers in the Dark
Director of Photography
Psychiatrist Ann Hecker is ending one relationship and possibly starting an important new one, while finding that some of the sexual exploits her patients relate are weighing on her. Turning to a married friend from her research days for guidance, she finds his help increasingly important when a female patient is murdered and it turns out that her new boyfriend was also seeing the dead woman.
Doc Hollywood
Shooting Gallery Operator
After leaving Washington D.C. hospital, plastic surgeon Ben Stone heads for California, where a lucrative practice in Beverly Hills awaits. After a car accident, he's sentenced to perform as the community's general practitioner.
Doc Hollywood
Director of Photography
After leaving Washington D.C. hospital, plastic surgeon Ben Stone heads for California, where a lucrative practice in Beverly Hills awaits. After a car accident, he's sentenced to perform as the community's general practitioner.
Peter Gabriel - POV
Director
An all-Gabriel performance featuring some of Gabriel's own 8mm work, personal footage from the two Amnesty International tours, a trip he took to the USSR and even home movies. Also live performances of "This Is the Picture," "Shock the Monkey," "Games Without Frontiers," "No Self Control," plus more. Executive produced by Martin Scorcese.
Kindergarten Cop
Firefighter
Hard-edged cop John Kimble gets more than he bargained for when he goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to get the goods on a brutal drug lord while at the same time protecting the man's young son. Pitted against a class of boisterous moppets whose antics try his patience and test his mettle, Kimble may have met his match … in more ways than one.
Kindergarten Cop
Director of Photography
Hard-edged cop John Kimble gets more than he bargained for when he goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to get the goods on a brutal drug lord while at the same time protecting the man's young son. Pitted against a class of boisterous moppets whose antics try his patience and test his mettle, Kimble may have met his match … in more ways than one.
Quick Change
Director of Photography
With the aid of his girlfriend, Phyllis Potter, and best friend, Loomis, Grimm enters a Manhattan bank dressed as a clown, creates a hostage situation and executes a flawless robbery. The only thing left for the trio to do is make their getaway out of the city and to the airport. It sounds simple enough, but it seems that fate deserts them immediately after the bank heist. One mishap after another conspires to keep these robbers from reaching freedom.
The Abyss
Dr. Berg
A civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey 25,000 feet below the ocean's surface where he confronts a mysterious force that has the power to change the world or destroy it.
Ghostbusters II
Director of Photography
Five years after they defeated Gozer, the Ghostbusters are out of business. When Dana begins to have ghost problems again, the boys come out of retirement to aid her and hopefully save New York City from a new paranormal threat.
Third Degree Burn
Dan Rourke
A down-and-out private eye (Treat Williams) gets too close to the wife (Virginia Madsen) of a rich man (Richard Masur) soon found dead.
Scrooged
Director of Photography
Frank Cross is a wildly successful television executive whose cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature has driven away the love of his life. But after firing staff member Eliot Loudermilk on Christmas Eve, Frank is visited by a series of ghosts who give him a chance to re-evaluate his actions and right the wrongs of his past.
Gotham
Director of Photography
A New York private eye searches for a socialite who supposedly drowned 10 years before.
Shoot to Kill
Director of Photography
When a cunning murderer vanishes into the rugged mountains of the Pacific Northwest, pursuing FBI agent Warren Stantin must exchange familiar city streets for unknown wilderness trails. Completely out of his element, Stantin is forced to enlist the aid of expert tracker Jonathan Knox. It's a turbulent yet vital relationship they must maintain in order to survive... and one that becomes increasingly desperate when Knox's girlfriend Sarah becomes the killer's latest hostage!
Shoot to Kill
Lawyer
When a cunning murderer vanishes into the rugged mountains of the Pacific Northwest, pursuing FBI agent Warren Stantin must exchange familiar city streets for unknown wilderness trails. Completely out of his element, Stantin is forced to enlist the aid of expert tracker Jonathan Knox. It's a turbulent yet vital relationship they must maintain in order to survive... and one that becomes increasingly desperate when Knox's girlfriend Sarah becomes the killer's latest hostage!
Bad
Director of Photography
For the first short film for one of five consecutive record-breaking No. 1 hits from "Bad," Michael Jackson and director Martin Scorsese created an epic 18-minute tale of urban and racial challenges in the 1980s. "Bad" was named the second greatest of Michael's short films by Rolling Stone in 2014.
The Lost Boys
Director of Photography
A mother and her two teenage sons move to a seemingly nice and quiet small coastal California town yet soon find out that it's overrun by bike gangs and vampires. A couple of teenage friends take it upon themselves to hunt down the vampires that they suspect of a few mysterious murders and restore peace and calm to their town.
Annihilator
Director
Humanoid killer robots stalk a newspaperman, who has knowledge of their existence. One of the robots is made to look like his girl friend.
The Clan of the Cave Bear
Director
Natural changes have the clans moving. Iza, medicine woman of the "Clan of the Cave Bear" finds little Ayla from the "others"' clan - tradition would have the clan kill Ayla immediately, but Iza insists on keeping her. When the little one finds a most needed new cave, she's allowed to stay - and thrive.
All the Right Moves
Director
Sensitive study of a headstrong high school football star who dreams of getting out of his small Western Pennsylvania steel town with a football scholarship. His equally ambitious coach aims at a college position, resulting in a clash which could crush the player's dreams.
The Man with Two Brains
Director of Photography
A brain surgeon tries to end his unhappy marriage to spend more time with a disembodied brain.
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Director of Photography
Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private eye Rigby Reardon. He finds a slip of paper containing a list of people who are 'The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta'.
Personal Best
Director of Photography
Young sprinter Chris Cahill is having difficulty reaching her potential as an athlete, until she meets established track star Tory Skinner. As Tory and her coach help Chris with her training, the two women form friendship that evolves into a romantic relationship. Their intimacy, however, becomes complicated when Chris' improvement causes them to be competitors for the Olympic team.
Raging Bull
Director of Photography
The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
Steve Martin: Comedy Is Not Pretty
Director of Photography
Steve Martin's second NBC special was made up entirely of sketches. Highlights include: Marty Robbins' "El Paso" with monkeys; "The Death Of Socrates"; and "Bizarre Oddities Of The World."
The Wanderers
Director of Photography
The streets of the Bronx are owned by '60s youth gangs where the joy and pain of adolescence is lived. Philip Kaufman tells his take on the novel by Richard Price about the history of the Italian-American gang ‘The Wanderers.’
Hardcore
Director of Photography
A conservative Midwest businessman ventures into the sordid underworld of pornography in search for his runaway teenage daughter who’s making porno films in the pits of Los Angeles.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Health Dept. Floor Cleaner (uncredited)
Matthew Bennell notices that several of his friends are complaining that their close relatives are in some way different. When questioned later they themselves seem changed, as they deny everything or make lame excuses. As the invaders increase in number they become more open and Bennell, who has by now witnessed an attempted 'replacement', realises that he and his friends must escape or suffer the same fate.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Director of Photography
Matthew Bennell notices that several of his friends are complaining that their close relatives are in some way different. When questioned later they themselves seem changed, as they deny everything or make lame excuses. As the invaders increase in number they become more open and Bennell, who has by now witnessed an attempted 'replacement', realises that he and his friends must escape or suffer the same fate.
American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince
Director of Photography
Martin Scorsese spends an evening with larger-than-life raconteur Steven Prince—a former drug addict, road manager for Neil Diamond, and actor—as he recounts stories from his colorful life.
The Last Waltz
Director of Photography
Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines footage from "The Band's" incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and other rock legends.
Fingers
Director of Photography
A wanna-be concert pianist spends his days making a living by collecting debts for his Mafioso father, a lifestyle that could eventually ruin his dreams of a musical career.
Shoot the Sun Down
Director of Photography
Couple of strangers arrive in a small town, each one after a different thing.
The Next Man
Director of Photography
Khalil is an Arab diplomat who wants to not only make peace with Israel, but admit the Jewish state as a member of OPEC. This instantly makes him a target for a series of ingeniously conceived assassination attempts, most of which he foils with the aid of his friend Hamid and his girlfriend Nicole. But can he trust even them?
The Front
Director of Photography
A cashier poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work through, but the injustice around him pushes him to take a stand.
Taxi Driver
Director of Photography
A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feed his urge for violent action.
Jaws
Camera Operator
When an insatiable great white shark terrorizes the townspeople of Amity Island, the police chief, an oceanographer and a grizzled shark hunter seek to destroy the blood-thirsty beast.
Death Be Not Proud
Director of Photography
Based on the book by famed author John Gunther about the life and early death of his teenage son Johnny, who died from a brain tumor.
The White Dawn
Director of Photography
In 1896, three survivors of a whaling ship-wreck in the Canadian Arctic are saved and adopted by an Eskimo tribe but frictions arise when the three start misbehaving.
The Last Detail
Taxi Driver
Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.
The Last Detail
Director of Photography
Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.
Up the Sandbox
Camera Operator
A young wife and mother, bored with day-to-day life in New York City and neglected by her husband, slips into increasingly outrageous fantasies: her mother breaking into the apartment, an explorer's demonstration of tribal fertility music at a party causing strange transformations, and joining terrorists to plant explosives in the Statue of Liberty.
Klute
Camera Operator
A high-priced call girl is forced to depend on a reluctant private eye when she is stalked by a psychopath.
The People Next Door
Camera Operator
A married couple struggle with the realities of their imperfect marriage as they fight to save and rehabilitate their teenage daughter from a life of drug addiction and ultimate committal to a mental ward.
The Landlord
Camera Operator
At the age of twenty-nine, Elgar Enders "runs away" from home. This running away consists of buying a building in a black ghetto in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Initially, his intention is to evict the black tenants and convert the building into a posh flat. But Elgar is not one to be bound by yesterday's urges, and soon he has other thoughts on his mind.
Loving
Camera Operator
Brooks Wilson is in crisis. He is torn between his wife Selma and two daughters and his mistress Grace, and also between his career as a successful illustrator and his feeling that he might still produce something worthwhile.
The Thanksgiving Visitor
Assistant Camera
Adaptation of Truman Capote's short story. A sequel, from the same filmmakers, to the critically acclaimed A Christmas Memory (1966).
Who Killed Teddy Bear?
Assistant Camera
A grim police detective embarks on a one-man crusade to track down a depraved sex maniac when a nightclub deejay receives a disturbing series of obscene phone calls. Finding himself getting far too close to the victim for comfort, the hard-boiled cop must track down the unbalanced pervert before he can carry out his sick threats...