M. David Mullen

M. David Mullen

Birth : 1962-06-26, Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan

History

M. David Mullen, A.S.C. (born Meritt David Mullen III; 26 June 1962) is a Japanese-born American cinematographer known for his photography on Twin Falls Idaho, Northfork, Akeelah and the Bee, The Astronaut Farmer, Jennifer's Body, and The Love Witch, and for numerous television series, including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for which he won an Emmy Award. He often collaborates with The Polish brothers. He studied cinematography at the California Institute of the Arts from 1988 to 1991. His mentor was Krzysztof Malkiewicz; he later collaborated with him on Cinematography (Third Edition), an essential guidebook for film production techniques. In spring 2004 he was accepted into the American Society of Cinematographers, one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon a cinematographer. He has been nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards for best cinematography, once in 2000 for Twin Falls Idaho, and once in 2004 for Northfork. In 2017, he was awarded Best Cinematography for The Love Witch by the Dublin Film Critics' Circle. Description above from the Wikipedia article M. David Mullen, licensed under CC BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Profile

M. David Mullen

Movies

The Love Witch
Director of Photography
A modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.
90 Minutes in Heaven
Director of Photography
A man involved in a horrific car crash is pronounced dead, only to come back to life an hour and a half later, claiming to have seen Heaven.
Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles
Director of Photography
In her first-ever HBO solo special, Sarah Silverman takes the stage for an evening of adults-only stand-up comedy. Taped live in front of an intimate audience of 39 fans at Largo, a music and comedy club in Los Angeles, Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles features Silverman taking aim at such subjects as cell-phone porn, crazy religions, specialty deodorants, terrible roommates, eyebrow waxing, her 19-year-old dog, Obama and Republicans, having babies, Pixar movies, the miracle of existence, and more.
Big Sur
Director of Photography
Big Sur is a film adaptation of the Jack Kerouac autobiographical novel of the same name.
Stay Cool
Director of Photography
The film centers on a successful author who is forced to confront an unrequited high school crush when he returns home to deliver a commencement address to graduating seniors. Shasta O'Neil, a sexy high school senior flirts with the visiting author and invites him to the prom.
Seven Days in Utopia
Director of Photography
Talent can only get you so far. For golfer Luke Chisholm, that turns out to be Utopia, Texas -- where he's left stranded after blowing his pro debut.
Jennifer's Body
Director of Photography
Jennifer, a gorgeous, seductive cheerleader takes evil to a whole new level after she's possessed by a sinister demon. Now it's up to her best friend to stop Jennifer's reign of terror before it's too late.
The Smell of Success
Director of Photography
When a tragic accident ends the life of Mr. Rose, the genius behind Rose's Manure Company, the livelihood of its loyal fleet of salesmen threatens to go, as they say, into the toilet. Enter estranged daughter Rosemary, a high-class- cosmetics salesgirl, who steps in to take control. She is not sure she has a nose for the family business, but she is determined to make foul into profit. Little does she know that a ruthless, slick-talking fertilizer rep is plotting a takeover. Whether she likes it or not, she must trust her top salesman, Patrick Fitzpatrick, to devise a plan to regain Rose's rightful position on top of the heap.
Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies
Director of Photography
This documentary traces the life and work of the legendary "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford, silent film star, movie pioneer and keen businesswoman. Pickford's life also parallels an even larger story, telling of the birth of the cinema itself.
Assassination of a High School President
Director of Photography
After the theft of copies of SAT exams from a principal's office, teenage reporter Bobby Funke sets out to unmask the thief. Bobby prints an article fingering Class President Paul Moore as the thief, shredding the youth's reputation. But as Bobby gets to know Paul's girlfriend, Francesca, he comes to realize he was wrong about Paul, so he sets out to unmask the true culprit.
Solstice
Director of Photography
While on a summer trip with her friends, Megan begins to feel the presence of Sophie, her twin sister who recently committed suicide.
The Astronaut Farmer
Director of Photography
Texan Charles Farmer left the Air Force as a young man to save the family ranch when his dad died. Like most American ranchers, he owes his bank. Unlike most, he's an astrophysicist with a rocket in his barn - one he's built and wants to take into space. It's his dream. The FBI puts him under surveillance when he tries to buy rocket fuel, and the FAA stalls him when he files a flight plan – but Charles is undeterred.
Cinematographer Style
Self
110 of the world's top cinematographers discuss the art of how and why films look the way they do.
Akeelah and the Bee
Director of Photography
Akeelah is a precocious 11-year-old girl from south Los Angeles with a gift for words. Despite her mother's objections, Akeelah enters various spelling contests, for which she is tutored by the forthright Dr. Larabee, her principal Mr. Welch, and the proud residents of her neighborhood. Akeelah's aptitude earns her an opportunity to compete for a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
When Do We Eat?
Director of Photography
An old school dad is as tough on his sons as his father is on him. On this night, however, one of the boys slips dad a dose of special, hallucinogenic ecstasy in order "to give him a new perspective."
The Quiet
Director of Photography
After her widowed father dies, deaf teenager Dot moves in with her godparents, Olivia and Paul Deer. The Deers' daughter, Nina, is openly hostile to Dot, but that does not prevent her from telling her secrets to her silent stepsister, including the fact that she wants to kill her lecherous father.
Shadowboxer
Director of Photography
Mikey and Rose are professional assassins. They are also lovers, and once upon a time Rose also knew Mikey's father. During an elaborate hit job for a malicious gangster, Rose fails to kill the main target, the gangster's pregnant girlfriend. Instead, she delivers her baby and convinces Mikey to help her protect them both. As Rose weakens from cancer, Mikey becomes breadwinner for this unusual family. But tranquility will not last.
D.E.B.S.
Director of Photography
The star of a team of teenage crime fighters falls for the alluring villainess she must bring to justice.
Bare Knuckle Filming: The Construction Of Northfork
Making of documentary
Northfork
Director of Photography
The year is 1955, and a great flood is coming to Northfork, Montana. A new hydroelectric dam is about to be installed in the mountains above the town, ready to submerge the valley in the name of progress. It is the charge of a six-man Evacuation Committee to relocate the townsfolk to higher ground. Most have duly departed, but a few stubborn stragglers remain – among them a priest caring for a sickly orphan, a boy whose fevered visions are leading him to believe he is a member of a roaming band of lost angels desperately searching for a way home.
Infested
Cinematography
Horror tale of insects which eat their victims from the inside out.
New Suit
Director of Photography
A once-idealistic writer inadvertently ignites a feeding frenzy in Hollywood with the mention of a mysterious new screenplay and its illusive author.
The Hypnotist
Cinematography
A weird German doctor uses hypnotism, seduction, and criminality to get the better of a trio of spoiled wealthy siblings, in a tribute to old Hollywood Technicolor melodramas.
The Tomorrow Man
Director of Photography
Larry Mackey is a blue-collar dad in the 1970's, determined to make a better future for his young son. A future that's coming a lot faster than he thinks... When a depraved gang of time travelers from 2000 cross Larry's path, he's accidentally forwarded, where he discovers he's the reason his grown son has become a gangland murderer. Now he must make every minute count in his second chance of a lifetime to set things right
Jackpot
Director of Photography
Sunny Holiday, a middle-aged country singer with dreams of stardom, walks out on his wife and child and hits the road with his manager in a desperate search for fame and fortune... and to get far away from the past he's left behind.
Teacher's Pet
Director of Photography
Psychopath Debbie Strand escapes from a mental institution for the criminally insane and takes the identity of a co-ed she meets and sets herself up on a college campus where she once again begins killing students who get in the way of her obsession with her former high school teacher Sam Deckner now teaching at the college.
The Perfect Tenant
Director of Photography
Twenty years ago Danny Summer found his father hanging from the rafters on Christmas Eve. Ever since that night he has been plotting revenge. When Brian Hartwell moves into Jessica Michael's guesthouse, she has no idea that her new tenant has a deadly agenda to go with his new identity. Her daughter Laura doesn't trust him from the beginning but can't convince her mother that there's more to "The Perfect Tenant" than meets the eye.
Ritual
Director of Photography
A young man drops out of college to fix his family when he senses something is terribly wrong at home.
Alone with a Stranger
Director of Photography
Max never had the good things in life. A life of crime was his only legacy. So when he discovers an unknown brother, to whom fortune has granted all that is missing in Max's life, he decides to do anything to get what should have been his theft, kidnapping, murder, anything! Now all Max wants is his brother's money, his power and especially his beautiful wife!
The Clean and Narrow
Cinematography
An ex-convict tries to make an honest living and take care of his girlfriend and her mentally slow brother.
Twin Falls Idaho
Director of Photography
Francis and Blake Falls are Siamese twins who live in a neat little room in a rundown hotel. While sharing some organs, Blake is always fit and Francis is very sickly. Into their world comes a young lady, who turns their world upside down. She gets involved with Blake, and convinces the two to attend a Halloween party, where they can pass themselves off as wearing a costume. Eventually Francis becomes really ill, and they have to be separated. They then face the physical and mental strains that come from their proposed separation.
The Last Big Thing
Director of Photography
From a bland tract house on the outskirts of Los Angeles, Simon Geist (with occasional help from his platonic girlfriend Darla) wages war against all of modern American popular culture. Geist starts up a magazine called "The Next Big Thing", which he uses to confront and insult upcoming actors, comics, models and rock bands. As Geist's mysterious Underground Agenda escalates, will he become the "last big thing", or be co-opted by the very forces he is railing against? Written by Van Film Fest
The Night Caller
Director of Photography
For 11 years, Beth's life is limited to working nights in a convenience store while her daytime hours are spent caring for her bed-ridden, bitter and abusive mother. All that keeps her going is a voice on the radio of a psychologist, Dr Roland. Her obsession grows to the point where nothing, not even murder, will stop her from getting to the woman she desires!
Man of Her Dreams
Director of Photography
After suspecting her husband is playing the field, a nervous woman finds a sympathetic ear in the form of a strange man. The drawback is that her sensitive new-found friend is an obsessive psychopath.
Cupid
Director of Photography
A brother and sister with a past incestuous relationship have a current murderous relationship. He murders the women who reject him and she murders the women who get too close to him.
Daddy's Girl
Director of Photography
A girl's bright smile masks a psychopathic soul that will eliminate anyone who comes between her and her doting father.
Dead Cold
Director of Photography
When a carjacking leaves L.A. screenwriter Eric recovering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, wife Alicia nurses him back to health. Four months later, the two depart for a second honeymoon in an idyllic setting in the mountains. They are snuggly ensconced in front of a crackling fire when Cale, a hunter who's ostensibly lost his sense of direction in the snow storm and nearly frozen to death, appears at their cabin door.
Lipstick Camera
Director of Photography
Ambitious young woman wants to get into TV news. She borrows a small camera from a friend and obtains incriminating pictures that two former East German spies are after.