Wally Pfister

He subsequently has directed commercials and television, including episodes of Flaked and The Tick.

• Birth Name — Walter C. Pfister • Born — 8 July 1961 • Birthplace — Chicago, Illinois, U.S. • Education — AFI Conservatory • Years Active — 1988–2012 (cinematography) 2014–present (director) • Organization — American Society of Cinematographers British Society of Cinematographers • Children — 3, including Claire Julien

Pfister was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in the New York City suburb of Irvington-on-Hudson. He is the son of Patricia Ann (née Conway) and Walter J. Pfister Jr. His grandfather was the city editor of a newspaper in Wisconsin. His father, also known as Wally, was a TV news producer, who began his career with CBS-TV in Chicago in 1955. Later, as an executive at ABC News, the elder Pfister worked with David Brinkley and Peter Jennings, covering political conventions, space flights and the civil rights movement. When Pfister was about 11, a film company shot scenes for Shamus (1973), featuring Burt Reynolds, in his Irvington neighborhood. The boy was fascinated by the crew setting up lights and cameras. Soon afterward, he began shooting 8 mm home movies and short films. Pfister also emulated his father by shooting slides on Kodachrome film and assembling them into shows for family and friends.

After high school, Pfister found a job as a production assistant at a television station, WMDT-TV, in Salisbury, Maryland. Within a couple of months, he borrowed a CP-16 news camera and began shooting films on weekends, including a visual essay about a Victorian house. "I did these slow, little intricate moves around the architecture of the house", he recalls, "cut it together with music, and showed it to the production manager. They made me a cameraman. I shot very low budget PSAs for $125 a week". Within a few months, Pfister found a job as a cameraman for a Washington news service, which provided film for TV stations around the country. He covered the United States Congress, the White House and breaking news from 1982 through 1985. In 1985 Pfister began a freelance career shooting documentaries for the PBS series Frontline and industrial videos for various Washington production companies. In 1988, Robert Altman came to Washington to direct a mini-series for HBO called Tanner '88 (1988). Altman was looking for a real news cameraman to play that role in his show. They hired Pfister and asked him to also shoot some B-roll. When the producers saw his work, they brought Pfister on the show as the second unit cameraman. It was the first time he was exposed to acting and dramatic material. After that experience, Pfister enrolled at the American Film Institute. During his second year, he collaborated with his classmates on a short film called "Senzeni Na?", which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1991. The film told the story of a man caught up in the apartheid struggle. Pfister drew on his documentary experience, and lit it darkly and stark, using a single light so the actor could play in and out of that source. Janusz Kamiński had just graduated from the AFI Conservatory and met Pfister that year. He saw Pfister's film and recruited him as a grip and electrician for various projects, including a few with Phedon Papamichael. Roger Corman gave Pfister an opportunity to shoot pickup shots and inserts for a Papamichael film. It was the first time he shot a 35 mm film. After that, Pfister handled the second unit for Papamichael on Body Chemistry and also on other Corman films. Pfister shot The Unborn, his first feature, in 1991. After that, he filmed an array of independent B-movies, typically on 15-day schedules. Many of these early films were directed by Gregory Dark. In 1995, Papamichael asked Pfister to operate for him on Diane Keaton's Unstrung Heroes (1995).

In 1998, Pfister shot The Hi-Line in Montana in the dead of winter on a $300,000 budget, which got into the competition at Sundance Film Festival. There, he met Nolan, who had a film at the same festival. Pfister's first collaboration with Nolan was on the neo-noir thriller Memento (2000), and after that, he became Nolan's regular cinematographer of his subsequent films. From seven movies directed by Nolan, Pfister received four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, winning one for his work on Inception in 2011. Pfister has stated that he "turned down many projects (including several Harry Potter films), in some cases just to be available for Nolan, or to stay home with my family." Their collaboration came to an end in 2012, with The Dark Knight Rises, as he got the chance to direct his first film, Transcendence. Hoyte van Hoytema then replaced Pfister for Nolan's Interstellar, and after Pfister retired as a cinematographer, Van Hoytema became Nolan's regular, having worked together ever since.

In 2014, Pfister made his directorial debut with the science fiction thriller Transcendence, with Nolan acting as executive producer. Despite receiving negative reviews and bombing at the box-office, Pfister had stated in 2015 that he is finished with working as a cinematographer and planned to continue as a director. Ever since, Pfister had worked mostly in commercials and television series, like Flaked and The Tick.

Pfister currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his partner Loan Chabanol and has three children: Nick, actress Claire Julien, and Mia. He is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) since 2002, and the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) since 2011.

Direct-to-video • Year — Title — Director • 1991 — Lower Level — Kristine Peterson • 1992 — Secret Games — Gregory Dark • Animal Instincts • 1993 — Stepmonster — Jeremy Stanford • Amityville: A New Generation — John Murlowski • Mirror Images 2 — Gregory Dark • 1994 — Stranger by Night • 1995 — The Granny — Luca Bercovici • 1997 — A Kid in Aladdin's Palace — Robert L. Levy Feature film • Year — Title — Director • 1991 — The Unborn — Rodman Flender • 1992 — In the Heat of Passion • Night Rhythms — Gregory Dark • 1994 — Object of Obsession • Secret Games 3 • 1999 — The Hi-Line — Ron Judkins • 2000 — Memento — Christopher Nolan • 2001 — Scotland, PA — Billy Morrissette • Rustin — Rick Johnson • 2002 — Insomnia — Christopher Nolan • Laurel Canyon — Lisa Cholodenko • 2003 — The Italian Job — F. Gary Gray • 2005 — Slow Burn — Wayne Beach • Batman Begins — Christopher Nolan • 2006 — The Prestige • 2008 — The Dark Knight • 2010 — Inception • 2011 — Moneyball — Bennett Miller • 2012 — The Dark Knight Rises — Christopher Nolan TV movies • Year — Title — Director — Notes • 1991 — Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire — Richard Schickel — Documentary film • 1992 — Sketch Artist — Phedon Papamichael • 1998 — Rhapsody in Bloom — Craig Saavedra • Breakfast with Einstein — Craig Shapiro • 2000 — Sharing the Secret — Katt Shea • 2001 — Sanctuary

Film • Transcendence (2014) Television • Year — Title — Notes • 2016 — Flaked — 4 episodes • 2016–2017 — The Tick — 2 episodes (Also executive producer) Commercials • Year — Title — Brand • 2016 — That's Continental — Lincoln • 2018 — Web of Fries II - Franchise Wars — Taco Bell • 2019 — Hope on Wheels It Takes a Village — Hyundai • 2021 — Fortune Favors The Brave — Crypto.com