Whether it’s celebrity portraits or posters for blockbuster movies and TV series, Timothy White and the Hollywood studios go way back—almost as far back as he and Harrison Ford, whom Timothy has been photographing for just shy of three decades. His most recent studio commission: the poster and portraits for Paramount Pictures’ Morning Glory, a fizzy comedy about a young television producer played by Rachel McAdams who tries to breathe new life into a morning show (hosted by Ford and Diane Keaton) that has seen better days.
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The poster for the movie "Morning Glory," featuring a photo of Rachel McAdams shot by Timothy White.
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I called Timothy to ask him about the photos, as well as his portraits of Ford and Keaton for a recent cover story in USA Weekend. Here, he talks about how he prepares for a movie-poster shoot, meeting Diane Keaton for the first time, McAdams’ clear and present starpower, and how a cover shoot with two longtime celebrities can actually be a whole lot of fun—in fact, Timothy sent me some terrific outtakes from his USA Weekend shoot that express the merry chemistry among him and his subjects.
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“For Morning Glory, I went to Harlem, where they were shooting it, and did some amazing work on the set. And then we did a separate shoot with Rachel. I believe the shot of her with the cup, which they used for the poster, came from that.
Movie sets can be very political—everyone’s been working together for months, and there are certain dynamics that determine who can do what, so it can be difficult for anyone to just come on set for a day and be accepted. But I’ve photographed Harrison for so many years, and when I got to the set, he came out and hugged me. And that set the tone.
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An outtake from Timothy's USA Weekend cover shoot with Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford. "The cover story is about getting older, and they kept making jokes about being old-timers," recalls Timothy, "but they were enjoying it in such a fun, sexy way."
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With movie posters, the studio or ad agency gives me comps ahead of time, but more often than not it’s really just for inspiration. They realize that when you’re on a movie set trying to shoot images for a campaign, you have no idea what circumstances you’re going to be up against. In this case, the director was shooting elsewhere the day I was there, so we were able to shoot right on the newsroom set and to move some of their stuff around and set up a seamless.
How do I prepare for a shoot like this? I read the script. I always do. I feel it’s important that I do my homework. Also, it helps me to interpret the comps. I rarely see dailies, but I sometimes see stills, and that helps give me a sense of what the characters look like. But most often, I only have the script.
When I read Morning Glory, I thought: This is Rachel’s movie, and it’s a lot to pull off. She’s so young! But that was before I met her. When I got to the set, I thought: Oh, I get it. There’s something going on here. This isn’t about being nice to look at or wanting to be a movie star. She’s an actress for sure. And she’s so unassuming—just the nicest person you could imagine. I love photographing young actors who you get that feeling about…
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Rachel McAdams. Photo by Timothy White.
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What’s Diane Keaton like? She’s Annie Hall! [laughs] You know, she’s quirky, and at the same time her intelligence comes through. You can see right away what a dynamic person she is. And she loves photography, so that was something we immediately talked about. I knew she had edited a book on historical photographs of New York. [In fact, Keaton told O, The Oprah Magazine that Diane Arbus’ Untitled and Keith Carter’s Photographs, Twenty-Five Years are among Keaton’s favorite books.] So I mentioned that I had just acquired a collection of old New York City homicide photorgaphs, and we talked about that. Talking about photography with her was really important to me—I wanted to connect with her that way.
Many months later, USA Weekend decided to do a cover story with Harrison and Diane about getting older, and they both requested me for the portrait.
We shot it in a studio in L.A. I had just come back from New Mexico, where I was shooting for Harrison for the movie Cowboys and Aliens, which is coming out next summer, and I was really happy with how things went. I felt like it was some of the best work I’ve shot in a while. So I brought a bunch of big prints to L.A. to show Harrison, and he flipped for them. And that’s unusual for him. I knew he really liked them because he was showing them to everybody who walked into the studio. Diane had stopped by his dressing room to talk with him, and she came out saying, “Oh, my God, those prints!” It was really nice to hear, especially from someone I respect so much.
And then we did the shoot, and we had such a good time—and it shows in the photos. Every photograph shows the chemistry between the two of them and with me. I haven’t had a shoot like that in a long time. The cover story is about getting older, and they kept making jokes about being old-timers, but they were enjoying it in such a fun, sexy way. It was great.”
Thanks, Timothy!
Here are a few more outtakes from his USA Weekend shoot…
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Photo courtesy Timothy White.
Photo courtesy Timothy White.
Photo courtesy Timothy White.
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