For award-winning cinematographer Aaron McLisky ACS, and for Academy Award winning director, co-writer and leading actor Russell Crowe, shooting the psychological thriller Poker Face came down to two things: achieving a modern look that maintained a painterly quality as well as choosing the right aspect ratio that captured the ensemble cast in a single frame, so they went with Cooke Optics Anamorphic FF, according to McLisky.

Aaron had come to the project late in its development as director Russell had also just come on board and was in the process of amending the screenplay. The original director had family health issues, so had to leave the project. From the moment of agreeing to lead the project, Russell himself was only given five short weeks before cameras would roll. Originally set in Miami, Russell was working to reimagine the story in his home town Sydney, Australia. After a brief chat with Russell, McLisky began working on a look book to reimagine the film with Russell’s vision in mind. Russell referenced a lot of historical Australian painters such as the atmosphere of Clarice Beckett to the modern abstraction of Ben Quilty.

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