Edu Grau
"Even as a kid, I was intensely passionate about the things I liked. I loved long distance running and must have won just about every medal between 5 and 16 years old at school. I think being so passionate about something at such an early age, is probably what has helped me with my self confidence as a DP in some ways. I remember when I was 12 years old and being bullied at school, I imagine those times I wasn’t as confident, but I still was happy with who I was and not changed much, just changed friends!. I think it is this sort of self belief that is so important, and ultimately helps you get through life. All of these experiences have made into the person I am today. I am who I am, and I have never tried to be someone I am not."
"To be honest, it is very weird as to how I even came to be a cinematographer. I never really had any sort of curiosity for creative things as a kid. I never had a stills camera or was very good at drawing, so it is hard to know exactly what it was that took me in this direction. I guess like most things, it was the many small things that bought me to my love of filmmaking."
"I do remember when I was 11 years old, I had a fine arts teacher at our school who was also an artist. Until this time, I was always one of the kids that got bad marks for drawing. I was clumpsy and a bit chaotic. Then one day, to my surprise, I got the highest mark! My teacher said to me, that I was perhaps not great at putting things together technically, but I had very good ideas. And ideas, he said, are the most important thing of life."
"After this, I was not afraid of growing my artistic side. Then when I was 13 years old, my best friend and I decided that we would both become filmmakers when were older. Well, my friend is now a philosopher, and I am a cinematographer! Life, I imagine."
"All I remember from this time, was dreaming of being a filmmaker. I never really thought for a minute, that I would not be doing movies. It is pretty crazy, because there must be thousands of kids who all had the same dream when they were 13 years old, that never get to be part of this incredible industry. It has been an amazing journey for me, and still sometimes, when I see my name on the clapperboard, I am grateful to be doing films. I wonder how I came to be so lucky."
"I come from a family where both sets of grandparents had good businesses, so my family is full of business people. When I first told them I was going to be in filmmaking, there was a bit of a weird reaction. But soon they discover that I was so happy and passionate about what I was doing that it was impossible to stop me. Everyone fantasizes of having a dream job, but very few people find it. They saw that I was on the path to find it, cause if we do our job with passion happiness is very close, no matter the money."
"In fact, I am the only person among all of my parent’s friends and their children, who is not working in a full time job. My dad has always let us fly free and allowed my sisters and I to find what we are truly good at. Who would stop their kid from doing the thing that they love the most?"
"When I first went to study at film school at the University of Barcelona, I certainly wasn’t the most talented creative person. But I did work incredibly hard and I have always had a very passionate attitude towards my work; which I think really counts a lot towards your personal successes. Studying at the ESCAC at Barcelona was a truly amazing experience, as it has to be one of the best film schools in the world."
"My teacher at the time was Juan Antonio Bayona, who was the director on ‘The Orphanage’, ‘The Impossible’ and is currently working on the sequel to ‘World War Z’. He was only 26 years old, and was so talented and creative, with a great attitude towards filmmaking."
"The program at ESCAC included two years general film studies and a further two years where I could specifically study cinematography. I was very lucky to be at film school at this time. For some reason, the director of the film school changed the admissions, allowing kids as young as 17-18 years old to come into the program. So here was a bunch of really creative young people now learning from some of the most talented teachers. It just so happened that my generation at this film school turned out to be the most creative generation they’ve ever had, since the film school’s inception."
"After I finished film school in Spain, I met this totally crazy guy wanting to shoot his first feature film on Mini DV! He came from the same village as my mother and grandmother, and they are totally nuts too - but all in a good way!"
"Albert Sierra wanted to do a movie along the lines of Cervante’s Don Quixote story, called ‘Honor De Cavalleria’. I had nothing better to do, so I jumped on it. Well that film went on to be premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and won at the Barcelona, Torino and Viennale film festivals!"
"I learnt something very important from that experience. I discovered more about the art of filmmaking working on ‘Honor de Cavalleria,’ than I had done in four years of film school. I learnt that filmmaking is a wonderful mystery and it has a magic that can’t be taught in the classroom. What it showed me was that a film’s soul, is so much more important than the technicalities."
"After the success of ‘Honor de Cavalleria’, I decided to go to the NFTS film school in London. It was far more formal and less creative than my film school experience in Spain. I struggled their because of my english, and the old-fashioned understanding of teaching. It was a very different culture where the teachers were much older, telling you how things were done in 1985!"
"My first Hollywood feature film came on Tom Ford’s first movie, ‘A Single Man’. How I came to be the DP on this film is actually crazy. I had just finished film school and was selected to go to the Edinburgh Film Festival to screen one of my projects. After seeing five films in a single day, I decided to go onto one of the surprise screenings at midnight. I figured if I didn’t like the film I would just leave."
"While I was standing in the line to get into the screening, I got talking to a producer from New York. We ended up sitting together and soon after became good friends. No sex involved. A year later, I was offered a good Spanish film project, which was a huge break for me. However, I didn’t feel it was a good fit for me, so I finally decided to turn the project down."
"Amidst all of that, I decided to take a holiday and go off to New York for the first time. While I was there, I dropped by for a coffee with my producer friend Chiemi Karasawa from Edinburgh. And, she offered to take a look at my reel."
"At this time, Tom Ford the famous American fashion designer had decided to make the film, ‘A Single Man’ based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood. Four days after I had coffee with my friend, she gets a phone call from Tom Ford’s producer looking for a fresh new DP. I understand that Tom had seen a lot of reels, but couldn’t find what he was wanting. They wanted someone who was European, was young, creative and fast, and could start immediately."
"Chiemi sugested her friends Lubezki and Savides and then she mentioned that they should take a look at mine as well. Tom told me later, that my reel arrived one lunchtime on his desk when he was pretty bored, so he took a look at it. He said, that when he saw my work it gave him shivers. But I will never know if it was true"
"When he told them that I was the guy he wanted, no one really knew anything about me; about my career, or even if I spoke English. Tom said he didn’t care, that he just wanted me to shoot his film! The whole story of how I came to get this break, sounds like a movie in itself. Things like this never happen."
"I was only 27 years old at the time, so it was pretty much a miracle that I should be offered a movie this good, so early in my career. I had never shot a feature movie on film before, let alone a period piece like ‘A Single Man’. I wasn’t even a member of the union or had a work visa, so there were a lot of things that had to happen in a short period of time to get me onset. But it all came together in the end, in the most amazing way."
"My next big feature was ‘Buried’ directed by Rodrigo Cortés, starring Ryan Reynolds buried alive in a coffin. I thought how many movies will ever be shot in a coffin? That was one of the main reasons why I was so interested in shooting ‘Buried’with Rodrigo Cortés. It was just such a brave film to do. I am still very proud of ‘Buried’ because it is something that you are not used to seeing."
"When I started shooting this film, everyone said I was crazy for doing it. They kept saying ‘How was I going to shoot something inside a coffin and still make it look interesting, because no one will go and see it’. Cut to ten months after shooting and the film was sold all around the world. People still today, make comments about the film, because it is such a unique experience to watch."
"Over the last few years, I have worked with some truly talented people on some wonderful feature films. For instance, working on Nick Murphy’s film ‘The Awakening’ with Rebecca Hall and Dominic West. I also shot the famous music video, ‘Born This Way’ for Lady Gaga. More recently, I was the DP on ‘A Single Shot’ with Sam Rockwell and ‘Suffragette’ with Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep. I have also shot Joel Egerton’s latest film, ‘The Gift’ with Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall."
"I love movies - all sorts of movies. I don’t care if they are dramas, scifi or horror, I just love movies in general. I like the variation in genres and styles. I don’t want people to see me on my movies, I want people to see my movies and enjoy them for how they look and how they are told. What I am always looking for is a movie that means something to me, that will bring out my passion. Becoming a filmmaker for me, I think is still a miracle at the end of the day. But it is a miracle that luckily I get to enjoy everyday!"