Special Report: Stephen Murphy on The Gentlemen
Shownotes
A kid who built models and sculpted monsters now lights one of Netflix's slickest crime series. Cinematographer Stephen Murphy BSC, ISC joins Mike White from Morocco, two days into shooting season three of The Gentlemen, to trace the road from a Marvel UK magazine about Star Wars (1977) to the director of photography chair.
Murphy came up through a makeup course, a stint on the miniatures crew of Stuart Gordon's Space Truckers (1996) and a first black-and-white photography class that changed his plans. He worked his way up the old-school camera ladder, and he explains why a practical-effects mindset still shapes how he solves problems on set.
Then the work. He describes shooting episodes 3, 4, 5 and 8 of The Gentlemen in blocks with director Eran Creevy, fifteen days an episode, bonded over a shared love of Tony Scott. He recalls a week taking over for Robbie Ryan on Yorgos Lanthimos's The Favourite (2018), and the tricky line between rom-com and slasher on Heart Eyes (2025) with Josh Ruben. Mike also brings up Primate (2026) and Vera.
How does a cinematographer get a director to say what a movie should look like? Murphy's answer starts with listening.
Visit Stephen Murphy's website, stephen-murphy.com, to see his work.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth--5513239/support.
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth
The Projection Booth is part of the Weirding Way Media podcast network. Explore more of our shows at http://weirdingwaymedia.com.
Murphy came up through a makeup course, a stint on the miniatures crew of Stuart Gordon's Space Truckers (1996) and a first black-and-white photography class that changed his plans. He worked his way up the old-school camera ladder, and he explains why a practical-effects mindset still shapes how he solves problems on set.
Then the work. He describes shooting episodes 3, 4, 5 and 8 of The Gentlemen in blocks with director Eran Creevy, fifteen days an episode, bonded over a shared love of Tony Scott. He recalls a week taking over for Robbie Ryan on Yorgos Lanthimos's The Favourite (2018), and the tricky line between rom-com and slasher on Heart Eyes (2025) with Josh Ruben. Mike also brings up Primate (2026) and Vera.
How does a cinematographer get a director to say what a movie should look like? Murphy's answer starts with listening.
Visit Stephen Murphy's website, stephen-murphy.com, to see his work.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-projection-booth--5513239/support.
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth at http://www.patreon.com/projectionbooth
The Projection Booth is part of the Weirding Way Media podcast network. Explore more of our shows at http://weirdingwaymedia.com.