Observer Life Magazine
High Life
Book Description
The absence of any recent serious rivals to Williams’ film–set documentary work supports the notion that it takes a fearless, cunning
and dedicated individual
to manoeuvre round the obstacles of forbidding publicists, closed sets, irate cameramen and uncompliant lighting. "As a photographer and film enthusiast, I wanted to revive the genre of the Life Magazine set reports of the 1950s and 60s," says Williams. "For a variety of reasons, the past 30 years have seen photographic access to the film industry severely restricted, limited mainly to portrait shots. I wanted to re-establish reportage as a respected form of film photography."
Planned as an editorial project exploring the film-making process in its entirety, On Set grew into a three-years-in-the-making report on British cinema as it once again blossomed with movies like The Talented Mr Ripley, Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Elizabeth. Gaining uprecedented access to sets, Williams was able to frame stars, directors and crew in their element and tell a complete, naturalistic story.
Starting with Terry Gilliam’s hands at the storyboarding stage and ending with Hugh Grant lip–syncing in post-production, On Set’s fascinating insider’s tale captures the leading lights of British and American film as they’re rarely seen: Jude Law practices his dance moves; Matt Damon prepares for his close up; Renee Zellweger relaxes between takes. Supported by pertinent observations from directors and actors, On Set moves from Brad Pitt to Peter O’Toole, from Cate Blanchett to Julie Andrews, evoking what Parker descibes as ‘the whole deranged process’ with the assiduity of a painter.
