Some very sad news in the world of cinema. Cinematographer Dick Pope, whose decade-spanning collaboration with Mike Leigh produced an incalculable amount of great films, has passed away at 77.
In total, Pope lensed eleven of Leigh’s films, including “Naked,” “Secrets & Lies,” “Life is Sweet,” and “Another Year.” Film comment once described the Pope/Leigh partnership as “one of modern cinema’s most ingenious and multifaceted director-cinematographer pairs.”
Pope’s approach to cinematography was never showy, and incredibly subtle in its refusal to adhere to more modern styles of lighting. His mixture of realism, influenced by his early documentary days, heightened visual moments with naturalistic lighting to convey Leigh’s bleak Kitchen Sink brand of cinema.
Pope’s last screen credit is set be Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” which is set to be released in December. Leigh had recently confessed that Pope underwent “major heart surgery” before filming began on “Hard Truths,” and that it was a near miracle that he even ended up working on the film.