The Way I See It: Janusz Kaminski

Janusz Kaminski, 52, is a Polish-born director and cinematographer who has shot all of Steven Spielberg’s films since Schindler’s List, for which he won the first of two Oscars in 1994. His advertising reel includes campaigns for Reebok, Mazda, General Electric and Minolta. Kaminski talks to Diana Goodman

I live in Venice Beach, California and have two amazing six-year-old twins – a girl and a boy.

I would describe myself as a man who is passionately involved with his work. And who is shaped by his vocation to be forever on the set of a movie and is devoted to his family.

When I look in the mirror I see that I am losing a bit of weight, which is good.

Growing up in Poland was a wonderful experience. It was a great protective environment that did not damage me materialistically… A childhood that emphasised a wealth of intellect not the wealth of possessions.

No, I don’t think it’s ironic that I am now working in advertising. There’s a misconception that advertising is about materialism. Smart advertisers introduce consumers to better products and give people the choice to buy them. No one’s forcing them to do it. Any product I choose to advertise has good quality behind it.

My father was a vice-president of a large Polish corporation and an engineer. He raised me on his own from the time I was six. My grandmother, who was great, was there too and she became my mother. I have lots of very sweet and warm memories of her. They had both passed away by the time I was 17.

My father was a child of WWII and was separated from his own mother at the age of seven. His mother, my grandmother, was fighting Nazis. She came back after the war when he was 12. Naturally, that experience created a very damaged individual; my father coped with the consequences his whole life. He was a good man damaged by circumstances.

My mother was a younger woman and my parents divorced. She lived in the same city, but didn’t play any valuable part in my life.

Now I’m planning to divorce after seven years, with my kids at the same age I was when my parents split up. The thing is that raising a child – in my case twins – is very hard on a couple. People just get disillusioned with the whole idea of a relationship and get tempted by other things in life. You travel and make movies, and she’s stuck with the kids.

Part of the divorce is that it’s made me aware I need to be a better father. Due to that inability to live life outside of a movie set, I was becoming a bit like my father was to me; I never had a good role model.

My view of marriage is, don’t get attached to it.

I believe that what children need most is time.

My first memory is of watching television at the age of six – a black and white screen – and being fascinated by it.

As a teenager I was a nightmare. I was very rebellious because I was missing the normalcy of regular family life. It was still very unusual during that time to be raised just by one parent, and that created many conflicts between me and my father.

We never really made up. It’s just the nature of life. You don’t think about that when you are 17 years old. [But] my main inspiration in my life has been my father. He introduced me to culture.

I left Poland in 1980 as a political refugee. I was part of a semi-professional business trip that incorporated young filmmakers, so I was allowed to get a passport and I went to Vienna and asked for political asylum. The [Solidarity-led] strikes had already begun in Poland, so it was relatively easy to get political refugee status.

I knew then that I wanted to get into filmmaking, but that was not my primary reason for leaving Poland. I wanted to come to America to make a dignified and moral life. I was young, so I didn’t have much to lose.

When I arrived in America I met a waiter who sounded like Louis Armstrong. “Welcome to America,” were his words and the sound of his voice was so welcoming. And every day after, I felt that welcoming feeling. People have been good to me.

I was incredibly fortunate, as I was accepted into a good school [Columbia College, Chicago].

For me, school was a time to experiment and learn, share thoughts, make mistakes. I worked hard, ate, starved and loved every minute. There is something about having energy around that inspires you. I wasn’t an outsider, as everyone around me was there for the same reasons I was, to do and create. I picked up the camera and began to shoot… Things made sense.

It was extremely difficult to adapt to life in the US and I am still learning every day. My comprehension of English is now superior compared to how it was then, but still it was difficult growing up in a different system with a different ideology and coming to a country of very confused identities.

Here 55 per cent of people don’t believe in the theory of evolution. In Poland, 98 per cent of the population were Catholic, but they knew about Darwinism and where we came from.

Also, Americans are very proud of being American, whereas we were not proud to be Polish; we had a lot of feelings of inferiority. We could travel and make money to buy things, but we were living in a prison – not intellectually necessarily, but culturally and ideologically, so that was traumatic.

My partnership with Steven Spielberg began by Steven watching a television film directed by Diane Keaton called Wildflower that I shot. He called me because he liked my work. I then shot Schindler’s List for him.

That film has a specific meaning to me as a person. I left Poland as a young man, went through a journey of being an immigrant, and made a movie that changed people’s perception of what it means to discover humanity (the story of Oscar Schindler).

I think the relationship between a director and a cinematographer is both mutual respect and adoration. We have to be friends, but should like and respect each other. Steven Spielberg and I have the mutual luck to have a longstanding relationship.

I have just finished directing a small film called Labor of Love, all shot in Los Angeles. It is actually my third film, as I did a small film in Poland (in the Polish language) two years ago.

It’s true that my film Lost Souls received some poor reviews, but I had a great time making the movie. The actors, the characters… I am proud of what I did. We can always look back, but I think it’s better to look ahead and learn more.

I would like to think I don’t have a singular style. The visual ‘language’ has to bring life to the story and its characters. It’s not enough to simply create a beautiful image or an exciting sequence; instead, we have to feel the characters’ struggles and triumphs. No film should feel exactly the same. For example, Saving Private Ryan isn’t the same experience or visual language as The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Schindler’s List isn’t the same as War Horse. 

A moving image allows you to create sequences of ‘life’. What amazes me is the way in which these images can connect so deeply on so many levels. It’s not just the huge cinematic moments; actually, sometimes it’s the small, intimate beads that touch us. With my eye on the lens, I am always searching for these moments that get you closer.

When I presented an award at the Oscars [for cinematography] it was great fun to be on the stage and see the faces in the audience that I knew. It made me feel like I am truly a part of this wonderful, artistic community called Hollywood.

I love going to the movies and I am always inspired by what others bring to the art form.

The greatest problems on a film set are created by the weather – when it’s raining and it’s supposed to be sunny and then you have to switch gears. On War Horse the weather changed constantly; there’d be rain and then sun and then rain again, with beautiful clouds and the sun going across. It looked good, but the dilemma was how to match the weather from scene to scene – it was a bit of a nightmare.

The first advertisements to make an impression on me were some of the ads that Joe Sedelmaier did. Everything he did was fantastic – full of comedy and amazing casting, always with a little bit of caricature. I loved his work; he was an amazing director.

I shoot commercials because they are small films. The best thing about advertising is that it makes you aware of new things in the world. I like the process, the immediacy, the artistic collaboration… And the people are great.

There should not be any stigma attached to working in advertising. Anybody who thinks there is a stigma, or that commercial filmmakers are somehow less than feature filmmakers, they are morons. I feel very fortunate to be able to move between the mediums – they are both amazingly creative and extremely stimulating, and I cherish and respect both worlds.

Moviemaking can become very surreal and crazy and it’s the same with commercials. The movie world is not more difficult, but it’s more stressful because you’re dealing with problems for longer. In commercials, it’s a short window – one or two days – and no matter how bad or difficult it is, it will be over. I would say that when you’re working in commercials you are a sprinter and in movies you are running five kilometres every day.

I would never work on a product that has to do with prejudice against any individual or beliefs. I’m also not too crazy about medical things; I wouldn’t work on any drugs because so many are driven by advertisers who just want to make millions. And I wouldn’t go and do a toilet paper commercial unless it had Bush’s face on it.

I have never been tempted to return to Poland  It’s a developing country in the very early stages of capitalism. Generally speaking, it’s a country where people who had a hard life and were damaged by years and years of communism are trying to awaken, but they have not done it yet.

My interests outside work are drugs and alcohol (just kidding). Living a good life.

My greatest strength is the way I look at life.

My greatest achievement is still being alive.

I believe the greatest human discovery is art.

The use of music in film and advertising is very important, as it influences the feeling that one gets from the image.

When I’m alone, I listen to everything; I love music. The only music I don’t like is Mexican folk and some violent rap. I think it’s part of the demise of the US system; it’s disrespectful – not just to women, but to [the rappers] themselves.

Of course, there’s tremendous social injustice in the world. The 400 richest families in America own a third of the wealth and that has to result in some sort of uprising. We’re experiencing that all over the world; the youth have no hope and that’s why they are rebelling.

I vote Democrat, but when I see the budget cuts across education I do start to wonder whether the right choices are being made.

I’m not disappointed in Obama, I’m disappointed in the whole system. What can anyone do in two years in office?

I most admire anybody who does their job to the fullest of their abilities.

Yes, I am afraid of dying – of course I am. Who wouldn’t be?

Do I believe in God? I am an agnostic.

If I could change the world, I would educate the masses even more.

If I could relive my life… I would keep it exactly the way it is.

What gives me real pleasure is… doing.

In the end, what really matters is living your life in a moral way. I can stand right there and say, ‘I led a moral life.’