The Oscars are just around the corner, and photographers have been hard at work for months, nailing down coveted photo shoots with Hollywood’s brightest stars. LA Times staff photojournalist Jay Clendenin is the man behind the lens of iconic Hollywood photo sessions. In an interview for “LA Times Today,” Clendenin shared the images he’s captured leading up to this awards season with host Lisa McRee.
Clendenin’s work begins well before the buzz of Oscar season gets started. He explained how he selects which Oscar contenders to photograph.
“The minute the [previous] Oscars are done, the next movies are coming out. We’re already kind of going after what we see as potential quality goods and who we think are going to be the people [nominated next]. By the fall, we’ve already tackled several of them. And then you roll up to the Toronto Film Festival and a lot of the big awards movies come out and we just keep trying to book them in interviews. Once the nominations come out, we’re calling again for a second session if we can or get the ones that we couldn’t get to during the year,” Clendenin said.
While they were promoting “King Richard,” a film about the father of Venus and Serena Williams, stars Will Smith and Aunjanue Ellis stopped by for a quick shoot with Clendenin.
“A lot of my portrait sessions end up around film junkets, which is basically a media event where they’re going from one outlet to the next. And that one happened to be on the Warner Bros. lot. I had to build a studio on top of the garage. We’re out in the open, hoping we’re not going to get bad weather. That was a shoot that lasted less than 10 minutes. We got two different lighting and backgrounds for each of them, so it was great. And they’re such professionals. Will hits every mark and Aunjanue is so great. It was awesome,” he remembered.
Actress Kristen Stewart is nominated for Best Actress for her portrayal of Princess Diana. In that case, the actor and the character are very different people. Clendenin spoke about bringing out the personality of the actor and their role in his photos.
“I don’t want to emulate too much of the movie only because I’m not shooting the movie poster, obviously. I want to bring out a little bit of the person that’s behind the character. Unfortunately, a lot of these times when we’re doing these it is a press availability, so they’re really looking to promote. I kind of take what they give me. I can direct people during the shoot and go for moods and stuff. But a lot of it is a give and take since I’m working with a publicist and the subject,” Clendenin explained.
Last year, Clendenin did the bulk of his Oscars photoshoots under the shadow of a COVID-19 surge. This year, with vaccines and boosters readily available, he said the mood on set was much brighter.
“When I do these portrait sessions at the hotels, I’m still masked, and the talent come unmasked for the photo shoot. We’re still trying to maintain some of [those protocols] because it’s still up in the air. Most of us are vaccinated, I’m boosted, I’ve got it all done, and most of us get tested. The photographers get tested before we get to shoots. I assume all my subjects do too. I still maintain them, but it definitely is relaxed that we were not still keeping only two people in the room. It’s kind of back to what we were with their support team around. Everybody’s in a better mood, that’s for sure, because we’re excited that we’re back and we’re seeing people. A much different vibe from a year ago,” Clendenin said.
One person who Clendenin worked with who did not receive an Oscar nod was Lady Gaga. Her performance in “House of Gucci” generated buzz early in awards season.
“I’ve only photographed her twice or in situations like this, besides red carpets, and she’s just incredible. She’s a true artist. She wants to work with the photographer and make the best photos possible. We were two hours late for that shoot, and I converted a hotel room into a couple of different backgrounds and lighting setups. It wasn’t more than eight minutes, but she gave me the time to accomplish both of the backgrounds, and both looks. Every picture, every frame that I took is a great photo. She’s just awesome. She knows how to do it. I definitely was bummed she didn’t get nominated as I was looking forward to another shoot,” he said.
Composer Hans Zimmer’s work is featured in several iconic Oscar-winning films. Clendenin did a photoshoot with him ahead of his nomination for the score in “Dune.”
“Hans is great. He’s really funny. He just has such a great attitude about all this stuff. He likes to have fun with the process because he knows he has to do this. We’re all working together trying to capture some pop culture that’s in the news right now. I met him in his studio. He has this amazing studio with lots of technical stuff on the walls, all around us in the space. And you just want to have fun. I asked what photo he hasn’t done. He grabs his guitar because everybody else put him at a piano. That’s what he’s known for. But he loves playing guitar. I got a photo of him with the guitar. There aren’t a lot of photos of him playing it, so it was really fun to do something different with this one,” Clendenin shared.
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