R.I.P. Dick Pope, Mike Leigh’s Oscar-nominated cinematographer

Pope’s final film, the Mike Leigh-directed Hard Truths, opened this month.

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  October 22, 2024 | 10:08pm
Photo by Tim P. Whitby (Getty Images)
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R.I.P. Dick Pope, Mike Leigh’s Oscar-nominated cinematographer
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Dick Pope is dead. The Oscar-nominated cinematographer best known for his 34-year collaboration with Mike Leigh was 77.

Pope’s death was announced in a British Society of Cinematographers statement. “Dick had a reputation for being a wonderful collaborator and someone who was passionate about the artform of Cinematography,” the BSC wrote. “He was keen to embrace new technologies and ideas while also ensuring the skills and crafts of those that came before him weren’t lost. To this end, Dick would guest tutor at schools such as the National Film and Television School.”

Inextricably linked to director Mike Leigh, the pair began their relationship with 1990’s Life Is Sweet, a bittersweet comedy about a working-class family in North London. Leigh’s contradictory slice-of-life narrative fits neatly with Pope’s fly-on-the-wall photography. Pope’s ability to create intricate and textured frames out of everyday life gave Leigh the cinematic edge for his sincere and hostile narratives. The cinematographer captured working-class life with a painter’s eye, turning the lives of Lee’s characters into emotionally rich tableaus.

Pope continued to work with Leigh for the next 34 years, including Leigh’s latest, 2024’s Hard Truths. In between, the pair made the cutting Secrets & Lies, the madcap Gilbert and Sullivan biopic Topsy-Turvy, and the pair’s breakthrough, Naked, each film revealing a versatility that seemed as natural as ambitious.

“You never know with a film how it will be received,” Pope told the BFI in a 2021 conversation about the remaster of Naked. “Obviously, I sometimes say to Mike how great I feel about certain scenes that we’re shooting, and when I saw Naked as a finished film, it blew me away, and I felt proud of it, but of course, I didn’t know that it would strike as long-lasting chord as it has.”

Pope received his second of two Academy Award nominations for his work on 2014’s Mr. Turner, also directed by Leigh. Their final collaboration, Hard Truths, opened in October 2024 and marked the reunion between Leigh and actor Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who had not worked together since Secrets & Lies 30 years prior.

His work extended far beyond the confines of Leigh’s oeuvre. Pope received his first Oscar nomination for his work on Neil Burger’s magic movie The Illusionist. He also shot movies for Barry Levinson, Christopher McQuarrie, John Sayles, and Richard Linklater.

Pope was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1947. He began his career in documentary, getting his start on ITV’s World In Action, before working as a cinematographer on music videos, shooting promos for Iron Maiden, Madness, and The Specials, including the band’s “Ghost Town” video. During this time, he worked as a camera operator in 1984, working under Roger Deakins. His first feature films as a cinematographer, The Reflecting Skin, Dark City, and Life Is Sweet, debuted in 1990.

Pope is survived by his wife, Pat.

 
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