Born on this day in 1949, Roger Deakins has been working as a cinematographer for over forty years. He has collaborated with countless directorial talents (the Coen brothers, Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, and Denis Villeneuve, among others) and has won numerous awards and accolades. Deakins got his start in the documentary world and prefers to operate the camera himself. He’s charming, British, and gives off a reassuringly confident air. None of this may be news to you, though. In the world of cinematography and top-tier filmmaking, Deakins is a veritable household name. Yet, strangely, out of fourteen total nominations, Deakins has won just one Academy Award, for Blade Runner 2049, and it only just happened at this year’s Oscars. In celebration of Roger’s birthday, let’s take a look at, and honor, those many nominations.
Year: 1994
Deakins Nomination: The Shawshank Redemption
Oscar Winner: Legends of the Fall
Other Nominations: Forrest Gump, Three Colors: Red, Wyatt Earp
Year: 1996
Deakins Nomination: Fargo
Oscar Winner: The English Patient
Other Nominations: Evita, Fly Away Home, Michael Collins
Year: 1997
Deakins Nomination: Kundun
Oscar Winner: Titanic
Other Nominations: Amistad, L.A. Confidential, The Wings of the Dove
Year: 2000
Deakins Nomination: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Oscar Winner: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Other Nominations: Gladiator, Malèna, The Patriot
Year: 2001
Deakins Nomination: The Man Who Wasn’t There
Oscar Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Other Nominations: Amélie, Black Hawk Down, Moulin Rouge!
Year: 2007
Deakins Nomination: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford AND No Country for Old Men
Oscar Winner: There Will Be Blood
Other Nominations: Atonement, The Diving Bell, and the Butterfly
Year: 2008
Deakins Nomination: The Reader
Oscar Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
Other Nominations: Changeling, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight
Year: 2010
Deakins Nomination: True Grit
Oscar Winner: Inception
Other Nominations: Black Swan, The King’s Speech, The Social Network
Year: 2012
Deakins Nomination: Skyfall
Oscar Winner: Life of Pi
Other Nominations: Anna Karenina, Django Unchained, Lincoln
Year: 2013
Deakins Nomination: Prisoners
Oscar Winner: Gravity
Other Nomination: The Grandmaster, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska
Year: 2014
Deakins Nomination: Unbroken
Oscar Winner: Birdman
Other Nominations: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ida, Mr. Turner
Year: 2015
Deakins Nomination: Sicario
Oscar Winner: The Revenant
Other Nominations: Carol, The Hateful Eight, Mad Max: Fury Road
Year: 2017
Deakins Nomination: Blade Runner 2049
Oscar Winner: Blade Runner 2049
Other Nomination: Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Mudbound, The Shape of Water
Does the Academy have it out for Deakins? Probably not. For each nomination that didn’t win an Oscar, he was up against the stiff competition. There are the epics like Legends of the Fall and The English Patient, which are the kinds of films that used to unequivocally sweep the Oscars. Then there is the newer breed of technical marvels, like Gravity and Birdman. One could certainly argue that his work on The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was a sure-winner, but perhaps the fact that Deakins was nominated for two Oscars that year led the Academy to split its vote.
Does his number of Oscar wins ultimately matter, though? When asked about awards, Deakins might have summed it up best himself, replying, “It really doesn’t matter to me.” His work remains consistently acknowledged by both movie-lovers and fellow filmmakers. And, hey, people even write articles for him on his birthday.
But maybe there is one reason why Deakins hasn’t won more Oscars. An Academy Award is a very specific recognition. Deakins, however, has said that he prefers when his work isn’t singled out because it means that the film functions as a unified whole. Deakins’ mastery, therefore, lies in his adaptability. The only thing really tying together his notable films is the fact that they’re universally great. Put another way, one of the only things tying together those great films is the fact that Roger Deakins worked on them.
