Masanobu Takayanagi Joins ASC
He previously served as second-unit cinematographer for ASC members Rodrigo Prieto, Robert Richardson and Anthony Dod Mantle.
The ASC has welcomed cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi into the ranks of active membership. (See at the top of the page setting a shot on actor Johah Hill during the production of the 2015 feature True Story.)
Born and raised in Gunma, Japan, Takayanagi attended Tohoku University, where he studied linguistics. While browsing in a bookstore during his junior year, he discovered Schaefer and Salvato's Masters of Light: Conversations with Contemporary Cinematographers. "That was the first time I realized that there were people who called themselves cinematographers," he recalled. "I had no idea what they were talking about, but I felt like these people liked what they were doing."
He moved to Los Angeles to study film and English at California State University-Long Beach. He furthered his education at the American Film Institute, where he earned an M.F.A. in cinematography and won a 2002 ASC John F. Seitz Heritage Award for a thesis project.
Takayanagi served as second-unit cinematographer for Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC (on Babel and State of Play); Robert Richardson, ASC (on Eat Pray Love), and Anthony Dod Mantle, ASC, BSC, DFF (on The Eagle).
His credits as director of photography include Gavin O'Connor's Warrior, Joe Carnahan's The Grey, David O. Russell's The Silver Linings Playbook and Scott Cooper's Out of the Furnace and Black Mass.
His latest feature, Tom McCarthy's Spotlight, will open in November. Here is a trailer for the film:
