Clubhouse Conversations — Étoile

In this episode, M. David Mullen, ASC is joined by interviewer Kramer Morgenthau, ASC to discuss his work on Étoile — a comedy-drama dance series in which two prestigious ballet companies attempt to save themselves from going under.

In Étoile, the heads of the New York Metropolitan Ballet and Le Ballet National in Paris decide to swap their most talented stars — those in the rank of danseur/danseuse étoile — in a last-ditch attempt to boost ticket sales for both institutions. Mullen served as director of photography on two episodes for Season 1, including the premiere, entitled "The Swap."

In this interview, Mullen discusses how he developed a color-driven aesthetic, contrasting the old-world warmth of Paris with the modernist pop-art palette of New York; the influence of classic Hollywood musicals and Technicolor films like An American in Paris on his dance sequences; his collaboration with Tony-winning lighting designer Natasha Katz to blend theatrical and cinematic lighting; the use of bespoke tools like the "Wonder Stick" and moving lights to create fluid, performance-driven one-take shots; executing the show's complex Steadicam sequences, and more.

M. David Mullen, ASC is a cinematographer whose credits include the series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, for which he has won two ASC Awards and three Primetime Emmys, and the features The Love Witch, Jennifer’s Body and Akeelah and the Bee.

Kramer Morgenthau, ASC is a cinematographer whose credits include the features Dogtown (1997), The Big Brass Ring (1999), The Man from Elysian Fields (2001), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Chef (2014), and Creed II (2018), and the series The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Life on Mars, Boardwalk Empire and Sleepy Hollow (for which he was nominated for ASC Awards in 2005, 2009, 2011 and 2014, respectively), as well as Game of Thrones, which earned him an ASC Award in 2013.

You’ll find all episodes in our ASC Clubhouse Conversations discussion series here.