10 Best Roger Deakins Movies, According To IMDb

Sir Roger Deakins is considered by many to be one of the greatest cinematographers of all time, if not the best, period. Starting out in the late 1970s, Deakins began to direct photography on feature films in the early 1980s after years of shooting documentaries and music videos.

Deakins worked in Britain throughout most of the 1980s until his first collaboration with the Coen Brothers, Barton Fink, brought him to prominence in the U.S. From there, the rest was history. According to IMDb, a few of the films he has shot stand above the rest.

10 O Brother, Where Art Thou? – 7.7

Deakins’s fifth collaboration with the Coen Brothers, O Brother, Where Art Thou is set in Mississippi during the Great Depression and follows escaped convicts Ulysses (George Clooney), Pete (John Turturro), and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) on their search to find a buried treasure.

The film is loosely inspired by Homer’s Odyssey and was the first film to be color corrected entirely through digital means. Deakins’s work on O Brother, Where Art Thou landed him his fourth Oscar nomination, which he lost to Peter Pau for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

9 Skyfall – 7.8

Deakins’s third collaboration with Sam Mendes, Skyfall is the 23rd film in the James Bond franchise and the third film starring Daniel Craig. In this installment, Bond is sent to stop the mysterious Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) from killing M (Judi Dench).

Skyfall was the first film in the series to be shot digitally, and the only Bond film to make over a billion dollars. Deakins’s work on Skyfall landed him his 10th Oscar nomination, which he lost to Claudio Miranda for Life Of Pi.

8 Blade Runner 2049 – 8.0

Deakins’s third collaboration with Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049 takes place 30 years after the original and settles on K (Ryan Gosling), a blade runner tasked with hunting down a replicant that was born, not artificially created.

Per IndieWire, when the studio requested Deakins use a nine-camera setup to shoot Blade Runner 2049, Deakins stood firm and shot the film with one camera, despite its nine-figure budget. For his efforts, Deakins received his 14th Oscar nomination and his first win for Best Cinematography.

7 Fargo – 8.1

Deakins’s third collaboration with the Coen Brothers, Fargo tracks a pregnant Minnesota police chief (Frances McDormand) as she investigates a string of crimes that involve kidnapping, extortion, and murder, all of which are set into motion by a desperate car salesman (William H. Macy).

One of the Coen Brothers’ highest-rated films, Fargo was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Cinematography. However, while McDormand won Best Actress and the Coen Brothers won Best Original Screenplay, Deakins lost to John Seale for The English Patient.

6 Prisoners – 8.1

Deakins’s first collaboration with Denis Villeneuve, Prisoners focuses on the abduction of two young girls in Pennsylvania, and both the police’s and families’ efforts to find them. When they believe the police have released the right suspect from custody, one of the fathers (Hugh Jackman) takes things into his own hands.

Though the film is considered one of Hugh Jackman’s best movies, Prisoners only won 3 major above-the-line awards. In fact, its sole Oscar nomination was for Deakins in the Best Cinematography category, which Deakins lost to Emmanuel Lubezki for Gravity.

5 The Big Lebowski – 8.1

Deakins’s fourth collaboration with the Coen Brothers, The Big Lebowski centers on “The Dude” (Jeff Bridges), a fervid bowler and slacker living in Los Angeles. When he’s mistaken for someone else who just happens to share his name, Jeffrey Lebowski, “The Dude” finds himself in the middle of a criminal plot.

For the majority of the film, Deakins shot on a wide-angle lens to achieve a greater depth of focus. Though The Big Lebowski received some mixed and negative reviews when it was released, it has become a cult favorite and is considered one of Jeff Bridges’s best movies.

4 No Country For Old Men – 8.1

Deakins’s ninth collaboration with the Coen Brothers, No Country For Old Men interconnects the stories of Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a welder who stumbles onto a briefcase of money, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a hitman sent to retrieve the money, and Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a local sheriff.

Per Entertainment Weekly, Deakins only shot 250,000 feet of film, whereas most films that length would use somewhere between 700,000 and a million feet, meaning most of what was shot ended up in the final cut. The film won Best Picture at the Oscars, but Deakins lost to Robert Elswit for There Will Be Blood.

3 A Beautiful Mind – 8.2

Directed by Ron Howard, A Beautiful Mind tells the real-life story of John Nash (Russell Crowe), a Noble Prize-winning mathematician who begins to develop paranoid schizophrenia, which leads to delusional episodes that stress his relationships with his wife (Jennifer Connelly) and friends.

The film was nominated for eight Oscars, winning four including Best Picture, but Best Cinematography was not among them. However, he was Oscar-nominated for another film that year, The Man Who Wasn’t There. Ultimately, Deakins lost to Andrew Lesnie for The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring.

2 1917 – 8.3

Deakins’s fourth collaboration with Sam Mendes, 1917, is one of the best war movies of the 21st century. The film stalks two British soldiers during World War I as they fight to deliver a message calling off a doomed offensive attack. The supporting cast includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, and Andrew Scott in supporting roles.

Shot in long takes, Deakins and editor Lee Smith put the film together to appear as if it was composed of two continuous shots with no cuts. For the film, Deakins was provided with camera prototypes from Arri, a German film equipment manufacturer, to get the specific effects he wanted. For his efforts, Deakins received his 15th Oscar nomination and his second Oscar.

1 The Shawshank Redemption – 9.3

Directed by Frank Darabont, The Shawshank Redemption‘s subject is Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a man sentenced to life for the murders of his wife and her lover, despite his claims that he’s innocent. During his sentence, he becomes friends with Red (Morgan Freeman), a contraband smuggler who helps acquaint him with the prison.

While The Shawshank Redemption struggled at the box office, it was nominated for seven Oscars, notably landing Deakins his first Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. Though he lost at the Oscars to John Toll for Legends Of The Fall, Deakins won the equivalent award that year from the American Society of Cinematographers.

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