Oscars 2023: Mandy Walker Could Be The First Woman To Win For Cinematography

Thanks to an unexpected selection of Oscar nominees this year, it can be safe to assume that the Academy is making progress when it comes to recognising female cinematographers.

This year, Mandy Walker became only the third woman ever nominated for cinematography for her work on Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. She follows Ari Wegner (The Power of the Dog) last year and Rachel Morrison (Mudbound) in 2018. But neither Wegner nor Morrison were poised for a win like Walker is. She is the likeliest woman yet to break the category’s glass ceiling.

Mandy Walker

Walker is competing against James Friend (All Quiet on the Western Front), Darius Khondji (Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths), Roger Deakins (Empire of Light) and Florian Hoffmeister (Tár).

According to Variety, the cinematographers’ category has a notoriously poor track record in honouring diverse artists — no Black DP has ever won the category and only two have been nominated — but Walker might have an edge. Walker is also the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC Awards) frontrunner, leading a field that contains Deakins, Khondji, Dune Oscar winner Greig Fraser (The Batman), and Claudio Miranda (Top Gun: Maverick). Similarly, if she wins, Walker would become the first woman ASC winner.

Meanwhile, her work on Elvis earned her the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts gong for cinematography — the first woman to take home this prize ever.

In an interview, Walker said she spent hours watching and examining old footage of Elvis Presley to faithfully reproduce certain shots and lighting changes. The camera team all had to be on stage to learn the songs and choreography that Austin Butler was to perform. Not only to know where the actor was going to be but also so Butler knew where the camera would be going. “We’d fly when Elvis flies, and when the drama is heavy and poignant, we slow down and become very observational,” said Walker. “It was a dance between the camera and him.”

Examining Elvis Presley’s life and music through the prism of his complicated relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), Elvis is nominated for a total of eight Academy Awards including Best Picture.

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