Anton Corbijn has made a name for himself throughout his career, particularly as a photographer. But the Dutch star photographer, who is one of the world's greats in portrait photography, has also worked successfully as a director of video clips (for Herbert Grönemeyer, among others), designer or graphic artist. Since he celebrated great success with the music film "Control" in 2007, Corbijn is currently concentrating primarily on shooting feature films. But his passion for photography won't let him go completely. For to accompany his second feature film, "The American", in which George Clooney plays a hit man, Corbijn has published a magnificent coffee-table book in which he uses wonderful photographs to give the reader an insight into the shoot in Italy in the Abruzzi (Castel del Monte) and southern Sweden.
In 116 mostly full-page images, which Corbijn enriches with handwritten notes and sketches, "Inside The American" offers a kind of shooting diary that not only shows the stars of the film in sometimes simply beautiful, sometimes amusing and also sometimes very personal, private moments, but also captures the picturesque filming locations in fascinating images. Whether it's George Clooney with a big grin on his face recording the bleating of a sheep with his cell phone, the incidence of light transforming the filming location in the woods into a veritable paradise, or supporting actor Paolo Bonacelli being photographed smoking during his lunch break, Corbijn finds what is fascinating and beautiful precisely in the small moments. The play of light and shadow, the contrast between staged portraiture and still lifes of natural beauty make this book immensely fascinating.
"Inside The American" is the eleventh book overall that Corbijn has published with Schirmer/Mosel over the course of twenty years. It underlines once again that Corbijn's reputation is more than justified. He has managed the feat of creating a coffee table book that is a real treat not only for all photography lovers, but also for cineastes. Absolutely recommended!
One more note: Corbijn's notes are left in the book itself in the original English. A translation of the texts is included with the book
An article by Frankfurt-Tipp
