FAIRFIELD BAY, Ark. (WTW) — Batman goes back to the Batcave, and movie still photographer Ron Phillips comes home to Arkansas.
Phillips takes cover in the pine trees east of Clinton, returned from seven months' work in New York, England and elsewhere on the biggest film of his 33-year career — this summer's practically guaranteed bat smash, The Dark Knight Rises.
His movie photos do everything but move. They are the faces and scenes that people see in print, on posters, in the lobby, at the newsstand. Other travelers have souvenir T-shirts to show for their adventures.
Phillips has the cover of the national Entertainment Weekly magazine: his shot of actor Christian Bale as Batman.
"They can make the movie without me," he says, "but they can't sell the movie without my work."
On a movie set, he is the guy with his Nikon digital camera in a soundproofing "blimp" that makes it look like something in a bag off a flying saucer. His sneakers have high-tech, super sneaky soles. His operative color is the same as Batman's — black — so the light won't bounce off him (light can be so delicate), and mainly in hopes that he will ninja like escape notice.
Bale made global news a couple years ago for the rage he let fly when a camera operator crossed his "line of sight." The situation is this: The actor appears to cast a riveting gaze off the screen. What he does, in fact, is stare into the movie camera. The scene depends on his ability to ignore the crew, the clutter, everything else around him. He might never be able to repeat quite this moment. Movement distracts him. The tiniest, muffled click of a shutter ....
"Christian Bale is the nicest guy in the world," Phillips testifies in a tone of honest and-true-or-shoot-me. "He said, I didn't even know you were there, so I guess you were doing your job.'" In Phillips' world, it's the ultimate compliment.
