Mikael Salomon
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1993–2021 (director)
Mikael Salomon | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 February 1945 |
| Years active | 1963–1992 (cinematographer) 1993–2021 (director) |
| Organization(s) | Directors Guild of America American Society of Cinematographers |
Mikael Salomon (born 24 February 1945) is a Danish cinematographer, director and producer[1] of film and television.
After a long cinematography career in Danish cinema, he transitioned to the Hollywood film industry in the late 1980s,[2][3][4] earning two nominations from the Academy Awards.[5]
Salomon then transitioned to a television director career, with credits that include Band of Brothers, Salem's Lot, Rome, and The Andromeda Strain.
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Salomon is of Jewish descent on one parent's side.[6]
Salomon photographed dozens of films in his native country, earning awards including the Robert Award and Bodil Awards. In the late 1980s, he relocated to Hollywood and shot his first mainstream American film with Torch Song Trilogy, a 1988 comedy-drama starring Harvey Fierstein, Anne Bancroft, and Matthew Broderick. The following year, he shot the James Cameron-helmed science fiction film The Abyss, a film that helped to pioneer the field of computer-generated visual effects.[7][8][9] Salomon used three cameras in watertight housings that were specially designed.[10] Another special housing was designed for scenes that went from above-water dialogue to below-water dialogue. The filmmakers had to figure out how to keep the water clear enough to shoot and dark enough to look realistic at 2,000 feet (700 m), which was achieved by floating a thick layer of plastic beads in the water and covering the top of the tank with an enormous tarpaulin.[10] His work on the film earned Salomon a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
In the following years, Salomon shot some blockbuster films like Always, Backdraft, and Far and Away.
In 1993, Salomon directed A Far Off Place, an adventure drama film filmed on location in Namibia and Zimbabwe, replacing original director René Manzor after being recommended to producer Kathleen Kennedy by Steven Spielberg. That same year, he directed an episode of the short-lived science fiction series Space Rangers, beginning a career as a television director. In 1998, he directed the Emmy-nominated Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, the first in many television miniseries which Salomon would helm. The most notable of these was Band of Brothers, a 10-part series executive produced by Spielberg for which Salomon won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special and a Christopher Award.
Since then, Salomon has over thirty-five programs, including the miniseries adaptations of The Andromeda Strain and Coma broadcast on the A&E Network.
