another way to do. So they gave me a shot at it. It went really well and
after that I shot most of the movie."
In 1991, Emmerichs relocated from New York to Los Angeles. Much of
his initial work was filming rap videos. He worked on the critically
acclaimed feature film Joshua Tree, followed by two low budget horror
films. "I thought of them as Steadicam boot camp. We'd go somewhere,
strap the steadicam on, and work all day for five weeks straight, then col-
lapse. I learned a lot." He worked on various television programs, then,
through the recommendation
of Jim Muro, landed his first
feature, Cool Running, in 1993.
He joined the union just prior
to shooting the film.
Having wanted to work
with Industrial Light and
Magic since he first saw Star
Wars as a child, Emmerichs
finally realized that aspiration
on a job shooting a Volkswagen
commercial. His next career highlight came working with director
David Fincher on Se7en. From that point on, Emmerichs continued to
work on blockbuster features, such as Nixon, The Fan, Con Air, and Alien:
Resurrection, taking commercial jobs in between. While shooting an ad for
Snapple, he met director Michael Bay, and went on to work with him on
Armageddon.
Edtv came next, followed by his first feature job as an "A" camera
operator on The Green Mile, working with cinematographer David
Tattersall. Emmerichs first worked with Tattersall on the straight to
video release Theodore Rex, which lead to their reteaming on Con Air and
The Green Mile, followed a couple years later with Emmerichs as camera
operator on The Majestic.
Con Air director Simon West recommended Emmerichs to cinematog-
rapher Peter Menzies, Jr. as a replacement Steadicam operator on The
General's Daughter, when the original operator had to leave the film a
week before it wrapped. Impressed with Emmerichs's work, Menzies
hired him as his operator on Bless the Child, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and
for a few weeks on Spider-Man. "Peter taught me a lot. He was tough
on me and as a result made me a much better operator."
Emmerichs's next film is another Michael Bay directed picture: Bad
Boys 2.
"Watch a lot of
movies and you'll learn
what you like and what
you don't like. Start out
by emulating others and
eventually you develop your own style and
ability."-- David Emmerichs
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