landed electrician work on fea-
tures 1941 and The Black Hole,
then the series B.J. and the Bear,
and the pilot for Magnum P.I.
"I met some people that
were involved in studio tape;
they were doing video shows,
so I did some of those." While
working on a made-for-televi-
sion movie, he was promoted
to best boy by default when
the regular person was out sick.
Caldwell returned to New York in the mid-1980s. While working on
Big, he connected with brothers John and Jerry DeBlau, which proved to
be an important step in his career. At the time, John was working as a
gaffer and Jerry as a best boy (later moving up to gaffer as well) on most
of the big features coming to New York.
"They were so busy. They would be getting calls to do two or three
pictures at a time, so they began splitting the crew; half went with John
and the other half with Jerry. When more calls came in, they split up
more and that left room for me to work my way up to best boy and
gaffer." With the DeBlaus, Caldwell worked on about a dozen films,
including Goodfellas, Regarding Henry, Glengarry Glen Ross, Scent of a
Woman, and The Cowboy Way.
"It was on Regarding Henry that I moved up to gaffer. Jerry's father
was ill, so there was a period of a few weeks where he was spending time
with him. I got to work with the famous Italian cameraman Giuseppe
Rotunno. He was marvelous to work with, so passionate and artistic. I
learned so much during those couple of weeks working with him. I
couldn't get that experience any other way than being there."
On the recommendation of John DeBlau, Caldwell was hired to gaff
the New York portion of Rob Reiner's film North. Shortly afterward, he
moved back to Los Angeles. For a time he struggled, working nonunion
jobs, until he was able to accumulate enough days to get back into the
union. "You have to be scrappy. You have to be on the phone all the time
or meeting people. Spend time in rental houses and try to find leads."
Eventually, Caldwell picked up episodic television work--"Which is
fantastic training, because you have to move very fast and still maintain a
good look,"--and features such as Eraser, Selena, and Murder at 1600.
Through a cameraman he met in New York, Caldwell got work on Erin
Brockovich. "That was one of the best experiences I've had, because of the
"Anybody
wanting to get into
this business better
love filmmaking,
because it takes long
hours and a lot of hard work. But if you
love the film business, it will treat you
well."--Russell Caldwell
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