Robert David Yeoman, (born March 10, 1951) is an American cinematographer.
He is best known for his collaboration with director Wes Anderson, working on all of his live-action films from 1996 to 2024, with his work on The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) earning him an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Cinematography.
Life and career Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, Yeoman spent his childhood in the northern suburbs of Chicago. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University in 1973 and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts in 1979.
Yeoman's first filmwork was done as a second unit director of photography on To Live and Die in LA, directed by William Friedkin in 1986. He went on to shoot many independent films including Gus Van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy — for which he won the Independent Spirit Award for Best CinematographyDrugstore Cowboy (1989), The New York Times. Accessed September 18, 2009. — Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale, Roman Coppola's CQ and Kevin Smith's Dogma. He has worked on almost every live-action feature film by Wes Anderson (except The Phoenician Scheme), including Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) as cinematographer, as well as The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Moonrise Kingdom (2012) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), credited as director of photography. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Yeoman is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
Style
Yeoman frequently collaborates with director Wes Anderson. His style in Anderson's films consists of using color palettes to highlight the colors of the set and costumes. Anderson and Yeoman shoot the movies with film stock, anamorphic lenses, soft lighting, and theater-like composition, giving them the distinctive visuals for which Anderson's films are known.
Filmography Film Year Title Director 1983 Hero Alexandre Rockwell 1987 Rampage William Friedkin1988 Rented Lips Robert Downey Sr. Johnny Be Good Bud S. Smith Dead Heat Mark Goldblatt1989 Drugstore Cowboy Gus Van Sant The Wizard Todd Holland1990 Too Much Sun Robert Downey Sr. Kid John Mark Robinson1991 The Linguini Incident Richard Shepard Past Midnight Jan Eliasberg 1993 The Paint Job Michael Taav 1994 Somebody to Love Alexandre Rockwell 1995 Coldblooded Wallace Wolodarsky1996 Bottle Rocket Wes Anderson The Substance of Fire Daniel J. Sullivan 1997 White Lies Ken Selden1998 Permanent Midnight David Veloz Rushmore Wes Anderson 1999 Dogma Kevin Smith2000 Down to You Kris Isacsson Beautiful Sally Field2001 Double Whammy Tom DiCillo CQ Roman Coppola The Royal TenenbaumsWes Anderson 2004 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou2005 The Squid and the Whale Noah Baumbach Red Eye Wes Craven2007 The Darjeeling Limited Wes Anderson Martian ChildMenno Meyjes2008 Manolete Yes Man Peyton Reed 2009 Whip It Drew Barrymore 2010 Get Him to the Greek Nicholas Stoller 2011 Bridesmaids Paul Feig 2012 Moonrise Kingdom Wes Anderson 2013 The Heat Paul Feig2014 The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson Love & Mercy Bill Pohlad 2015 SpyPaul Feig 2016 Ghostbusters 2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Ol Parker 2021 The French DispatchWes Anderson 2023 Asteroid City 2026 Office Romance Ol Parker TBA The Collaboration Kwame Kwei-Armah
Short film Year Title Director 2007 Hotel ChevalierWes Anderson2023 The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar The Rat Catcher Poison
Television TV movies Year Title Director 1986 C.A.T. Squad William Friedkin 1991 Perfect Harmony Will Mackenzie 1993 Double Deception Jan Egleson 1998 The Pentagon Wars Richard Benjamin
Awards and nominations Year Title Award/Nomination1989Drugstore CowboyIndependent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography 2012Moonrise KingdomNominated- Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best CinematographyNominated- Chlotrudis Award for Best Cinematography in a Feature FilmNominated- Independent Spirit Award for Best CinematographyNominated- Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cinematography2014The Grand Budapest HotelChicago Film Critics Association Award for Best CinematographyIndieWire Critics Poll Award for Best Cinematography (3rd place)Online Film Critics Society Award for Best CinematographyNominated- Academy Award for Best CinematographyNominated- BAFTA Award for Best CinematographyNominated- Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best CinematographyNominated- ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in CinematographyNominated- BSC Best Cinematography AwardNominated- Chlotrudis Award for Best Cinematography in a Feature FilmNominated- Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best CinematographyNominated- Georgia Film Critics Association Award for Best CinematographyNominated- Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best CinematographyNominated- San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best CinematographyNominated- St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Award for Best CinematographyNominated- Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography
References
External links
Robert Yeoman at the Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers