Michael Daley Coulter (born 29 August 1952) is a Scottish cinematographer.
He was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for his work on Sense and Sensibility.
Coulter is also member of the British Society of Cinematographers, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Early life Coulter was born in Glasgow in 1952. He was introduced to the local film business by his director brother-in-law, the Charles Gormley.
He started as a gopher for local production companies making industrial films, before moving on to load the black and white film stock into camera magazines at football matches. He went freelance in 1975.
Career Coulter became acquainted with writer/director Bill Forsyth, shooting in his 1972 documentary short Islands of the West. He subsequently filmed Forsyth's first feature, That Sinking Feeling (1979). Coulter operated for Chris Menges on Forsyth's next pictures, Local Hero (1983) and Comfort and Joy (1984), which Coulter describes as "unmissable opportunities to work with a man I admired tremendously".
During the early 1980s he also worked on many documentaries. "Documentaries made you resourceful, inventive. You had to make things work somehow. Also the life-experience of 'travel broadening the mind' was important for me". He enjoyed a brief stint in France during the early 1980s, as an assistant to cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn, but it was back in the UK that he passed a watershed.
He was just about to start work as the camera operator on No Surrender (1985), when the original director of photography had to pull out.
He has shot numerous commercials directed by Charles Sturridge, Tom Hooper, Mark Mylod, David Jellison (for Kleenex), Gerard de Thame (for Nissan, Rolex, and KIA), among others.
Coulter is represented by McKinney Macartney Management in the UK and Gersh in the US.
Filmography Film
Feature film Year Title Director 1979 That Sinking FeelingBill Forsyth 1981 Gregory's Girl1985 No Surrender Peter Smith The Good Father Mike Newell 1986 Heavenly Pursuits Charles Gormley 1987 Housekeeping Bill Forsyth 1988 The Dressmaker Jim O'Brien1989 Breaking In Bill Forsyth Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale Ann GuedesEduardo Guedes Diamond Skulls Nick Broomfield 1991 Where Angels Fear to Tread Charles Sturridge1992 Monster in a Box Nick Broomfield The Long Day Closes Terence Davies1994 Four Weddings and a Funeral Mike Newell Being Human Bill Forsyth1995 The Neon Bible Terence Davies Sense and Sensibility Ang Lee 1997 FairyTale: A True Story Charles Sturridge 1998 My Giant Michael Lehmann1999 Notting Hill Roger Michell Mansfield Park Patricia Rozema 2002 Killing Me Softly Chen Kaige 2003 Love Actually Richard Curtis 2008 The Bank Job Roger Donaldson 2013 The Lovers Roland Joffé 2015 Slaba plec? Krzysztof Lang 2019 The Hustle Chris Addison 2021 A Castle for Christmas Mary Lambert
Television Year Title Director Notes 1990 4 Play Ross Devenish Episode "Madly in Love" 2018 Shetland Rebecca Gatward 3 episodes 2019 Wild Bill Annie Griffin 2 episodes 2020 Breeders Chris Addison 5 episodes 2022 Outlander Christiana Ebohon-GreenJustin Molotnikov 3 episodes
TV movies Year Title Director 1990 The Widowmaker John Madden 1993 Foreign Affairs Jim O'Brien 1995 The Infiltrator John Mackenzie 1996 Eskimo Day Piers Haggard 2024 A Scottish Love Scheme Heather Hawthorn Doyle
Awards and nominations Institution Year Category Title ResultAcademy Awards1996Best CinematographySense and SensibilityBAFTA Awards1996Best CinematographyBAFTA Scotland Awards1997Craft Award for OutstandingContribution to Film or TelevisionBritish Society of Cinematographers1994Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature FilmFour Weddings and a Funeral1995Sense and SensibilityChlotrudis Awards1998Best CinematographyFairyTale: A True StoryValladolid International Film Festival1995Best Director of PhotographyThe Neon Bible
References
External links