Roger Deakins Finally Gets His Due

One of the highlights of the 90th Academy Awards was cinematographer Roger Deakins finally winning his first Oscar after 14 nominations. Possibly the greatest cinematographer of our time had to sit through 12 previous ceremonies (he was nominated twice in 2007) and graciously applaud his rivals while seething on the inside. Yet, finally in 2017 he was able to photograph a film worthy of being a winner and that movie was Blade Runner 2049, which so far has been my favorite of the year.

I was curious what films Deakins worked to garner his previous nominations and what movies he lost out to. Here is a list of Deakins movies that earned a nomination and the men that ended up besting him.

1994

Deakins: The Shawshank Redemption

Winner: John Toll – Legends of the Fall

1996

Deakins: Fargo

Winner: John Seale – The English Patient

1997

Deakins: Kundun

Winner: Russell Carpenter – Titanic

2000

Deakins: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Winner: Peter Pau – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

2007

Deakins: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and No Country for Old Men

Winner: Robert Elswit – There Will Be Blood

2008

Deakins: The Reader

Winner: Anthony Dod Mantle – Slumdog Millionaire

2010

Deakins: True Grit

Winner: Wally Pfister – Inception

2012

Deakins: Skyfall

Winner: Claudio Miranda – Life of Pi

2013

Deakins: Prisoners

Winner: Emmanuel Lubezki – Gravity

2014

Deakins: Unbroken

Winner: Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

2015

Deakins: Sicario

Winner: Emmanuel Lubezki – The Revenant

It's a shame Deakins didn't win for several of these movies as they are beautifully shot. And it was especially upsetting that Skyfall didn't get it for him, but that is being a James Bond homer.