Ari Wegner had become only the second woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award in cinematography, a nomination she received this morning for her lensing of Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog. The film leads the Oscars nominations with 12, including best picture and two for writer-director Campion — now the first woman to be nominated twice for best director (she was also nominated in 1994 for The Piano).
Wegner talked to The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday morning from her home in Melbourne, where she was up watching the livestream of the nominations announcement. “Nothing compares to hearing your name read out like this,” she says. “It’s a wild experience.”
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“For any DP it’s really a dream come true, especially for those of use forging an unconventional path,” Wegner said, citing Rachel Morrison, the first woman to be Oscar-nominated in cinematography, in 2018, for Dee Rees’ Mudbound. “Rachel came before me, but I still fell like it’s a historic moment and hopefully a step toward breaking that ceiling more permanently, really smashing it.” She added that for cinematographers who haven’t always seen themselves represented, she hopes this morning’s announcement says “crazy dreams are possible.”
Of The Power of the Dog‘s nominations, Wegner noted that filmmaking is “such a team effort” and “it’s wonderful to see everyone’s work recognized.
“I’m so happy for her,” she said of Campion, whom she thanked for entrusting her with the cinematography on what she described as a production that felt like a family. Wegner’s first job with Campion was a commercial, and The Power of the Dog was their first feature together.
Wegner’s work as a DP has also included William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth, Janicza Bravo’s Zola and Sebastián Lelio’s upcoming The Wonder.
Also nominated for the cinematography Oscar this year are Dune’s Greig Fraser, Nightmare Alley’s Dan Laustsen, The Tragedy of Macbeth’s Bruno Delbonnel and West Side Story’s Janusz Kaminski.
