Prior to becoming a regular collaborator with such prominent directors such as Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino, cinematographer Robert Richardson served his apprenticeship shooting second unit on Repo Man while filming television documentaries for PBS and the BBC. 

 

His work in television, led Oliver Stone to hire Richardson to shoot both Salvador and Platoon, both of which required a cinema verite style filming that only a documentary cinematographer could offer. From there, he worked almost exclusively for Oliver Stone, filming Wall Street , Born on the Fourth of July  and The Doors, while occasionally branching out to shoot films like John Sayles' Eight Men Out and City of Hope.  But it was his stunning work using a multitude of stock and cameras to create a documentary feel for JFK, which earned the cinematographer his first Academy Award.

 

While he sharpened the hyperkinetic style of JFK in Natural Born Killers, Nixon and subsequently U-Turn, Richardson became in-huge demand by other top Hollywood directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, both of whom leaped for the director of photography for films like Bringing Out the Dead, Kill Bill, Vol. 1 and Kill Bill, Vol. 2. Richardson earned his second and  third Oscars for his work with Scorsese on the film The  Aviator  and Hugo. 

 

As he continued to make a historical impact in Hollywood for projects like, Tarantino’s Django Unchained  and The Hateful Eight, as well as Ben Affleck's Live By Night, there is no doubt that Richardson became known as one of the finest cinematographers working in Hollywood to date.

 

In the past year, Richardson has been busy filming projects such as Breathe for Director Andy Serkis starring Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy; Adrift for Director Balthasar Kormakur starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin for STX and; A Private War for Director Matthew Heineman starring Rosamund Pike as Marie Colvin. Richardson recently wrapped shooting on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for Director Quentin Tarantino which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, and is currently shooting Venom 2 for Sony and Director Andy Serkis.