The highly anticipated second season of FX’s Emmy-nominated drama The Old Man is finally here, and it picked up right where the audience left off as Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) and Harold Harper (John Lithgow) set off on their most important mission to date to recover Emily Chase (Alia Shawkat) after she is kidnapped by Faraz Hamzad (Navid Negahban). From there, the action and secrets never stop.
Cinematography plays a big part in setting the tone of the show, and No Film School had a chance to sit down with Jules O’Loughlin, a cinematographer on the series, who previously earned ASC and ACS Awards for his work on season one.
As the only returning cinematographer, he was tasked with shooting four episodes, including the series premiere. In our conversation, O’Loughlin shares insights into his creative process, favorite moments from the season, and invaluable advice for aspiring cinematographers.
Editor’s Note: the following interview is edited for length and clarity.
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No Film School: What was your prep process like returning for season 2? What was the biggest difference for you coming from season 1?
Jules O’Loughlin: Towards the end of season 1, we had to come up with a creative solution for Afghanistan because the pandemic shut down Morocco as a location, and we settled on Santa Clarita to build the village there.
So, coming into season 2, I was familiar with the set, the terrain, and creative solutions for making it feel less Californian. I had the same crew and was also very familiar with the actors and their process, so starting the season with all this pre-existing knowledge meant we were able to hit the ground running like a well-oiled machine.
NFS: This season, we spend more time in Afghanistan with some intense sequences, including a horse chase and a firefight. How did you approach these scenes?
O’Loughlin: Both of these scenes were directed by Steve Boyum, who is a former stuntman. Steve was one of the surfers in Apocalypse Now. Additionally, [we worked with] the stunt team led by Tim Connolly was with us on season 1, and they were very experienced at working with Jeff Bridges and Jon Lithgow.
We tested a horse-mounted Ronin 4 rig for the horse chase, which we ended up using. It is always a consideration when working with horses how disruptive and close any piece of equipment or tracking vehicle will be—especially when there are cast involved, but also from a humane perspective of not wanting to distress the animals.
With anything like these sequences, it takes a great deal of prep and planning. The execution is always fast and furious, and especially when shooting a gun battle, you don’t want to be doing too many takes. The gunfight also requires a lot of logistics prep because using blanks and guns poses a safety issue that needs to be well thought through and coordinated. Our team is very experienced and professional, so they made these sequences work seamlessly. All great filmmaking is a collaboration between the various departments, and The Old Man is a very successful example of this.
NFS: Another thing that caught my eye was the cave Harper and Dan hide in Afghanistan. Caves are harder to light and shoot in. Could you walk us through the process of shooting these scenes?
O’Loughlin: I have shot way too many caves over the years.
My first cave experience was on the 3D James Cameron-produced SANCTUM. I learned on that shoot that caves have very limited light sources. My lighting is always motivated by its source, and so with the caves, I had to come up with creative solutions that would mimic the natural entry of light. In The Old Man, the cave has an entrance into the mountain.
Understanding the pathway of the light into the entrance is what motivated the way in which I lit it. Caves are always complicated, and I hate to say I’m an expert, but there seems to be one on every job I do now, so I feel like the “cave guy.” What used to feel very daunting is now very familiar to me.
‘The Old Man’FX
NFS: The show is mostly shot in California, but the characters travel to Afghanistan and other places. What was your approach to visually distinguishing the different locations?
O’Loughlin: The need to distinguish the locations happened organically. When we started shooting in January 2024, it had rained so much in LA that our location in the hills of Santa Clarita looked like the rolling hills of Ireland. Afghanistan, as you know, is rugged and sandy-colored, with the Hindu Kush mountain range in the background. It was almost impossible to block out the green, so it ended up being a color timing exercise, and the grade became a very important tool. Our mountain plates were shot in the Sierra Nevada, which is a very rugged and jagged mountain range that is very similar to the Hindu Kush and the Karakorum ranges in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
We also had to cheat Hong Kong, which we shot in Chinatown in LA. For this scene, it had to be overcast and rainy. By this time, we were into the dry blue sky season, so the challenge became about controlling the light in an alleyway and dressing the frame so the audience would believe we were in Hong Kong. The audience only sees what’s in the frame, so with great set dressing and enough control over the light via the use of Grip Clouds (balloons), we can use the magic of filmmaking to pretend we are anywhere.
NFS: Episode 5 takes place mostly at night; what was your approach to lighting the episode and keeping it visually captivating for the audience?
O’Loughlin: The key to night scenes is to resist the urge to go over the light. The darkness and the depth of the shadows are what augments the dramatic journey the characters are on in these scenes. We shot on location for the scenes in the house so I used a lot of practical lighting. My director on this episode, Ben Semanoff, is very visual, so together, we worked to create a visual palette that served the deeply emotional elements of the story whilst making the episode feel more artistic and stylized. From a creative point of view episode 5 is a journey into darkness, a journey that parallels the principal characters descent into darkness.
When Chase, Harper, and Zoe arrive at the Harper residence, Chase is already in emotional turmoil as he attempts to reach Emily on the phone. We arrive already in a dark and shadowy world. It was important that I rendered the Harper residence as just that. Using just a scarcity of practical lamps and motivating the low light levels with these was a way of executing these ideas. Similarly, with the basement. The basement needed to an uncomfortable place as uncomfortable things will occur down there over the course of the episode. Whether it be the flooding from the hot water system, Harper’s realization that his grandson doesn’t live with them anymore, Chase’s shock at the phone call he’s just had with his daughter, and most shockingly, the torture and the disposal of their captive. Similarly to the upper Harper House, I used minimal lighting, only illuminating what was necessary to drive the story forward and to allow deep shadows to pervade the space, bringing with them feelings of uneasiness.
‘The Old Man’FX
NFS: What was your favorite sequence to shoot this season?
O’Loughlin: I loved shooting the Hamzad funeral scene. It was an opportunity to do something meditative and beautiful whilst serving the story. It was a montage as such, so we weren’t confined by the usual framework of characters needing to be covered as they deliver dialogue in wide, medium closeups, shot, and shot reverse. We used a variety of tools, including a crane, steadicam, dollies, and drones, to imbue the sequence with a gentle flow so that Emily’s letter to her father was underscored by beautiful imagery.
NFS:What advice would you give to someone who is starting out as a cinematographer?
O’Loughlin: I actually have a list I made called Jules’s Rules, which I shared with the Australian Cinematography Society when I hosted their instagram page a couple of years ago, so here you go.
Jules Rules
- Over coverage is the enemy of style.
- Comparison is the thief of joy. Be interested and supportive of fellow cinematographers, but don’t compare yourself.
- Don’t be a slave to the off-camera key.
- Embrace the imperfections because that’s where the magic is often hiding.
- Be like General Patton: A good plan executed violently now is much better than a great plan executed next week.
- Be decisive. Don’t do variations on a shot or sequence. If you don’t have the courage to be bold on the floor, how can you expect them to have courage in the edit suite?
- Symmetry is the work of the devil ….. but don’t we just love him.
- You can’t shoot a rehearsal. It says “Take 1” on the slate, and that’s what it is…. and it will end up in the film.
- The show isn’t real until you’re at the wrap party. Always be prepared to come home early.
- Don’t underestimate the power of the dark side …. Don’t over-light.
- Make sure the stage lights are off before lighting the set. I got caught out once!
- It’s much more about the depth of feeling than the depth of field. Don’t let the technical overpower the creative.
- Try not to eat the dessert at catering, but don’t beat yourself up when you continually fail.
- Follow your heart, listen to your gut, and trust your eye
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
