:John Guleserian

{{short description|American cinematographer (born 1976)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = John Guleserian

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1976|4|7}}

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

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| occupation = Cinematographer

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| spouse = {{marriage|Theresa Avram Guleserian|2010}}

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| children = 1

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}}

John Guleserian ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɡ|ʊ|l|ə|ˈ|s|ɛr|i|ə|n}};{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVvDlhap8_4|title=Episode 141: John Guleserian on Candyman, working with director Nia DaCosta, Like Crazy, About Time|work=The Cinematography Podcast|date=September 25, 2021|access-date=September 29, 2021|archive-date=September 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929172116/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVvDlhap8_4|url-status=live}} born April 7, 1976) is an American cinematographer. He is best known for his collaboration with Drake Doremus on Like Crazy and Breathe In, and for the 2013 film About Time.

Early life

Guleserian aspired to be a filmmaker from a young age.{{cite web|url=http://www.decoratedyouth.com/archive/2014/7/17/behind-the-scenes-cinematographer-john-guleserian-like-crazy-breathe-in|work=Decorated Youth Magazine|title=Behind the Scenes: Cinematographer, John Guleserian (Like Crazy / Breathe In)|date=July 17, 2014|access-date=February 23, 2015|archive-date=February 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223133228/http://www.decoratedyouth.com/archive/2014/7/17/behind-the-scenes-cinematographer-john-guleserian-like-crazy-breathe-in|url-status=live}} He worked as an ice cream truck driver before studying cinematography at college, first as an undergraduate at Columbia College Chicago and then graduate school at the AFI Conservatory.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmslatemagazine.com/sundance-interview-filmmaker-john-guleserian-on-the-overnight/|title=Sundance Interview: Filmmaker John Guleserian on 'The Overnight'|first=C. J.|last=Perry|date=January 27, 2015|work=Film Slate Magazine|access-date=February 23, 2015|archive-date=February 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223135033/http://www.filmslatemagazine.com/sundance-interview-filmmaker-john-guleserian-on-the-overnight/|url-status=live}} While studying, he spent his spare time "shooting short films for any director that would let me" to gain experience.

Career

Guleserian began a longstanding collaboration with writer–director Drake Doremus at AFI, which both men attended at the same time. In 2006, Guleserian photographed Doremus's thesis project, and they paired up again to shoot numerous commercials and music videos in addition to the 2009 feature film Spooner.{{cite news|url=http://www.johndp.com/icg-1/|title=Let's Get Personal|first=Valentina I.|last=Valentini|date=April 2013|work=ICG Magazine|publisher=International Cinematographers Guild|access-date=February 23, 2015|archive-date=February 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223144545/http://www.johndp.com/icg-1/|url-status=live}} They later collaborated on Like Crazy, a romantic drama film that premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and won the festival's Grand Jury Prize, an achievement that Guleserian later said "opened up a lot of opportunities" for him.{{cite news|url=http://www.johndp.com/icg/|title=Deep Focus|first=Valentina I.|last=Valentini|date=January 2014|work=ICG Magazine|publisher=International Cinematographers Guild|access-date=February 23, 2015|archive-date=February 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223134338/http://www.johndp.com/icg/|url-status=live}} One such opportunity was the 2013 romantic comedy About Time, which was the first big-budget studio film Guleserian worked on; previously, he had only shot independent films with smaller budgets. The same year, he returned to work with Doremus as cinematographer on Breathe In, starring Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce. Since Doremus's films are largely improvised, Guleserian filmed these projects unconventionally, with mostly handheld camerawork in takes that usually last over ten minutes.

Guleserian's television credits include I Heart Vampires and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, and he was the director of photography on the 2014 films Parts per Billion, Song One and Before We Go.{{cite web|url=http://www.indiewire.com/article/how-i-shot-that-dp-john-guleserian-captures-the-adult-playdate-gone-awry-in-the-overnight-20150123|publisher=Indiewire|first=Paula|last=Bernstein|title=How I Shot That: DP John Guleserian Captures the Adult Playdate Gone Awry in 'The Overnight'|date=January 23, 2015|access-date=February 23, 2015|archive-date=February 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223133806/http://www.indiewire.com/article/how-i-shot-that-dp-john-guleserian-captures-the-adult-playdate-gone-awry-in-the-overnight-20150123|url-status=live}} He shot the 2015 film Equals, a science fiction romance directed by Doremus and starring Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult.{{cite web|url=http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/12/underrated-cinematographers-poised-to-make-it-big-in-2015/john-guleserian|title=Underrated Cinematographers Poised to Make It Big in 2015|first=Brian|last=Formo|date=December 10, 2014|work=Complex|access-date=February 23, 2015|archive-date=February 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223134948/http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/12/underrated-cinematographers-poised-to-make-it-big-in-2015/john-guleserian|url-status=live}} He also filmed the 2015 sex comedy The Overnight, a project he became involved in because of his wife, a production designer hired to work on the film, who introduced Guleserian to the director, Patrick Brice.

In December 2014 he was named one of Complex magazine's "Underrated Cinematographers Poised to Make It Big in 2015". He has expressed an interest in working as a visual consultant on animated films.

Filmography

=Short film=

class="wikitable"
Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

2003

| The King, the Lawyers, and the Cheese

| Brigid Maher

| Documentary short

rowspan=2| 2006

| Name of the Game

| Danny Buday

|

The Shirt

| Drake Doremus

|

rowspan=3| 2008

| Whirlybird

| Danielle Corches

|

Plain and Simple

| Merrin Marra

|

Buddy 'n' Andy

| Shaun Peterson

|

rowspan=2| 2012

| Here

| Luca Guadagnino

|

I Have No Hold on You

| Tim Thaddeus Cahill

|

2017

| Come Swim

| Kristen Stewart

|

=Film=

class="wikitable"
Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

rowspan=2|2009

| Spooner

| Drake Doremus

|

ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction

| Kevin Hamedani

|

2011

| Like Crazy

|rowspan=2| Drake Doremus

|

rowspan=2| 2013

| Breathe In

|

About Time

| Richard Curtis

|

rowspan=4| 2014

| Song One

| Kate Barker-Froyland

|

Kiss Me

| Jeff Probst

|

Parts per Billion

| Brian Horiuchi

|

Before We Go

| Chris Evans

|

rowspan=2| 2015

| The Overnight

| Patrick Brice

|

Equals

| Drake Doremus

|

rowspan=3| 2018

| Love, Simon

| Greg Berlanti

|

Zoe

| Drake Doremus

|

Trial by Fire

| Edward Zwick

|

rowspan=2| 2020

| An American Pickle

| Brandon Trost

|

Happiest Season

| Clea DuVall

|

rowspan=2| 2021

| He's All That

| Mark Waters

|

Candyman

| Nia DaCosta

|

rowspan=2| 2023

| Cocaine Bear

| Elizabeth Banks

|

Genie

| Sam Boyd

|

2025

| You're Cordially Invited

| rowspan="2" | Nicholas Stoller

|

TBA

| Judgement Day

| Filming

=Television=

class="wikitable"
Year

! Title

! Director

! Notes

2006

| Orastories

| Annie Mebane
Lindsay Stidham

| TV short

2007–2009

| Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!

| Tim Heidecker
Eric Wareheim
Jonathan Krisel

| 29 episodes

rowspan=2|2008

| My Alibi

| Oren Kaplan

|

The Juice Box

| Shaun Peterson
Oren Kaplan

|

rowspan=2|2009

| Electric Spoofaloo

| Shaun Peterson
Oren Kaplan
Tim Thaddeus Cahill

|

I Heart Vampires

| Shaun Peterson
Oren Kaplan

| 6 episodes

2015

| Transparent

| Silas Howard
Jim Frohna

| Episodes "Bulnerable" and "The Book of Life"

2015–2016

| Casual

| Jason Reitman
Max Winkler
Michael Weaver
Tricia Brock
Fred Savage
Karyn Kusama
Iain B. MacDonald
Lynn Shelton

| 23 episodes

2017

| Friends from College

| Nicholas Stoller
Andrew Gurland
Francesca Delbanco

| All 16 episodes

2020

| Homemade

| Kristen Stewart

| Episode "Crickets"

2023

| Platonic

| Nicholas Stoller
Francesca Delbanco

| 10 episodes

References

{{Reflist|30em}}