Cinematographer Armando Salas is back in the Emmy race with Netflix’s “Griselda,” the limited series that explores the life of Griselda Blanco, the notorious Colombian drug lord who built her own drug empire in Miami, rising to power in the 1970s-80s, and ultimately becoming La Madrina, the godmother.
Previously nominated for “Ozark” and working together with director Andrés Baiz (“Narcos”, “The Sandman”) for the first time, the duo carved out a distinct visual style that mirrors Griselda’s journey as she tries to make it in a man’s world.
“One of the things that drew me to “Griselda” was that it was six chapters with one director,” shares the cinematographer. “We could develop the vision over time, put our stamp on it, and that was all very exciting.”
Sofia Vergara shines as the titular character, a significant dramatic departure from her usual comedic roles. The five-time Emmy-nominated actress had never done complicated camera movements with choreography before. “The first week was a big challenge because she hadn’t learned the mechanics yet, and I was worried, the director worried,” reveals Salas. “She was so great and had no ego about it, and after 1 1/2 weeks she was a pro.”
Salas spoke to Awards Focus about creating Miami in Los Angeles, working with Sofia Vergara, and recreating the Dadeland massacre shootout in a single shot.
Awards Focus: You grew up in Miami, how much were you familiar with the Griselda Blanco story beforehand?
Armando Salas: Growing up there not so much because as a kid you don’t really get told that aspect of things, but I shot a documentary 20 years ago called “Cocaine Cowboys,” so I was very familiar with many of the characters.
Growing up in Miami, there’s just a sense of feeling – the vibe, the life, the sky, the clouds – that was important to me. Not so much the minutia of the way the locations really looked, it’s more about a vibe that made you ignore we were shooting in Los Angeles.
AF: Was there a detail you were set on having in your shots to create that vibe?
Salas: The skies. Very early on I had conversations with the VFX producer, because we were composing in 1.66:1, it was a pretty tall canvas, and I knew that our daytime experience would feature a lot of sky. Most of the time, especially in Long Beach at the time we were shooting, we’d have very blue skies. Clear, blank plates of chromo blue that we could essentially replace very simply.
I convinced them to go get a library of clouds from Miami and we had this wonderful library of clouds for big wide shots. Obviously, the wardrobe, the cars, the dressing from art department, but as soon as those clouds go into that sky it completely takes you outside of Los Angeles. You’re transformed to another place.
AF: Working with director Andrés Baiz, being able to do the whole story together which doesn’t often happen with series, could you talk a little bit about your collaboration?
Salas: One of the things that drew me to “Griselda” was that it was six chapters with one director. We could develop the vision over time, put our stamp on it, and that was all very exciting. What elevated it was that after just a couple of weeks of prep, Andy and I were best friends, it was a wonderful collaboration.
We had different approaches to things, but they were complementary. He is a cinephile and we watched hundreds of scenes and sequences of movies, none of which were crime movies or drug movies, many of them weren’t even from the period. It was just, “Look at the way the camera never moves and yet there’s all this incredible blocking in this sequence” or “Look at the way they’ve taken this party and the feeling of being high,” and then the obvious questioning of maybe it’s fun to get high, or wait, is it not good. All of these ideas that were ruminating in his head, and because we had a lengthy prep together, we could refine all of that, and land on our own unique vision for the show.
The collaboration was wonderful, by the time we got to the set we spoke very little.
AF: I want to ask about the campanita shot in episode 4 and how you recreated the Dadeland massacre shootout at the liquor store. Especially, building a set around the shot.
Salas: We had to shoot the Dadeland massacre and the aftermath, but we only had one day at this location. It was a huge challenge and even though we were shooting it late in the schedule, we were thinking about it months ahead of time. When the art department found this shell of a store front, it was a huge achievement because it was a period accurate building, attached to a mall. There’s an empty shell and we can decide the layout, so they take it out on the sound stage for us, and Andy and I are just walking, 10 minutes one day, 20 minutes another day, just thinking about how we’re going to get through this day and how we’re going to put our stamp on this.
Finally, he said, “What if there’s a bell on the door and the bell rings?” The campanita, he was talking in Spanish. The shot just developed from that point forward. So, it was a single shot where the entire action sequence happened in real time, and hundreds of rounds of bullets are fired, bottles explode, three people are killed.
Then it became about the logistics, working with the departments, we mapped out the camera move, we built a miniature set with the dimensions of the dolly and everything else, so we know exactly how big the shelves would be, where the bottles would go. Then we just worked on getting the reset time down to 45 minutes, so that we can do three takes of the shot. Essentially, when it was all said and done, it was months and months of prep, but it was 3 hours to shoot that entire shootout.
AF: Let’s talk about working with Sofia Vergara who is so great in this, but specifically from your perspective what was the collaboration like and going through different camera movements with her?
Salas: First of all, Sofia has incredible work ethic, she was in the chair for like 2-3 hours getting the prosthetic on, the make-up; she had very long days. She was always very happy, very open-hearted, very collaborative. She had never ever done complicated camera movements with choreography, with a telescopic crane, with a steady camera, which required moving around the set and landing at all these points.
The first week was a big challenge because she hadn’t learned the mechanics yet, and I was worried, the director worried. She was so great and had no ego about it, and after 1 1/2 weeks she was a pro. She could do it all.
There was a few days of biting our nails, because it was like, “Well, don’t you want me to rotate this way?” and I said, “No, you come in, turn around this corner, land on your mark. You do your thing, ignore that we are here. I know this giant crane is coming at you and it looks like it’s going to smash you in the face, I promise we’re not going to hit you.” It was just building up the trust and the collaboration, and she was wonderful, we had a great relationship doing it.
AF: I love how Griselda’s placement in the frame changes throughout the show. Specifically, episode 4 comes to mind as she gives a rousing speech to the newly recruited Marielitos, and you’re shooting up at her and she’s filling the entire frame.
Salas: We start down on the cocaine as it’s getting doused in gasoline, and as we move through it and look up at her, we come up to meet her. As the speech starts, there’s no more camera movement, it’s all locked in on her. She’s basically at the center of every shot, she’s in the center and then we go behind her and see her silhouetted in the fire. We don’t know what she’s going to do yet, but we know that she’s doing something big. It’s a great moment.
AF: Could you talk about the aspect ratio you chose for this and how that helped you portray Griselda?
Salas: Early on, Andy and I were talking about aspect ratio and the benefits of widescreen versus not, and what each of them would give us in terms of options. He thought that if we went with the European Academy aspect ratio of 1.66:1, it would help isolate her in a looser shot. We had a taller aspect ratio, so we could isolate her without having to be right on top of her.
I had never shot on 1.66:1 before, so it was exciting for me because I get to rediscover the world in a different way.