Why the ‘Cape Fear’ Acid Freakout Demanded a New Set of Visual Tools

Martin Scorsese‘s 1991 remake of the 1962 thriller “Cape Fear” is one of the most aesthetically daring movies ever to come from a Hollywood studio, a dizzying barrage of whip-pans, accelerated camera moves, and unconventional angles designed to convey the emotional states of characters who are dysfunctional at best (the Bowden family played by Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, and Juliette Lewis) and psychotic at worst (Robert De Niro‘s iconic villain Max Cady).

That Scorsese is able to sustain the unceasing visual energy and ambition for two hours is astonishing, which makes the feat of Apple’s new “Cape Fear” all the more impressive; following Scorsese’s example in its fearlessness, it too ratchets up the visual stylization far beyond what most TV shows or movies would dare, only it has to do it for 10 one-hour episodes. Under the guidance of series creator Nick Antosca (“The Act,” “Friend of the Family”), alternating “Cape Fear” cinematographers Celiana Cárdenas and Eben Bolter absorb several of Scorsese’s techniques but develop the visual language to create a “Cape Fear” that stands on its own — and rarely repeats itself.

“What I love about the series is that each episode is different,” Cárdenas told IndieWire, noting that Antosca’s expansion of the original story — which keeps the audience guessing regarding Cady’s intentions and the various characters’ guilt or innocence throughout the series — allowed her to express different ideas as our perception of and identification with the main players shifted from one episode to the next. “Understanding the tone of each episode was important — where the characters are, and whether the camera should be objective or more subjective.”

In the show’s latest episode, Cárdenas was able to take the idea of a subjective camera as far as she could imagine, thanks to a development where Max Cady — or is it someone else? — slips acid into the Bowden family’s beverages. Cárdenas talked with episode director Trey Edward Shults about the right way to illustrate the Bowdens’ POV and landed on a number of devices that would alter reality without becoming overly self-conscious.

“With an acid trip, the first thing that comes to your mind is to use all kinds of crazy stuff to distort the image,” Cárdenas said. “But I think what’s happening to the family is more internal than visual.” To convey the family’s internal unease, Cárdenas landed on a number of devices that were subtle but significant in terms of changing the optics of the series. “The whole series is shot with Atlas Mercury lenses, and we have an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. I said, ‘Why don’t we go with something softer and a little bit more dreamy?'”

Celiana Cárdenas, AMCCourtesy of Apple

To that end, Cárdenas switched from the Atlas lenses to vintage Super Baltars from the 1960s, and gradually shifted the aspect ratio from 2.35 to a more vertically oriented frame — the letterboxed image to which the audience has grown accustomed starts to fill more of the HD television screen as the acid trip kicks in.

“Maybe you only feel it unconsciously, but I think it’s enough,” Cárdenas said, adding that there was one more step to changing the visual language of the show for the acid episode: finding a way to show what she described as the feverish quality that was raging inside the characters’ heads.

That feverish feeling partly came from a story point — that it’s summer and the Bowdens’ air conditioning is broken. “I wanted to take that feverish feeling and translate it to the camera,” Cárdenas said. “I came up with the idea of these lens flares, starting with blues and yellows, and then we finish with orange.”

Cárdenas said she took her cues from the actors, who discussed how their characters were feeling during the acid trip. “We all worked together, thinking the same thing.”

For Cárdenas, the collaboration with the actors is crucial, as is giving them the space in which to feel free to do their best work. “I try to give the actors as much freedom as possible, and of course, it’s challenging to give them 360 degrees in which they and the directors can move,” Cárdenas said. “But how many movies have we seen where the camera can be a little out of focus, or the framing is not quite right, but it doesn’t matter because the performances are amazing? The performances and the story are the most important thing.”

“Cape Fear” is currently streaming on Apple TV.