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Michael Chapman
★ Camera

Michael Chapman

1935 – 2020 · New York City, New York, USA · Active 1965–2025

Michael Crawford Chapman, A.S.C. (November 21, 1935 – September 20, 2020) was an American cinematographer and film director well known for his work on many films of the American New Wave of the 1970s and in the 1980s with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Ivan Reitman. He shot more than forty feature films, over half of those with only three different directors. Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Chapman (cinematographer), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

▶ Watch on SassyFlix 2 films available
Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

1978 ★ 7.2
as Health Dept. Floor Cleaner (uncredited)

A species of gelatinous creatures, having abandoned their dying planet and traveled to Earth, land in San Francisco. They infiltrate Earth's ecosystem, latching onto plant life and taking the form of small pods with fragrant pink flowers. Elizabeth Driscoll, a laboratory scientist at the San Francisco Health Department, brings one of the flowers home, where she lives with her boyfriend, Geoffrey. Leaving the flower on their bedside table, she awakens the next morning to discover Geoffrey behaving strangely cold and distant. Elizabeth's colleague, Matthew Bennell, suggests she speak to his psychiatrist friend, David Kibner, who is holding a book-signing party to promote his new self-help book. As Elizabeth and Matthew drive to the bookstore, a hysterical man on the road screams to them, shouting "They're coming! You'll be next!" before being chased away by a mob of people and then hit by a car. At the bookstore, while Matthew tries to report the accident to apparently unbelieving authorities, Elizabeth asks David for help regarding Geoffrey. David theorizes that people are using various pretexts to cope with their highly stressed lives, and suggests that Elizabeth is simply using the belief that Geoffrey is behaving differently as an excuse to end their relationship. Despite other people having also complained that their loved ones had become strange, she contemplates that David may be right. Meanwhile, Matthew's friend, Jack Bellicec, calls Matthew to investigate when a grotesque body covered in fibers, which resembles Jack, is found in his wife Nancy's mud baths. Sensing danger with these odd occurrences, Matthew goes to Elizabeth to warn her. After breaking into her house, he finds Elizabeth in a deep sleep, but also discovers a semi-formed duplicate of her in the bedroom. Suspecting Geoffrey's involvement, Matthew takes Elizabeth home with him, but when he returns later with the police, the duplicate body is gone. The following night, Matthew and his friends are nearly duplicated as they sleep, by four pods in Matthew's garden. The aliens gestate inside the pods, which grow to around 3 ft (1 m) in length before breaking open and spawning a human duplicate that grows rapidly. The pods duplicate humans while they are sleeping in the immediate vicinity, copying not just their physical characteristics, but also their memories. Once the duplication is complete, the original human dies and disintegrates, and the alien "pod person" takes their place. Matthew calls the police, but soon realizes that the department has been infiltrated. They have also begun tracking him through the phone lines, alerting others to the group's location. Matthew destroys his own semi-formed duplicate before escaping with the others, pursued by the aliens, who emit a shrill scream when they discover a human being among them, drawing other aliens nearby. Cornered at a dead-end road, Jack and Nancy break away and create a distraction, allowing Matthew and Elizabeth to hide and eventually escape back into the city. There, the pair takes refuge in the health department, where they each ingest a large dose of speed to prevent themselves from falling asleep. Again tracked through the phone lines, they are soon captured by Jack and David, who have been duplicated. Matthew and Elizabeth are injected with sedatives while being told of the aliens' intentions for survivability, but due to their previous consumption of speed, they do not fall asleep. They are able to kill Jack's duplicate and lock David in a refrigerated room, and escape. Matthew and Elizabeth reunite with Nancy, who has learned to evade the aliens by hiding her emotions and blending in with them. The two follow her example, but their cover is blown when Elizabeth screams at the sight of a mutant dog with a human head. They separate from Nancy amid the chaos, and quickly board a truck en route to Pier 70, where the aliens are cultivating more pods, intending to transport them to other cities. Matthew scouts around for a way to flee the area, but the ship he hopes they can get away on is also revealed to be carrying pods to distant locations. Matthew returns to Elizabeth, but she has fallen asleep and when he embraces her she disintegrates in his arms. Moments later the naked body of a duplicated Elizabeth appears, and she speaks enticingly to him to try to get him to join her. Pursued by the shrieking duplicate Elizabeth, he breaks into the docks' warehouse and burns down the building, destroying hundreds of pods. He flees and hides under a bridge, exhausted, as the aliens try to find him. One of his pursuers tells another he has to fall asleep eventually. Matthew, walking like an alien and showing no outward signs of emotion, returns to work at the health department. He watches several schoolchildren being taken for duplication, and more pods being prepared for the remaining West Coast cities. In the final scene, Matthew (Donald Sutherland) demonstrates the characteristic pose by which the "pod people" identify unconverted humans. At the end of the day, as he heads towards City Hall, he hears his name being called. Nancy, still on the loose, quietly approaches him and attempts a hushed conversation. To her horror he points at her and emits an earsplitting shriek. He has been replaced by a pod.

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Career Highlights Top 6 by popularity · TMDB

Filmography

86 credits
2020s 2 credits
2025
Movie
2021
The Rapist as Retired Filmmaker
Movie
2010s 3 credits
2014
Walking on Sunshine as Holiday Maker
Movie ★ 6.2
2012
Movie ★ 7.2
2000s 6 credits
2005
Movie ★ 9.0
2005
Movie ★ 8.0
2005
Movie ★ 8.0
2004
Suspect Zero as Prosecutor #1
Movie ★ 5.6
2004
Eulogy as Adult Film Cameraman
Movie ★ 6.4
2001
Evolution as Sheriff Long
Movie ★ 6.1
1990s 8 credits
1999
Movie ★ 6.9
1999
Movie ★ 6.1
1998
Movie ★ 6.1
1997
Movie ★ 8.0
1993
Rising Sun as Fred Hoffman
Movie ★ 6.1
1992
Movie ★ 7.0
1991
Doc Hollywood as Shooting Gallery Operator
Movie ★ 6.3
1990
Kindergarten Cop as Firefighter
Movie ★ 6.1
1980s 5 credits
1989
The Abyss as Dr. Berg
Movie ★ 7.3
1989
Third Degree Burn as Dan Rourke
Movie ★ 4.1
1988
Shoot to Kill as Lawyer
Movie ★ 6.6
1988
Gotham as Landlord
Movie ★ 5.5
1981
The Howling as Man at End of Bar (uncredited)
Movie ★ 6.6
1970s 2 credits
1978
Invasion of the Body Snatchers as Health Dept. Floor Cleaner (uncredited)
Movie ★ 7.2
1973
The Last Detail as Taxi Driver
Movie ★ 7.0
Crew Credits
2010s 2 credits
2013
Movie ★ 8.0
2000s 7 credits
2007
Bridge to Terabithia Director of Photography
Movie ★ 7.3
2006
Hoot Director of Photography
Movie ★ 5.7
2004
Suspect Zero Director of Photography
Movie ★ 5.6
2004
Eulogy Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.4
2004
House of D Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.3
2001
Evolution Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.1
2000
The Watcher Director of Photography
Movie ★ 5.1
1990s 14 credits
1999
The Story of Us Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.1
1999
The White River Kid Director of Photography
Movie ★ 4.9
1998
Six Days Seven Nights Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.1
1996
Primal Fear Director of Photography
Movie ★ 7.7
1996
Space Jam Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.8
1995
Movie ★ 4.9
1995
Movie ★ 4.9
1993
The Fugitive Director of Photography
Movie ★ 7.5
1993
Rising Sun Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.1
1992
Whispers in the Dark Director of Photography
Movie ★ 4.9
1991
Doc Hollywood Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.3
1991
Movie
1990
Kindergarten Cop Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.1
1990
Quick Change Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.7
1980s 13 credits
1989
Ghostbusters II Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.6
1988
Scrooged Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.8
1988
Gotham Director of Photography
Movie ★ 5.5
1988
Shoot to Kill Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.6
1987
The Lost Boys Director of Photography
Movie ★ 7.1
1986
Movie ★ 5.2
1986
Movie ★ 5.0
1983
The Man with Two Brains Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.2
1983
Movie ★ 5.8
1982
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.7
1982
Personal Best Director of Photography
Movie ★ 5.9
1980
Raging Bull Director of Photography
Movie ★ 7.9
1980
Steve Martin: Comedy Is Not Pretty Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.5
1970s 22 credits
1979
The Wanderers Director of Photography
Movie ★ 7.0
1979
Hardcore Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.7
1978
Invasion of the Body Snatchers Director of Photography
Movie ★ 7.2
1978
Fingers Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.3
1978
The Last Waltz Director of Photography
Movie ★ 7.6
1978
Shoot the Sun Down Director of Photography
Movie ★ 4.9
1978
Movie ★ 6.6
1978
King Director of Photography
TV ★ 6.4
1976
Taxi Driver Director of Photography
Movie ★ 8.1
1976
The Front Director of Photography
Movie ★ 7.0
1976
The Next Man Director of Photography
Movie ★ 4.4
1975
Jaws Camera Operator
Movie ★ 7.7
1975
Death Be Not Proud Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.0
1974
The White Dawn Director of Photography
Movie ★ 6.6
1973
The Last Detail Director of Photography
Movie ★ 7.0
1972
The Godfather Camera Operator
Movie ★ 8.7
1972
Up the Sandbox Camera Operator
Movie ★ 5.8
1971
Little Murders Camera Operator
Movie ★ 6.7
1971
Klute Camera Operator
Movie ★ 6.8
1970
The People Next Door Camera Operator
Movie ★ 5.8
1970
Loving Camera Operator
Movie ★ 5.8
1970
The Landlord Camera Operator
Movie ★ 5.8
1960s 2 credits
1968
Movie ★ 7.0
1965
Who Killed Teddy Bear? Assistant Camera
Movie ★ 6.3