Reed Morano

Reed Morano
Born (1977-04-15) April 15, 1977 (age 47)
Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Other namesReed Dawson Morano
Reed Morano Walker
Alma materNew York University (BA)
Occupations
  • Film director
  • cinematographer
Years active1998–present
Spouse
Matt Walker
​
​
(m. 2008; div. 2018)​
Children2
AwardsPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (2017)
Websitereedmorano.com

Reed Morano (born April 15, 1977)[1] is an American film director and cinematographer. Morano was the first woman in history to win both the Emmy and Directors Guild Award for directing a drama series in the same year for the pilot episode of The Handmaid's Tale. Morano is known for her cinematography work on feature films such as Frozen River (2008), Kill Your Darlings (2013) and The Skeleton Twins (2014).

In 2013, Morano became the youngest member of the American Society of Cinematographers at that time, and one of only 14 women in an organization of approximately 345 active members.[2] Two years later, she made her directorial debut with her critically acclaimed feature film Meadowland. She also directed the first three episodes of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale, for which she won an Emmy Award.[3] She also won a Directors Guild of America Award for directing a drama series for the episode "Offred" of The Handmaid's Tale, which makes her the first woman to win the Emmy and Directors Guild Award for directing a drama series.[4][5]

Early life

Morano was born in Omaha, Nebraska, one of two children of Lyn and Winslow Mankin.[6] Sometime after she moved her with family to Minnesota at 8 months old, her parents divorced, and she and her brother, Justin (now a professor of climate science at Dartmouth College[7][8]) lived with their mother on Long Island.[9] After summering on Fire Island, they moved there year-round when her mother married Casey Morano.[6][9] Morano acquired two older step-siblings and, later, half-siblings Jordan, Morgan and Ali.[9] The blended family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, when Morano was in third grade; they returned to Long Island three years later, and Morano attended Beach Street Middle School in West Islip, New York. After further family moves, Morano attended high school in Hanover, New Hampshire.[9]

Her father, Casey, realizing her interest in theater and drama, "gave me a video camera and said, 'You’re gonna be the family documentarian.' When it was time to go to college, I was going to apply to Boston University for journalism and dad said, 'You love telling stories and taking pictures, why not apply to film school?'"[9]

Morano subsequently attended New York University and graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts Film and TV program in 2000.[10] She returned to NYU as an adjunct cinematography professor and co-instructed the first Advanced Television classes offered.[1]

Career

As a cinematographer

Morano's cinematography has appeared regularly at the Sundance Film Festival beginning in 2008 with Frozen River (credited as Reed Dawson Morano),[11] which won the Grand Jury prize.[12][13] The film was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Picture.[14] In 2011, Little Birds, shot by Morano, premiered at Sundance as well.[15] The following year, two films shot by Morano premiered there: a feature-length documentary about the band LCD Soundsystem, Shut Up and Play the Hits,[16] and So Yong Kim’s For Ellen (credited as Reed Morano Walker), starring Paul Dano.[17]

In 2013, Kill Your Darlings, a 35mm period piece about the beat poets, set in 1943, premiered there ,[18] and screened as the Toronto International Film Festival[19] and the Venice film festival. The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete (2013) premiered at Sundance as well.[20] and theatrically released;[21] In 2014, two feature films shot by Morano premiered there: The Skeleton Twins,[22] a dark comedy starring Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader, directed by Craig Johnson,[23][24] and Mark Jackson’s War Story, a dark drama filmed in Sicily starring Catherine Keener and Sir Ben Kingsley.[25]

Morano also served as director of photography on season one of HBO's drama Looking in 2014.[26] and took over as lead DP on Vinyl, produced by Martin Scorsese, Terence Winter and Mick Jagger.[27]

As a director

Morano also served as her own director of photography on her directorial debut, the critically acclaimed drama Meadowland, starring Olivia Wilde, Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, Elisabeth Moss, Juno Temple and John Leguizamo.[28][29] It premiered in the dramatic competition at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2015.[30]

In 2017, Morano directed the first three episodes of the television adaptation of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, which was released by the streaming service Hulu in April 2017. For her work on The Handmaid's Tale, she won an Emmy Award.[3] She also won a Directors Guild of America Award for directing a drama series for the episode "Offred" of The Handmaid's Tale, which makes her the first woman in history to win both the Emmy and Directors Guild Award for directing a drama series in the same year.[4][5]

In 2018, Morano directed and shot I Think We're Alone Now, a post-apocalyptic drama centering on the companionship between Del (Peter Dinklage) and Grace (Elle Fanning).[31] The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival,[32] and was later released to theaters on September 14, 2018.[33]

In 2020, Morano released her third feature film as director The Rhythm Section, starring Blake Lively, Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown.

Personal life

Morano married fellow cinematographer and gaffer Matt Walker in 2008.[6] They divorced in 2018. They have two sons together. Reed lives with her sons in Brooklyn, New York.[34] Elder son Casey appeared in Morano's film Meadowland. In 2021 she began a relationship with actor-director Tim Robbins. [35]

Filmography

Cinematographer

Film

Year Title Director
2005 Brooklyn Battery Joshua Rofé
2007 Once Upon a Film Dex Decker
2008 Frozen River Courtney Hunt
2011 Little Birds Elgin James
Yelling to the Sky Victoria Mahoney
2012 For Ellen So Yong Kim
Free Samples Jay Gammil
The Magic of Belle Isle Rob Reiner
2013 Kill Your Darlings John Krokidas
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete George Tillman Jr.
Autumn Blood Markus Blunder
2014 The Skeleton Twins Craig Johnson
War Story Mark Jackson
And So It Goes Rob Reiner
2015 Meadowland Herself
2018 I Think We're Alone Now

Documentary film

Year Title Director Notes
2007 Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa Jeremy Stulberg
Randy Strulberg 		With Ari Issler, Liz Rubin and Isabel Vega
2012 Shut Up and Play the Hits Will Lovelce
DylanSouthern
2017 Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold Griffin Dunne With Tom Hurwitz and William Rexer

Television

Year Title Director Notes
2006 Cover Shot 22 episodes
2006-2008 Psychic Detectives 15 episodes
2009 Don't Sweat It Josh Abrahamson
Brian Wray 		2 episodes
Closet Cases 2 episodes
2014 Looking Andrew Haigh
Ryan Fleck
Joe Swanberg
Jamie Babbit		 8 episodes
2016 Vinyl Allen Coulter
S. J. Clarkson
Nicole Kassell
Jon S. Baird
 5 episodes
Divorce Jesse Peretz Episode "Pilot"

Director

Film

Television

Year Title Director Executive
Producer 		Episode(s)
2016 Halt and Catch Fire Yes No "You Are Safe"
2017 Billions Yes No "Risk Management"
The Handmaid's Tale Yes Yes "Offred"
"Birth Day"
"Late"

Videography

Cinematographer

Music videos

Year Title Artist
2016 "Sandcastles" Beyoncé
"No Love Like Yours"[36] Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Commercials

Title Brand
"Eaten Alive"[37] 1-800 Contacts
"Is It Still Paint?"[38] Benjamin Moore & Co.
"iPad Pro"[citation needed] Apple
"Anthem"[citation needed] CitiBank
[citation needed] American Airlines

Director

Commercial

Title Brand
"A Story Takes Flight"[citation needed] Visit Dubai

Accolades and recognition

In 2011, Morano was honored at the Women in Film and Television International's Crystal + Lucy awards with the 2011 Kodak Vision Award.[39] The same year, she was named one of Variety's “10 Cinematographers to Watch”.[40] Morano has also been featured as one of Ioncinema.com’s “American New Wave 25″[41] and one of five innovative cinematographers in ICG Magazine’s “Generation Next” spotlight.[42]

Later in 2012, Morano's work was featured in IndieWire’s "On the Rise '12: 5 Cinematographers Lighting Up Screens in Recent Years."[43] IndieWire also featured Morano as a “Heroine of Cinema” in both 2011 and 2013. In 2012, Morano was featured in Kodak’s long-running OnFilm series. The following year, she became the youngest member of the American Society of Cinematographers, and one of 14 women in an organization of approximately 345 active members.[2]

In 2015, Morano was named Woman of the Year at the Fusion Film Festival.[44]

In 2017, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale.[45]

References

  1. ^ a b "Alumni: Reed Morano". New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2017. American cinematographer and director Reed Morano was born on April 15, 1977 in Omaha, Nebraska.
  2. ^ a b Berstein, Paula. "8 Female Cinematographers You Should Know About". Indiewire. Archived from the original on April 29, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Andreeva, Nellie (2017-09-18). "'Handmaid's Tale's Reed Morano's Emmy Win A Breakthrough For Female Directors". Deadline. Archived from the original on 2018-08-02. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
  4. ^ a b Dave McNary. "DGA Awards: 2018 Winners List – Variety". Variety.com. Archived from the original on 2019-02-03. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
  5. ^ a b Joyce Eng (2018-01-31). "DGA Awards: Reed Morano first woman to win Emmy and DGA for drama?". GoldDerby. Archived from the original on 2018-02-04. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
  6. ^ a b c Pendana, Sharon (June 6, 2011). "The Trove: Reed Morano Walker". (interview) Pendulumswing.Wordpress.com. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  7. ^ "Dartmouth Climate Modeling & Impacts Group". github. Archived from the original on October 1, 2018. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
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