Maxime Alexandre

Maxime Alexandre
Born(1971-02-04)February 4, 1971
NationalityBelgian, Italian
OccupationCinematographer
Known for

Maxime Alexandre, ASC, CCS (February 4, 1971 in Ronse, East Flanders, Belgium)[1][2][3] is a Belgian-Italian cinematographer, who was most recently cinematographer on the Netflix film Oxygen, the films Role Play directed by Vincent Thomas, Shazam! directed by David F. Sandberg, and Crawl, directed by Alexandre Aja.

Early life

Born in Ronse, Belgium in 1971, Alexandre moved with his family to Rome when he was five. His stepfather, Inigo Lezzi (at the time assistant director for Marco Bellocchio, Gianni Amelio, and Nanni Moretti), guided him through discovering the Italian cinema greats. Alexandre soon worked as a young actor in several movies, including Une Page d'amour, directed by Elie Chouraqui, with Anouk Aimee and Bruno Cremer, and Nanni Moretti Bianca in 1984.

A few years later, he discovered a passion for photography on the set of a short movie directed by his stepfather. In the late 1980s, his family moved to Paris. He began his career in the camera department working on commercials, learning from great cinematographers like Darius Khondji, Jean-Yves Escoffier, Pierre Lhomme, Vilko Filac, and Italian cinematographers including Tonino Delli Colli, and Franco Di Giacomo. His earliest work as a director of photography was shooting the second commercial unit for Michel Gondry.

Career

Then, in 2001, he met Alexandre Aja and Grégory Levasseur when he shot the second unit for Aja’s father, Alexandre Arcady, on BREAK OF DAWN written by Aja and Levasseur. Two years later, the three of them collaborated on Aja’s directorial debut, High Tension Haute Tension. The movie was internationally recognized as the beginning of the new wave of horror in French cinema and was picked up for distribution by Lionsgate. He collaborated again with Aja on the remake of The Hills Have Eyes (2006 film) and Mirrors (film), during which he met Wes Craven, with whom he worked on Paris, je t'aime. The film screened in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. Marock, a movie directed by Laila Marrakchi in 2005, also went to Cannes.

In 2006, he was recognized by Variety as one of its Ten Cinematographers to Watch. Several other films have followed, including P2, directed by Franck Khalfoun, and THE CRAZIES by Breck Eisner. In 2008, he directed his first feature film, HOLY MONEY, starring Aaron Stanford, Ben Gazzara, Valeria Solarino, and Joaquim De Almeida. His second film as director, CHRISTOPHER ROTH, was selected for several festivals, including the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, the Rome Independent Film Festival; Brazil’s Cinefantasy, where it won Best Movie, Best Villain, Best Make Up, Best SFX, and Best Soundtrack; and won the Best Director at the Italian 2nd Fantasy Horror Awards. Director Michael J. Bassett’s 2011 film SILENT HILL REVELATION was his first feature as a 3D cinematographer.

In 2012, he worked on Maniac, directed by Franck Khaifoun and starring Elijah Wood, which premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. He shot Dave Green’s film EARTH TO ECHO in 2014. That year, he also shot The Voices, starring Ryan Reynolds and Anna Kendrick. The film, directed by Marjane Satrapi, premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.

He has been a member of the Italian Society of Cinematographers and American Society of Cinematographers since 2023.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Director Notes
2003 High Tension Alexandre Aja
2004 Mariage mixte Alexandre Arcady
The Defender Dolph Lundgren
2005 Marock Laïla Marrakchi
2006 The Hills Have Eyes Alexandre Aja
The Last Drop Colin Teague
2007 Catacombs Tomm Coker
David Elliot
P2 Franck Khalfoun
2008 Mirrors Alexandre Aja
2009 Holy Money Himself
2010 The Crazies Breck Eisner
Christopher Roth Himself
2011 The End Jorge Torregrossa
L'amante du rif Narjiss Nejjar
2012 Maniac Franck Khalfoun
Silent Hill: Revelation 3D M. J. Bassett
2014 Earth to Echo Dave Green
The Voices Marjane Satrapi
2015 Lady of Csejte Andrei Konst
Grotto Micol Pallucca
2016 The Other Side of the Door Johannes Roberts
The 9th Life of Louis Drax Alexandre Aja
2017 Annabelle: Creation David F. Sandberg
2018 The Nun Corin Hardy
The Domestics Mike P. Nelson
2019 Shazam! David F. Sandberg
Crawl Alexandre Aja
Countdown Justin Dec
2020 Come Play Jacob Chase
2021 Oxygen Alexandre Aja
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City Johannes Roberts
2023 The Cello Darren Lynn Bousman
2024 Role Play Thomas Vincent
Never Let Go Alexandre Aja
2025 Until Dawn David F. Sandberg Post-production
TBA Frontier Crucible Travis Mills Filming

Short film

Year Title Director Notes
2006 Pére-Lachaise Wes Craven Segment of Paris, je t'aime
2012 The Devil's Dosh Zachary Guerra

Television

Year Title Director Notes
2013 Air Force One Is Down Cilla Ware Miniseries
2016 The Wilding Ciarán Foy TV movie
2020 The Haunting of Bly Manor Mike Flanagan
Ciarán Foy
Liam Gavin
E. L. Katz
6 episodes
2021 The Girl in the Woods Krysten Ritter
Jacob Chase
8 episodes
2024 The Pendragon Cycle Jesse V. Johnson
Jeremy Boreing
3 episodes

References

  1. ^ "Maxime Alexandre". Internet Encyclopaedia of Cinematographers. Retrieved 2013-06-08.
  2. ^ "Cinematographer Teases New Horror in Prequel". Brandon Katz, Observer. 9 August 2017.
  3. ^ Bhavani, Divya Kala (20 September 2018). "Inverting the lighting process". The Hindu. Divya Kala Bhavani, The Indu.