You can now call him Sir Roger Deakins! The legendary cinematographer and two-time Oscar-winner was knighted as part of the Queen’s annual New Year Honors list for his exceptional contribution to film.
And while 2020 was quite the horrible year, but regardless, Sir Roger Deakins getting knighted offers a symbolic glimmer of hope for our ailing industry. Not to mention a totally valid reason to raise a few fine Scotch glasses in his honor tonight!
One of Cinematography’s Greatest Living DP’s
Lensing cult feature film such as the “Shawshank Redemption” and “Fargo”, he was the most frequent collaborator with the Coen Brothers over the last three decades. Sir Roger Deakins lensed some of my favorite films (and yours probably too) such as “The Big Lebowski” and “The Assassination of Jesse James”, which further solidified his mark as one of the greats.
He then went on to cement his legacy with his incredible cinematography on major motion pictures such a Skyfall, Sicario, Blade Runner 2049 and 1917, the latter two of which he received (long overdue) Oscars for.

ARRI cameras all the way – from film to digital
As a lifelong ARRI user, he has used mostly, if not exclusively, ARRI film and digital cameras, with the ALEXA Mini LF being the latest, and arguably his favorite (digital) ARRI camera.
Furthermore, ARRI recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the ALEXA family of cameras, and the company is due to release a new ARRI Super35 4K camera in 2021.
Check out ARRI’s interview with him on how he and his team used the ALEXA Mini LF, Signature Prime lenses, and the TRINITY stabilizer on 1917:
Explore Sir Roger Deakin’s immense body of work and check out his podcast over at his official website here.