Dante Spinotti was born in Tolmezzo, in Italy’s north-eastern province of Udine, in 1943. He began his career with the State broadcaster RAI, after learning the rudiments of the cinematographer’s trade with a filmmaking uncle, Renato Spinotti, in Kenya. In 1985 he got his big break in Hollywood from producer Dino De Laurentiis, who brought him over for Michael Mann’s film Manhunter (1986). That experience was the catalyst for a stellar career in America, studded with hits that drew acclaim from both critics and audiences, such as The Last of the Mohicans (Michael Mann, 1992), Heat (Michael Mann, 1995), L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997), The Insider (Michael Mann, 1999) – with the last two bringing Academy Award nominations – and, more recently, X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Ratner, 2006), Public Enemies (Michael Mann, 2009), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Michael Apted, 2010).
In Italy his collaborations have included those with Ermanno Olmi on La leggenda del santo bevitore (The Legend of the Holy Drinker, 1988) and Il segreto del bosco vecchio (The Secret of the Old Woods, 1993); with Giuseppe Tornatore on L'uomo delle stelle (The Star Maker, 1995), for which he won a Nastro d’Argento; and with Roberto Benigni on Pinocchio (2002), for which he was nominated for a David di Donatello. His recent films include Ant-Man and the Wasp (Peyton Reed, 2018), Fatale (Deon Taylor, 2020) and Elyse (Stella Hopkins, 2020). In February 2012, the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) in Hollywood, the world’s oldest such association, gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award. In the same year he was elected to the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). He is Honorary President of the Cineteca del Friuli regional film archive, where the Fondo Dante Spinotti has been set up as a special collection to preserve and enhance his legacy.