Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Bella Gonzales of 'Ted Lasso'

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Exclusive Interview: Bella Gonzales of 'Ted Lasso' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Ted Lasso continues to be one of Apple TV's most successful shows,
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  recently returning with the highly anticipated fourth season.
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  While many of our beloved characters returned,
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  the latest outing pushes them into unfamiliar territories.
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  So how do you balance something old with something new?
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  Director of photography for the premiere episode,
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  Bella Gonzalez is here to discuss just that.
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  Thank you so much for being here,
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  Bella.
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  Thank you so much.
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  so Ted Lasso is such a beloved series and has such a distinct visual identity.
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  What was it like kind of stepping into show that already had three seasons
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  of visual history behind it?
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  I think it made for an a really great challenge for me.
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  ~ because I am such a fan of the show that I wanted,
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  you know, I wanted it to feel like Ted Lasso and I didn't want to depart too much.
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  However, I think the assignment given to me when I got hired for
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  the episode was that they wanted it to feel different.
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  They wanted it to really, you know,
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  tell the story of Americana, of Kansas and ~
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  They wanted an American sensibility.
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  And so I felt so honored to kind of take on that job.
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  ~ but I still think it comes from the same place of just like really studying
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  the material ~ and kind of figuring out like my non-negotiables from
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  the previous seasons. ~ that kind of just make the show
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  so instantaneously recognizable.
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  Ted Lasso is just one of those shows where you see one frame,
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  even if Ted's not in it, and you can kind of
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  perfectly know what show it is.
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  And so I think I just wanted to like tap into that while like pushing a kind
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  of a different visual language for the premiere.
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  You know, I was I was kinda late to the Ted Lasso game.
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  I didn't see it until right before like season four-ish.
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  You know, my friend's like, You really need to watch the show,
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  it's one of the best out there.
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  And having binged it, and then I recently when this opportunity came up,
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  I was like my was visiting my mom.
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  I Listen, gonna sit down and watch again.
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  And you're right, every scene,
• 2:00
  every visual, everything about this show,
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  like you could just it's it's it's a shot of a of a room and you're like,
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  that's Ted Lasso. Like you just know from the moment you see it that that's exactly
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  what it is.
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  Yeah.
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  What do you think kind of makes that so like what is it about it that makes
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  it so iconic?
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  Well, I think sp the first thing is Paul Cripps,
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  our production designer who's been on since the beginning.
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  I think a lot of it has to do with the color,
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  the design, ~ Richmond, red and blue.
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  ~ like that is, you know, kind of burnt into my brain from the from
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  all the previous seasons. And then I think,
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  you know, David Romm, who's kind of in the DP since the pilot,
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  he kind of explored this way of,
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  you know, having like a
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  dramatic approach to it, even though it was a comedy.
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  ~ and kind of like embracing this single camera entity where like
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  the frame is exactly where it should be,
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  where eye level, we're like involved in the conversation.
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  So it's it really is supposed to feel like you are a part of the world and
• 3:02
  you are a part of the team and like that you get that access to him,
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  which I think is really specific to that show.
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  And
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  And I also just think really specific to kind of the language that I come from
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  as an individual when I approach anything is ~ is just like
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  how can I visually explain how a character is feeling and
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  how the world looks to them. ~ and so that kind of approach I think
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  is just fundamentally Ted Lasso and like the layering in blocking ~ that kind
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  of tells a relationship, you know.
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  Keighley and Roy, if they're if they're kind of together or if they're not together,
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  it's all really told by the framing.
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  So I think the camera work is just heavily specific and kind of in tune with
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  the design. ~ just knows what it is.
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  It has a really d distinct DNA.
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  For sure. And you kind of mentioned that when you were hired for the project,
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  they wanted something d different,
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  but you were also having those like non negotiable things that needed to be in it.
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  How do you like how do you begin to approach balancing that a little bit
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  of old Ted Lasso while also giving it that distinct new identity?
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  Think the first thing I did was went back and watched all the first episodes
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  of all the seasons. Pilots,
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  Okay.
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  one third episode. Cause I wanna s I wanted to see how we
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  get reintroduced every season and like the whimsy of how we're let in.
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  That was really important to me.
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  And I wanted it to feel familiar like that,
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  especially because it's been so long.
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  It's the longest break between seasons.
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  And so I wanted that little bit of in like instantaneous identibility.
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  But also, you know.
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  I was given this reference of The Wizard of Oz.
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  And I think that's what I kind of took and ran with it.
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  And obviously it's inspired in the wardrobe and just the setting of Kansas.
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  It just is so appropriate
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  Sure.
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  ~ for Ted to be home and for our guests from our like loved faces from Richmond
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  to be coming, ~ and stepping into a different story themselves into Kansas
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  was really inspiring. And then I just
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  You know, spending time in Kansas,
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  ~ really kind of just looking at the quality of light and the heat.
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  You know, it was Kansas City, Missouri in the summer.
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  And so it really was putting these actors that are used to English weather
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  in American summer. ~ and so like I think all of that just really inspired me.
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  ~ you know, and keeping the camera work very reminiscent.
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  And I think where I kind of
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  creatively divulged was in the lighting.
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  And ~ you know, I made a really specific filtration stack
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  ~ in front of the lens because I kept the same lens and same camera.
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  That was important to me. But how the camera kind of evolved was the thing that
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  I kind of was, you know, sitting on creatively.
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  and I'm really happy with it because to me,
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  when I watch it, it feels like Ted Lasso.
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  It doesn't feel like
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  completely different show, but it does feel like we're not in Richmond.
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  and so yeah, I think all those things really just inspired me massively.
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  What I love about that too is it it kind of reminds you of like the end
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  of Wizard of Oz, where like they do go back to like what normal life is.
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  Like his reality is kind of being,
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  you know, America. And like you said,
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  it like that, what does that happen when you bring those characters from England,
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  you know, or the UK over to this world and it's ve vastly different,
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  you know? Things like I'd never even thought of like,
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  not only just for the storybook characters,
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  but for the actors and how we're filming,
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  what does he do to something like that?
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  Yeah, it's I I felt it so appropriate.
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  I mean, there's so many themes in this episode that are kind of along
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  Ted Lasso throughout the t entire time,
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  but you know, themes of like family and
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  and and and purpose and you know identity and where you're supposed to be,
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  what is home. I think the title is kind of everything,
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  right? It's it's we're seeing where Ted came from originally.
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  We're seeing where all his sayings and all his mannerisms
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  and that like friendliness, overt friendliness.
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  We see where that all comes from.
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  ~ and then also I think there's the element of,
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  you know, what is home? And now his whole family gets to go be in
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  a very important place to him where all of our other characters
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  are considering home. So I I I don't know.
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  I just like those themes are so important.
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  And I've found that throughout
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  The Wizard of Oz in this journey,
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  right? Just like signifying that journey,
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  ~ to find yourself, to find home.
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  That's just really what kind of drove me.
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  And then just like, you know, going through the emotions of that too,
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  because Ted Lasso's really special where it's a comedy,
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  but it's got a lot of heart and it touches on a lot of really universal themes.
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  ~ and so to have that like blue sky picturesque kind of storybook tale,
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  and but then also show him alone and what that's like.
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  without all the whimsy of family and friends,
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  ~ you know, still being alone in a place that's home.
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  I think that's something that a lot of people can connect with.
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  What I love about that too is that,
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  you the psychologist part of me is never far from this,
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  like this like this part of my life.
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  And to think that like when we talk about like going home,
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  that part of that is the good,
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  but it's also the bad, you know,
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  and that's what you're kind of talking about there too,
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  of just being like when you remove yourself from the the forward facing Ted Lasso,
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  you know, Ted's very bubbly and you know,
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  Yes.
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  he's
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  always happy in front of people.
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  But like what happens when that's not,
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  you know, what maybe reality is,
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  or that's when out home it always is all the time.
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  That can be very different for a character such as that.
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  Definitely. I think it it's what makes him so lovable.
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  Cause he's kind of he's kind of very approachable,
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  but he's also very complex. ~ and then all of these themes are again
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  are just so universal. ~ and you know,
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  I really I really connect with it.
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  I think like I have a very close relationship with my father.
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  And so I just think this idea of fatherhood and wanting your son to be proud of you,
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  like you were proud of your.
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  father and like just these things that really resonated with me.
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  and you know, as someone who works mostly out of the country,
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  really is never home herself, I I really do sit with these themes a lot.
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  And I can kind of identify
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  Sure.
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  that sometimes when I go home to my own place,
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  it doesn't feel exactly whole,
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  I would say, you know, but
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  So that's just really special for me because I got to like tap into a lot of that.
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  But then also I'm such a big fan and proponent of comedy.
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  ~ and just wanting the comedy space to be flourishing,
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  that I think, you know, I wanted to kind of honor both sides of the coin.
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  I wanted it to be really funny and a warm hug,
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  and I also wanted it to be like complex like Ted.
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  I love that. I mean, and that's also how,
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  you know, again, a real life situation of that,
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  like during the the complexities of life,
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  sometimes you just need that humor to make things feel a little bit better.
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  You know, again, bringing pulling into that little bit of storybook feel here.
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  Yes. I think that's comedy is like the best comedy for me and this the stuff that
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  I really like has layers to it because I think everything is contrast.
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  Like you need black to have white,
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  right? So I think comedy really leans on like sometimes when you have
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  a really serious moment I think the comedy hits even harder because life
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  is not just sad and life is not just fun.
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  It's you know, it's duality and it's the
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  the, you know, bad times that make the sweet times sweeter.
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  And so I really think that the show is kind of just like a beautiful amalgamation
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  of that. and really just like taps into kind of what I love about comedy
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  and what I love about good television.
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  Which I think that's I it there's not a lot of shows like this one.
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  I will say that Apple T V does really good with making a lot of shows that have this
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  kind of level of just like the comedy is both like very it's very funny for stuff,
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  but it's also very realistic and it is very reflective of life and
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  it balances kind of how you're navigating life in those moments.
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  And so I do think that it does come off so exceptionally well in a show like this
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  because then people can almost buy into it a little bit more,
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  you know what I mean? 'Cause they can see themselves being in a world like
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  Ted Lasso or they can see themselves being friends with Ted
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  tatter going through universal experiences and it pulls you right
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  Yes.
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  back into that show.
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  Absolutely. I I felt like that's it's strange to have that familiarity where
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  you show up on set and you feel like you know someone.
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  Like there's very rare times in my life have I had that,
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  but like scouting or being with Jason Sudakis on set and kind
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  of talking through beats and working through it,
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  it does feel like Ted's in the room and like I'm standing right across from him.
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  So that that's just like a unique thing that I've never
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  I've never had until I joined this show.
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  So I totally, yeah.
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  You just walk in and you're like,
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  Hey Ted Like you know what I mean?
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  Like you're just embracing it completely.
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  I
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  think the minute the mustache is on,
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  you know what I mean? There's just like an I there's just like a coziness about it.
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  ~ and there is almost this like your friend on the other side of the
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  TV kind of thing. ~ everybody wants a Ted Lasso in their life.
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  So, you know, someone that's championing you and pushing you to be a better person.
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  And I think Jason actually does that with our with like the crew,
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  where he's like pushing you to make the best,
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  you know, storytelling.
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  And so it really is he kind of has some of those qualities of Ted Lasso,
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  but just the coach in him, you know,
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  like the mentor in him, the visionary in him,
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  ~ is very similar.
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  And that just makes it even more like the passion of that right there would make
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  it even like more exciting to work on a project like that.
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  Because when you feel it from everybody on set,
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  including somebody as ~ involved in the process as he is,
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  I mean, that has to just make it like you you go every day into this project,
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  you're like, I wanna be here and I love this world and I just wanna be a part of it.
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  Yeah, definitely. I mean I felt like I felt the pressure,
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  you know. I felt the pressure to get it right.
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  And I think ~ it wasn't because he was expecting it.
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  I think it's 'cause he allowed us to do our best work,
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  you know, and and he wanted to make
• 13:26
  Mm-hmm.
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  sure that it was right for the story and that's what I love so much.
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  And I wanted to do right by him and Declan Louny,
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  the director.
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  For sure. You also have a very you tend to be very connected with
• 13:38
  the emotional perspective of characters throughout a lot of your work.
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  So how did your philosophy like with the camera influence your work specifically
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  here on Ted Lasso?
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  Ooh, ~ I mean, I come from this thing that I call like subjective realism.
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  That's like my founding principle,
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  which is that, you know, I think that we should experience things
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  as an audience from how the world would look to the character.
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  And I really do try and put myself in that emotional perspective and try
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  and get to the heart of the scene and let that dictate all of my decisions,
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  you know. So
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  for Ted if he's having ~ you know,
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  like a really good example actually is when Ted Lasso has his anxiety attacks,
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  that's like a very specific language.
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  and it was important to me to bring that language back ~ and bring that handheld
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  feel back just for the moments that kind of are very familiar to us.
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  so I think you know, when we did him coming home,
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  he wanted to
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  explore merging three scenes into a oner and I felt a lot of responsibility
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  to like make sure that all three scenes kind of were thoroughly worked
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  out in kind of our visual language and that you understood the heart of
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  all of them even in one shot. and so me and him kind of work together
• 15:02
  to find out what those beats were.
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  And I have to come from a place of story for that.
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  You know what I mean? So it just starts at the strength level,
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  I think. And if
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  If you're not thinking about how it looks necessarily and more thinking about
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  how it feels, I think that the decisions kind of become really apparent.
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  ~ that's for color and camera placement and you know,
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  mood and tone and atmosphere. ~ I just think it's all on the page if
• 15:29
  you like just break down kind of a guiding principle of questions,
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  you know, whose perspective am I am I in?
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  Where does the scene start? Where does the scene end?
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  What does it feel like? If it's a memory,
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  you know, what part of the memory is that character holding on to?
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  What parts aren't gonna actually be the same.
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  So it really just comes from a series of a lot of questions and asking directors
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  and and in this case having like access to Jason and being able to talk
• 15:55
  to him about it.
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  And what I love about that too is that it helps to I should say I I've watched other
• 16:02
  shows before. And I I will say that sometimes when you're volleying between like
• 16:06
  really broad comedy and you have like emotional drama and you have these different
• 16:09
  pieces and stuff like that, it can sometimes feel inconsistent,
• 16:12
  you know. And I one thing about this episode specifically,
• 16:15
  but a lot of Ted Lasso is that like it does feel tonally and like visually
• 16:20
  and everything consistent. Even when you're going from like you're laughing
• 16:22
  and the next second you're crying and you finding out kind of how
• 16:26
  It like just connects so almost so seamiously to these characters in their story.
• 16:31
  My God, that's like the best compliment ever.
• 16:33
  I mean, I think that's what I want.
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  I try and, you know, I I call it like fingerprints on the lens.
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  Like, I don't want you to really see me.
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  I kind of want to be like in Wizard of Oz terms,
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  I kind of want to be behind the curtain.
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  Sure.
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  and and and so it's really important to me that that you can just kind
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  of get lost in it and not really think about the decisions.
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  I just want the decisions to like maybe subconsciously,
• 16:59
  you know.
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  be affecting you or affecting the way that you watch something.
• 17:04
  ~ I I think if the if the cinematography is too big,
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  unless it's called for, which I've done jobs like that.
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  But but I think ~ it wants to just service the story.
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  And I feel like if the cinematography is bigger than the story,
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  maybe it wasn't the right move,
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  you know? And that's why I think I could have gone maybe more I could have swung
• 17:28
  further when I
• 17:29
  you know, and when it came to what Kansas looked like.
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  But for me, I just felt like it was the little things that were gonna make
• 17:35
  a difference. And I don't even know if anyone will know,
• 17:38
  you know, but to me it and that's maybe good.
• 17:41
  ~ I don't know if I want people to know that there's three more filters
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  in front of the lens than usual.
• 17:46
  For me, that's just a textural thing.
• 17:48
  It's just how I want the world to feel.
• 17:51
  ~ and you know, I I hope that it's maybe on a second or a third rewatch that
• 17:57
  anyone would even look at the cinematography,
• 17:59
  especially for this show. It just it's so well written that you you want
• 18:03
  to service that and you want to tell the story and the excitement.
• 18:06
  Like this season, I think the women's sports is so big that I really wanted
• 18:11
  to service that excitement ~ and have these beautiful moments where Keely
• 18:16
  is looking at the crowd, but it's not about how beautiful the image is.
• 18:19
  It's about this excitement and this pure like energy that she's feeling.
• 18:24
  Yeah, and those are the moments too.
• 18:26
  And one of my later questions that I'm gonna I'm gonna pop up here 'cause
• 18:28
  you just mentioned it is like there is so much those little moments,
• 18:32
  those the visual details, like you said,
• 18:33
  that maybe you're not people aren't even consciously noticing that are happening.
• 18:36
  But is there one that maybe like you're particularly proud of that like when
• 18:39
  you watch it back, you're just like that one still just you're you know,
• 18:42
  it makes you excited that you were able to pull it off or just make
• 18:44
  it or something about even just how you approach the the show that you're just like,
• 18:49
  man, that was so cool.
• 18:52
  Yeah, I mean I think I have to say the Casablanca airplane send off.
• 18:57
  And that's because ~ you know,
• 19:00
  sunset's like forty-five minutes,
• 19:03
  let's say, and Jason was really just really wanted it to be sunset.
• 19:07
  He really wanted it to echo back to Casablanca.
• 19:10
  It's an active airport, we couldn't have fog and everything.
• 19:12
  So there's, you know, certain things that we have to do,
• 19:14
  but ~ to shoot that scene over five or six hours and make it that consistent.
• 19:20
  And make it look like it's all shot at once and no one is gonna really gather
• 19:24
  how hard it was. I think how effortless it looks is what makes me
• 19:28
  so proud because it was one of the hardest things I've ever done as a DP.
• 19:32
  And I don't think you ever sense that during the scene.
• 19:34
  You're just so lost in them having this moment and this connection and
• 19:39
  the fact that it's not a goodbye.
• 19:40
  It's actually a brand new hello.
• 19:42
  ~ that's what was important. so that scene for me is just one of the most
• 19:47
  proud I've ever been of something because of how technically challenging it is.
• 19:50
  But I just think I'm really proud of the decisions I made.
• 19:53
  I don't I don't leave this, I didn't leave set ever,
• 19:57
  you know, wanting for anything.
• 19:59
  I just really felt like all the decisions that me and Declan and Jason
• 20:03
  had talked about really kind of came through,
• 20:06
  ~ which is such a beautiful thing,
• 20:08
  but that's all collaboration, you know?
• 20:10
  Absolutely. I mean, and it it truly just you s you s started off this season
• 20:15
  so wonderfully and it what a what a like a blessing to be here to be able
• 20:20
  to do that. ~
• 20:21
  Yeah.
• 20:21
  and I'm really ~ appreciative that you're here to talk to us about that
• 20:25
  and chat with us about your work on Ted Lasso.
• 20:26
  So thank you so much for being here.
• 20:28
  yes, of course, it's so fun, thank you.
• 20:32
  Ted Lasso season four is currently streaming on Apple Television.
• 20:34
  Ha