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Matthew Frank LeonettiA.S.C. (born July 31, 1941) is an Americancinematographer.^[1][2][3]

Accomplished and highly prolific,^[1][4] he has worked on dozens of well-known and acclaimed films spanning numerous genres,^[4][3] includingPoltergeist,Fast Times at Ridgemont High,Weird Science,Jagged Edge,Strange Days, andStar Trek: First Contact.^[1][2]

Leonetti was born inLos Angeles,California in 1941. His father Frank was afilmmaker andcinematographer who served as agaffer andlighting technician on low-budgetB-movies likeThe Violent Years,Frankenstein's Daughter, andBeyond the Time Barrier.^[2]

Leonetti began his career working on a number of projects with his father, serving as acamera operator on films likeAdam at 6 A.M. andThe Organization.^[2][3] He soon fell in withJerry Jameson, a prolifictelevision director who dabbled infeature films.^[5][3]

His debut as cinematographer wasThe Bat People, ahorrorB-movie directed by Jameson and starringStewart Moss andMichael Pataki, on which he also served as anexecutive producer.^[6] Though the film came and went with little fanfare, it did gain a minor cult following years later after being featured on an episodeMystery Science Theater 3000.^[7] Leonetti spent much of the 1970s shootingmade-for-television films directed by Jameson.^[3]

In 1979, Leonetti shot his first big-budgettheatrical film in the form of theAcademy Award-winningBreaking Away, directed byPeter Yates.^[8] Three years later, he shot theAcademy Award-nominatedPoltergeist,^[9] where he was responsible for creating many of the film's iconic images.^[10] This proved to be his big break, and in the following years he quickly became one of the most prolific and accomplished DPs in the film industry, shooting films likeFast Times at Ridgemont High,Weird Science,Commando,^[11] andJagged Edge.^[12] In 1987, he began a collaboration with directorWalter Hill, which would continue of the course of several films into the 1990s. Throughout that decade, he would work with directors likeKenneth Branagh,Kathryn Bigelow, andWilliam Dear. His work on thecultscience fictionnoirStrange Days^[13] earned him a nomination for Best Cinematography from theChicago Film Critics Association. He shot two entries in theStar Trek film franchise, and served as DP on his brotherJohn R. Leonetti's directorial debut,Mortal Kombat Annihilation.^[14]

In the early 2000s, Leonetti shot a string ofblockbusterthriller andaction films; includingAlong Came a Spider,2 Fast 2 Furious,Rush Hour 2, andThe Butterfly Effect. He shot the 2004 remake ofDawn of the Dead, which served as thefeature film debut of directorZack Snyder.^[15] Since 2006, he has mostly worked oncomedy films, many of which are directed bythe Farrelly Brothers. In 2015, he was the recipient of a Special Honor Prize, the President's Award, from theAmerican Society of Cinematographers.^[4]

Leonetti has a younger brother,John, who is himself a prolific cinematographer and occasional film director. He is a graduate ofLoyola Marymount University.^[1]

Short film

TV movies

TV series

• Kay Weniger:Das große Personenlexikon des Films, Band 4, Page 690, Berlin (2001)ISBN 3-89602-340-3

• Matthew F. Leonetti atIMDb

• 1941 births
• Living people
• American cinematographers
• American people of Italian descent
• Film people from Los Angeles
• Loyola Marymount University alumni

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