Kildare author pens a biography of well known cinema figure

Local author and film historian Wayne Byrne will be celebrating the release of his latest book, Roy H. Wagner: A Cinematographer’s Life Beyond the Shadows, at Naas Library and Cultural Centre on Thursday June 19 at 7pm.

After a prolific run of acclaimed books on subjects such as Walter Hill, Burt Reynolds, Tom DiCillo, and collaborations with filmmaker Nick McLean (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goonies, The Deer Hunter) and musician Amanda Kramer (of The Psychedelic Furs) Byrne turned his attention to Wagner.

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Wagner is an Emmy award-winner and, the man behind the images of major TV shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, House M.D., Beauty and the Beast, Quantum Leap, and films like A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Another Stakeout, Drop Zone, Nick of Time. 

Byrne met Wagner while working on his book on the Freddy Krueger franchise, Welcome to Elm Street and the two bonded over a mutual respect of each other’s work. 

Author Wayne Byrne

Wagner was impressed and hailed the book as one of the best pieces of writing on filmmaking that he ever read. It wasn’t long before the pair agreed to collaborate to tell Wagner’s life story.

“Roy was already a fan of some of my work, and I was already a huge fan of his; he shot

some of my favourite films and shows. He has had a very interesting life and career, not the

typical Hollywood story. He fought a lot of industry battles to get to where he is, all of which

are detailed in the book. So, this is a very candid look behind the scenes of some very popular productions.” 

Byrne added that what I really admire about Roy is that he is very much a chameleonic artist, he adapts his style from film-to-film with such ease and skill. He lets the story dictate his style, rather than egotistically placing a signature style on the story. 

This approach is very much in the tradition of the Old Hollywood cinematographers, those who worked within the factory mentality of the Golden Age studio system and who had to change their style to suit each production. 

“Roy was mentored by these men, these masters of the craft. So, it was a thrill, but also a challenge, in putting this man’s life and career on the page. This is my first biography, and it was certainly a literary education in such.”

The book has already received high acclaim from eminent quarters of the film industry –

legendary film critic Leonard Maltin recently said: “This book offers straight talk for anyone

who wants to know how the movie and TV business really works.” 

Elsewhere, James Cameron’s go-to cinematographer Russell Carpenter (True Lies, Titanic, Avatar: The Way of Water) considers the book “a well-written and extremely entertaining read…a love of the magic, craft and art of filmmaking is evident on every page.”  The author has no immediate plans to pen another biography.

 “They're a different beast from a writing perspective, and I’m sure I will do more later in my career, but I’m very busy with other types of film and music books. I’m working with my friend Amanda Kramer on some projects, and I have a book on the Halloween franchise releasing in July. So, I’m busy.”

 But I’m very happy to see my book on Roy Wagner hitting the shelves after two years of hard work on it. I’m proud of what we achieved together.”

Byrne will be joined at the launch by Film Ireland journalist Paul Farren for a Q & A to discuss the author’s literary work and the making of the book.

All are welcome to attend the launch. For further information, call Naas Library and Cultural Centre on 045 980795 or email on naaslib@kildarecoco.ie