Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast
from BBC Radio 4. Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks,
book and luxury that they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island.
For rights reasons, the music's shorter than on the original broadcast,
but you can find a version with longer music tracks on BBC Sounds.
Listeners will also get access to episodes 28 days earlier than everyone else.
I hope you enjoy listening.
My cast away this week is the cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins.
He's arguably the greatest and most influential cinematographer alive.
His extraordinary 50-year career has shaped the evolution of modern cinema.
1984, Sid and Nancy, The Shawshank Redemption, 1917, Fargo, Skyfall
and Blade Runner 2049 all bear the hallmarks of his artistry behind the camera.
He's known as the Master of Light,
and his talents have been acknowledged with a knighthood, five BAFTAs, two Oscars, and 14 more nominations.
But his passion for cinema began a world away from the glamour of Hollywood, in the sleepy seaside town of Torquay.
After losing his mother at a young age,
he was desperate to avoid the job in a bank that his teachers had suggested when he applied to art school.
He says, I could never have imagined having
such a rich life when I was 10 years old and thinking life's a bitch.
You don't give up because life leads you on a path.