Robby Muller, the Dutch cinematographer who worked with director Jim Jarmusch, Lars Von Trier, and Wim Wenders on films like “Repo Man,” “Paris, Texas,” and “Breaking The Waves” has died at the age of 78.
The news was first confirmed by Dutch publication Het Parool.
Muller, who had been suffering from vascular dementia, hadn’t shot a movie since Michael Winterbottom’s 2002 “24 Hour Party People,” which chronicled the rise and fall of Factory Records and the Manchester music scene of the late-1970s and 1980s.
“Next to camera, light was his most important instrument,” his family said in a statement. “He loved natural light and could wait endlessly for the right light conditions.”
Additionally, Muller shot “Down by Law,” “Dead Man,” “Mystery Train,” and “Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai” for Jarmusch. “Without him I don’t think I would know anything about filmmaking,” the director tweeted in response to the news of Muller’s death.
We have lost the remarkable, brilliant & irreplaceable Robby Müller. I love him so very much. He taught me so many things, & without him, I don't think I would know anything about filmmaking. R.I.P. my dear friend Robby #RobbyMüller
— Jim Jarmusch (@JimJarmusch) July 4, 2018
“Generally, we tried to keep thinking on our feet, so anything was changeable,” Jarmusch said in 2016 about Muller. “He taught me later a lot about color, as well, and how it relates to your emotions, or how the sky at magic hour changes every 10 seconds and becomes a different shade.
Muller was nominated for three Indie Spirits and the American Society of Cinematographers honored Muller with the International Achievement Award in 2013.
Muller is survived by his wife Andrea and a son.