‘Suck in My Gut and Sing Like an Angel’

When Cameron Winter and Paul Thomas Anderson made a movie.

Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall is in theaters November 20.

This past December, one of New York’s buzziest acts took over Carnegie Hall: Cameron Winter, the front man of Geese. Winter, a confident musician whose world-weariness suggests the experience of a much older artist, put on a spectacle of raw emotion that capped off a breakout year for himself and his rock band, already the most important (or at least the most discussed) to emerge from the five boroughs this decade. The sold-out show quickly gained “You had to be there” virality, attracting comparisons to Bob Dylan’s classic 1963 performance at the hall. Just ahead of his Oscar wins for One Battle After Another, director Paul Thomas Anderson was on hand to capture the 24-year-old’s grand debut at the venue, which has been immortalized in the concert documentary Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall, premiering tonight at the New York Film Festival. (Frequent Anderson collaborator Benny Safdie was also there as a co-producer and to assist with the camera.)

“Having Paul close up like he was, I was able to watch his nostrils flare, left-right, left-right, like lights at a train crossing,” Winter says of working with Anderson. “Paul later explained to me that being a hands-on director, he’s mastered circular nasal respiration, which makes camera operation a cinch for him — and he never fogs the lens. I could see the physical exertion of directorial work up close, which was electrifying. Besides that, when the camera was on me, I was careful to suck in my gut, straighten my posture, and sing like an angel.” Anderson, who estimates Winter is “eight feet tall,” didn’t overthink his decision to shoot the concert during a harried Oscar season. “I did it for the money,” he jokes. “I was told it was only going to be released in Japan and no one would find out.” Shooting at Carnegie was challenging for Anderson. “There was a very strict ‘no sitting, no standing, no chewing gum’ set of rules, but in the end, they seemed to warm to us and we had a lot of fun,” the director recalls. “The restrictions ended up creating a very clear and disciplined way of working and shooting the film, which serves it well.” 

Lewis Evans, the photographer, still thinks about the applause Winter received after he performed. “It really did turn into this larger-than-life comedy bit,” he says. “It just went on for so long. It went past the point of being this celebration to ‘Okay, who’s going to stop? When does it lose impact?’ It felt like ten minutes, but in reality, it was probably two.” 

Photographer Lewis Evans: “The intention throughout the whole day was ‘Okay, if I can get some sort of cool candid with the both of them, that would be fun.’ We were literally on the way out of the venue and I was like, Shit, I still haven’t got this photo. So it ended up being the most impromptu grab. Hence why everyone’s just very awkwardly holding clothes, but we were like, ‘Oh, actually, that might look kind of funny or stupid.’”

With the director Benny Safdie, who was a co-producer and assisted with filming.  

Preshow. 

The crowd at Carnegie Hall.  

Evans: “Everybody was listening so intently, and there was genuinely this eerie stillness that would fall upon the room.”

Backstage. 

Photographs by Lewis Evans

Photographer Lewis Evans: “The intention throughout the whole day was ‘Okay, if I can get some sort of cool candid with the both of them, that would be fun.’ We were literally on the way out of the venue and I was like, Shit, I still haven’t got this photo. So it ended up being the most impromptu grab. Hence why everyone’s just very awkwardly holding clothes, but we were like, ‘Oh, actually, that might look kind of funny or stupid.’”

With the director Benny Safdie, who was a co-producer and assisted with filming.  

Preshow. 

The crowd at Carnegie Hall.  

Evans: “Everybody was listening so intently, and there was genuinely this eerie stillness that would fall upon the room.”

Backstage. 

Photographs by Lewis Evans