Cinematographer Wally Pfister helming feature film debut

Wally Pfister, the cinematographer who has established himself for his crisp, clean visuals, is planning on switching over into directing  feature films this year.

The acclaimed cinematographer has had a close collaboration with visionary filmmaker Christopher Nolan, and the duo have thus far paired together for seven films, which include Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception and the forthcoming The Dark Knight Rises.

Pfister won an Oscar last year for his efforts in Inception, and his work was most recently seen in Moneyball, which was nominated for a number of Oscars this year, including Best Picture.

Pfister has been eyeing a feature film debut for nearly a decade now. In fact, directing is far from new ground for the Oscar-winning cinematographer. In addition to directing a number of commercials, he was also involved in creating a PSA for The Montana Meth Project, which also featured the work of several prominent filmmakers, including Darren Aronofsky, Tony Kaye and Alejandro González Iñárritu.

There have been a number of cinematographers who have switched over into directing. Barry Sonnenfeld, who worked with Joel and Ethan Coen on films such as Raising Arizona and Miller’s Crossing, has since switched teams, and has gone on to helm the Men in Black franchise.

The screenplay for his film has been written by newcomer Jack Paglen, and while the logline is still under wraps, production is scheduled for the fall.