The Italian-born cinematographer Dante Spinotti has had a remarkable Hollywood career, working with directors such as Paul Schrader, Barry Levinson, and Sam Raimi, and most notably forming a close collaboration with Michael Mann. He shot “The Last of the Mohicans” and “Heat”—two Mann classics—before garnering an Oscar nomination for Mann’s “The Insider.” (He was also nominated for Curtis Hanson’s gorgeous noir, “L.A. Confidential.”)

Spinotti has maintained another close collaboration, with Brett Ratner, the director behind the “Rush Hour” franchise of action comedies. Spinotti worked with Ratner on movies such as “Red Dragon” and “X-Men: The Last Stand.” Ratner’s career seemed to have come to an end in 2017, after he was accused by at least ten women of sexual misconduct. The actress Natasha Henstridge said that Ratner forced her to perform oral sex; the actress Olivia Munn said that Ratner masturbated in front of her in his trailer and later told her that he ejaculated on magazine covers featuring her image; the model Keri Claussen Khalighi said that when she was seventeen, she was sexually assaulted by Russell Simmons while Ratner watched. (Ratner has denied all the accusations; Simmons, who has been accused of misconduct by multiple women, said that the encounter was consensual.)

Ratner was recently selected by the Trump family to direct the new documentary “Melania,” which was financed by Amazon and is currently playing in theatres across the country. The film has been screened at the White House, with Tim Cook and Mike Tyson in attendance, and at the recently renamed Trump Kennedy Center. Spinotti is one of the film’s three cinematographers; he told the Times, of the experience, that it was “nice to see Brett being his old self.” (Despite awful reviews, the film grossed an estimated seven million dollars in its first weekend, the best opening weekend for a documentary in more than a decade.)

Spinotti and I recently spoke by phone. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed his movies, his affection for Ratner, and why he wanted to get involved in making “Melania.”

How did you get involved with “Melania”?

The director. I’ve done many films with Brett Ratner in the past, so he called me. In fact, I was not available because I had something to do, but he was accommodating. And, of course, I was so curious to see the President going into power and Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago. Plus, we flew on Air Force One. Curiosity was really what led me into this, and a certain friendship with Brett that has gone on for a long time.

What did you make of the President and Melania? And what’s different about filming a movie in the White House or on Air Force One?

Well, the film we were doing was actually a documentary. The organization was highly impressive because, on Inauguration Day, we had something like twelve crews all around town. Once they were set in position, they could not move. I was the person in the White House. I was waiting for the President and Melania to come back at the end of the day. It was kind of interesting. How else do you have the occasion to see the center of power? Don’t ask me about my political opinions of the President, because I’d rather not answer.

But do you feel like you learned anything about the President that maybe people who have never seen him up close don’t know, or don’t understand?

Well, I would say, if I learned anything, it was in a very superficial way. My curiosity was to see the center of power and the White House, which is a beautiful place. Also, it was interesting to figure out how to photograph Melania. Photographing human faces is always really interesting, especially female faces. The key is not so much about beauty photography. It’s about making sure that you take away distracting elements from a face. When you take away distracting elements from a face, you can let the original beauty of the person come out and reveal itself and become interesting.

So you take out the distracting elements?

If you light the face, yes. If someone has an irregularity or something destructive, it takes away from the natural beauty, from the interest of a human face. You take the distracting element away, and now the face reveals itself for what it is. And it becomes interesting for the viewer. Beautiful, and interesting for the viewer.

There have been some critiques of the movie. People have said that it was essentially a payoff from Amazon to the White House, and that you’re doing propaganda for an authoritarian President. I know you said you don’t want to get into politics, but what do you think of that critique?

Well, you know, I felt like I was a reporter.

I see.

You see what I mean?

Sure.

It’s, like, would you do an interview with Melania or President Trump yourself? Probably yes. It doesn’t mean that you think the same way or that you approve of him doing what he’s doing.

You and I are two journalists talking, essentially.

Yeah. So, I mean, to me, the experience was about, yes, being a reporter—being a cinematographer in a documentary, and doing my best to make Melania look visually beautiful with the lighting.

One thing reporters try to do is to spotlight ideas or news stories, and what you’re trying to do is spotlight her face and its beauty. I do see a real similarity there.

Yeah. We were trying to do the best we could. Again, as I told you, I was the guy with a camera, with a couple of assistants in the Trumps’ apartment when they came back to the White House at night. So there’s an interview with Melania at that point, and we organized the lights in the best possible way.

It’s important to make them look as good as possible, too. That’s part of your job, or our job.

It’s not about making them look as good as possible. It is about making them look as they are without having anything that is distinctively not nice or proper.

Do you know—

Also, it was a great pleasure for me to work with Brett again, because I did movies years ago with Brett.

Well, he’s been down on his luck a little bit lately, so that was nice of you to give him some help.

And I always felt that as you do a movie with somebody, you’re very intimate with this person.

Brett Ratner, you are talking about?

Yeah. Not the intimacy level of when you go out with a girl. But, you’re close. It’s like a family. You live twenty-four hours with someone shooting a movie. So I know Brett very well, and I know he is a very good, generous soul.

Aw.

He’s not an aggressive person.

I have read different things.

He is not an aggressive person, so I was very happy to see him being happy again, to be able to work, because he’s been without work for a few years, which I think is kind of unjust. It makes no sense to me, knowing Brett very well.

I know you’ve said that Brett’s been “frustrated” these past eight years, and there were all these accusations against him—that he forced women to perform sex acts, that he masturbated in front of women, all these things. So you didn’t believe them, or you weren’t concerned about them?

Well, I don’t know. I was not present. What I can tell you is that Brett might have made some mistakes, but his character is very gentle—he is a very gentle, generous person, always kind to everybody in the crew, men or women, always very respectable. So that’s why I wanted to go back and help him, because I felt that what happened to him was kind of unjust.

So is that because you don’t believe the accusations, or because you think that it’s time to move on?

I don’t know. I’m not informed about the accusations. I wasn’t there. I wasn’t present, but I know his personality. I know his character. I can’t tell because I wasn’t there, and he might’ve made some mistakes, but he’s a very good guy at heart. He’s a very generous and human kind of person.

You told the Times that Brett “made some mistakes.” Has he told you that he made mistakes?

No. No. No. Isaac, no. All I’m saying is that I worked with him twelve hours, fifteen hours, a day, and then everybody went their own way. Our age difference is wide. I could be his father.

I read that Roman Polanski is a father figure to him. So that role might already be filled. There are a lot of people who feel affection for Brett.

Yeah, yeah. Because he’s a good kid. [In 2007’s Paris-based “Rush Hour 3,” Ratner gave a cameo to Polanski, who had fled to France after being accused of anally and vaginally raping a thirteen-year-old. He was later accused of sexually assaulting other teen-agers, which he denies. In the cameo, Polanski has a comic scene where he prepares to do an anal-cavity search of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.]

The Times has you saying that he made some mistakes. That’s what I was curious about.

What I’m saying is, he might’ve made some mistakes. I don’t know. It’s not like I was with him when he was interviewing actresses to do a movie or that kind of activity.

It’s the same with Trump. A lot of accusations have been made against him, but neither you nor I were in the room. So who’s to say, really?

Yeah, exactly.

What do you think “Melania” accomplishes? Why do you think it’s an important movie?

You’ll have to answer that question yourself. My interest in the project was to shoot, to see the location, to meet these people, to work with Brett. I couldn’t give you an answer like that. You should probably ask people who know marketing better.

I didn’t mean in terms of marketing. I meant artistically.

I think it’s a movie that is very well executed. The music is splendid, and it was shot in a very interesting way. It was treated very carefully, finished with great precision and accuracy. But I don’t know. I wouldn’t know how to judge that film.

“Triumph of the Will” is very controversial, but you can’t deny that as a piece of filmmaking it is a very impressive achievement. You can like something without agreeing with its politics.

Yes, probably so. I might’ve liked if the film could have been a little more about her activities and achievements, which are described in the end titles. But, also, our operation was limited to twenty days, and to two or three days after Donald went into the White House. Maybe it would’ve been more interesting if it was really about what she’s done as First Lady.

Are you going to do “Heat 2”?

No, I’m not. I think I probably interrupted my collaboration with Michael Mann.

Why?

I don’t know. It’s one of those things. I did five movies with Michael, and sometimes with these things, for some reason, you get interrupted. The last one I did was with the actor in Chicago.

“Public Enemies”?

“Public Enemies.” Yes, that’s right. It would be too complex to explain to you now.

If you’re not doing “Heat 2,” there’s maybe room for “Melania 2” at some point, with more focus on her achievements.

Yeah, we’ll see about that. ♦