It was 18 years ago that director of photography Peter Suschitzky embarked on what he describes as the most important professional relationship of his career.

The Polish-born, London-based Suschitzky reluctantly admits to not having known any of David Cronenberg’s work prior to an introductory meeting with the director in London in 1987.

‘Since then, I’ve caught up a lot!’ Suschitzky says on the phone from Paris, where he is scouting locations for the French film Le Concile de Pierre, starring Monica Bellucci and directed by Guillaume Nicloux. The seasoned DOP brought impressive credits to the table, including The Empire Strikes Back and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Cronenberg and Suschitzky first collaborated on the psychological drama Dead Ringers (1988), in which Jeremy Irons portrays twin gynecologists vying for the same woman. That film also marked the first of three Genie Awards the cameramen would win for a Cronenberg film, the others being for Naked Lunch (1991) and Crash (1996).

‘From the very first day of shooting it became an instantly close relationship,’ Suschitzky says. ‘I had shot many movies prior to [Dead Ringers], but I’d never felt that intense creative interchange before.’

Prior to hooking up with Suschitzky, Cronenberg had worked with DOP Mark Irwin on six previous features. Irwin has since gone on to be a prolific lenser of Hollywood comedies, including There’s Something About Mary and Old School.

Since Dead Ringers, Suschitzky has shot all of Cronenberg’s films, also including M. Butterfly (1993), eXistenZ (1999) and Spider (2002).

From the beginning, the director insisted Suschitzky man his own camera, which had not been the norm for the DOP.

‘My career had largely been formed in British cinema, where I tended to work more often with an operator,’ Suschitzky explains. ‘But I love operating because I feel like the first spectator of the film. I can see my work with all its weaknesses and flaws, and it makes me struggle to perfect it.’

The team’s latest collaboration is their biggest production to date, backed with a US$32 million budget from New Line Cinema. A History of Violence, based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, premiered at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and stars Viggo Mortensen (the Lord of the Rings trilogy) as a reluctant hero thrust into the spotlight after a violent incident at his diner.

History’s significantly bigger budget – the bar had previously been set at US$18 million for M. Butterfly and eXistenZ – didn’t change the approach for the director and the cinematographer. ‘When you go into mega-budgets, the studio pressure can be tremendous, but it wasn’t in this case,’ Suschitzky says.

In fact, pre-production was fairly straightforward for Suschitzky, including the usual location scouting, film stock tests and constant communication with the director.

‘Both David and I like to discover what we’re going to do by doing it,’ Suschitzky says. ‘The only unusual stylistic move in History was to shoot the entire film on a 27mm lens. It was a visual discipline David wanted to adopt to make it all feel the same.’

The gore that brands many Cronenberg films is largely absent in History. ‘It’s certainly more narrative-driven and more mainstream, but not in a bad way,’ Suschitzky notes. ‘It reminded me of the best of German director Fritz Lang’s films. He was drawn to [the theme] of a man who can’t escape his fate and his past.’

The cameraman says Cronenberg’s primary concern when shooting History was exploring the characters’ psychological angst. ‘While there are moments of violence in History, it’s not disturbing in a visual sense,’ Suschitzky notes.

If the style of their films has changed over time, it’s only subtly so, the lenser says, adding, ‘Over the years, I hope that we’ve both learned to become more confident.’

The cameraman has often described his relationship with Cronenberg as a marriage, and suggests the collaboration remains fresh because they continue to delve into new territory.

‘David’s films are very personal explorations and have an individual stamp to them that [other directors’ films] don’t have. He’s most happy dealing with a subject that’s difficult to deal with.’

Suschitzky says he’s rarely had difficulty shooting the more graphic elements in Cronenberg’s features.

‘There was only one time when I found it difficult to look through the camera, and that was when we were shooting a gory dream sequence for Dead Ringers,’ Suschitzky recalls. ‘I just couldn’t look at the blood and guts because my son was in hospital for an operation after an accident at the time.’

Suschitzky rates Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch and Crash among his favorites, he says, because ‘they’re all so different.’

The lenser feels it’s virtually impossible to sum up Cronenberg in a few words. ‘He’s a man who is difficult to define. He’s complex. David’s a great filmmaker concerned with man’s position in life.’

A History of Violence will be released in Canada and the U.S. on September 23.