Irish cinematographer Darran Tiernan wins Emmy for Spider-Noir

Darran Tiernan has won television’s top US cinematography award for an episode of Spider-Noir, giving the cancelled Prime Video series a major moment of recognition.

Tiernan received the Emmy for best cinematography on a one-hour television series for “Step Into My Office.” The episode comes from a show starring Nicolas Cage as an ageing variation on Spider-Man. Spider-Noir streams in both colour and black and white, and its visuals have drawn strong acclaim since the series arrived in May.

The award capped a sharply mixed week for the production. Spider-Noir won five Emmys, also taking honours for stunt co-ordination, title design, special visual effects and sound editing. Those wins came only days after the show’s cancellation following a single season.

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I’m from Dublin, where it was hard to work on films, especially when I was growing up in the 1990s.

Tiernan has worked in the business for more than 30 years. He began by shooting commercials and later built credits on high-profile series including The Penguin, Westworld and Perry Mason. Speaking recently to ShotDeck, he recalled starting out in Dublin, where film work was difficult to find while he was growing up in the 1990s. He said Jim Sheridan’s My Left Foot, photographed by Irish cinematographer Jack Conroy, helped put Ireland on the map.

The craft-category ceremony took place over two nights at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theatre. Comedy-horror Widow’s Peak led the winners with eight Emmys, followed by the Super Bowl halftime show with seven. DTF St Louis, the US version of The Traitors and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert also performed strongly. Apple TV collected 19 wins, ahead of HBO Max with 16 and Netflix with 13, highlighting the streamers’ strength in the awards.

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It was only just starting to happen when My Left Foot, Jim Sheridan’s film, came out and put us on the map, shot by the great Irish cinematographer Jack Conroy.