Early life and education
Metz was born on December 26, 1937, in Los Angeles, California, to Glen and Mildred Metz.1 His father was a mechanic and race car builder, and the family's hands-on relationship with machinery left a lasting impression.2 By the time Metz reached his teens, he was deeply interested in both fast cars and photography, working with a 4x5 Graflex camera.
He graduated from Fairfax High School around 1955 and went on to study fine-art photography at Los Angeles City College, then cinema at the University of Southern California, completing his undergraduate education in UCLA's theater-arts program.2 He was selected as the first student to be sponsored into membership in International Photographers Local 659, the union that later became ICG Local 600.2
Career
Metz's entry into professional filmmaking came immediately after college. In 1963 he photographed a documentary short about Craig Breedlove's attempt on the land-speed record, The Spirit of America, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject.4 The project also established his identity as, in his own words, "a jock cinematographer"2: a specialist in action, speed, and physical subjects rather than studio drama.
That identity led to a long partnership with second-unit director Micky Moore.2 Over roughly 35 years the two made approximately 30 action films together, covering everything from car chases to aerial combat to underwater sequences.2
Bullitt (1968). Metz operated the camera during the legendary ten-minute car chase sequence through the streets of San Francisco, capturing the muscle cars and stuntman Bud Ekins at close quarters.2 The sequence remains a landmark of practical automotive filmmaking.
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). He mounted cameras on helicopters and spent six months as second-unit cinematographer filming the recreation of the attack on Pearl Harbor under second-unit director David Butler.2
Jaws (1975). After earning his scuba certification in 1974, Metz was brought on by cinematographer Bill Butler and director Steven Spielberg to handle underwater photography.2 His work included shots of the mechanical shark and live shark footage filmed with underwater specialists Ron and Valerie Taylor.2
Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Indiana Jones. Metz continued his association with Spielberg through second-unit work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and at least two entries in the Indiana Jones series, including Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.5
Tron (1982). He served as cinematographer on the pioneering Disney science-fiction film, one of the first major productions to make extensive use of computer-generated imagery combined with live action.5
Total Recall (1990). He contributed to Paul Verhoeven's sci-fi action film, one of the biggest productions of that era.2
Later credits include second-unit Director of Photography work on The Rocketeer (1991), Cool Runnings (1993), The Three Musketeers (1993), Courage Under Fire (1996), Flubber (1997), Kiss the Girls (1997), Fire Down Below (1997), Small Soldiers (1998), What Dreams May Come (1998, underwater DP), U-571 (2000), and S.W.A.T. (2003, helicopter camera). His final credit was Left Behind (2014).5
Metz became a member of the American Society of Cinematographers in 1982.1 In a 2019 retrospective he described his career as "the perfection of live-action shooting in a pre-CGI world," emphasizing that his defining challenge across more than five decades was always capturing a director's vision under physical and logistical conditions that ruled out digital enhancement.2
Ghostbusters II
Metz served as Director of Photography on the New York second unit of Ghostbusters II (1989), directed by Ivan Reitman. The primary unit was photographed by Michael Chapman, ASC, who replaced the original film's DP, László Kovács, ASC.6 Metz's second-unit work encompassed location filming in New York City, consistent with his long-standing specialization in practical on-location action photography. The film's screen credits list him as "Director of Photography -- Rexford Metz, A.S.C."3
Death
Rexford Lin Metz died on January 15, 2025, at the age of 87.1 The American Society of Cinematographers published a memorial notice on January 29, 2025.1
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
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American Society of Cinematographers, "In Memoriam: Rexford L. Metz, ASC (1937-2025)" (January 29, 2025), https://theasc.com/news/in-memoriam-rexford-l-metz-asc-1937-2025.
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Variety, "Second-Unit DP Rexford Metz Took to the Sky and Water for Memorable Shots" (September 27, 2019), https://variety.com/2019/artisans/production/2nd-unit-dp-rexford-metz-1203349851/.
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Spook Central, "Ghostbusters II Screen Credits," https://www.spookcentral.tk/sclib/ghostbusters-ii-screen-credits. "Director of Photography | Rexford Metz, A.S.C."
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"The Spirit of America," IMDb, accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057524/. Directed by Algernon G. Walker, photographed by Rexford L. Metz; Academy Award nominee, Best Documentary Short Subject (36th Academy Awards, 1964).
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IMDb, "Rexford L. Metz," accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0582701/.
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"Ghostbusters II," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters_II.
