How “Bullet Train” Editor Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir Shaped a Thrill Ride
Bullet Train has already punched through $100 million worldwide at the box office and isn’t slowing down. The thrill ride from director David Leitch roars with laughter and delivers a bounty of ass-kicking action sequences that may have you consider taking classes at your local dojo.
The Brad Pitt vehicle has him playing Ladybug, a down-on-his-luck assassin struggling to retrieve a suitcase on a Kyoto-bound train while trying to avoid a gritty group of killers with their own motives.
“Nope” Editor Nicholas Monsour Dives Into the Macabre of Jordan Peele’s Sci-Fi epic
Putting together the irresistibly gripping story of writer-director Jordan Peele’s third film Nope was picture editor Nicholas Monsour, who has a shorthand with the auteur, having collaborated on Us (2019) and a number of episodes of Key and Peele.
Set in the outskirts of Hollywood, OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) find themselves up against a mysterious entity living in the sky above their home.
“Elvis” Editors Jonathan Redmond & Matt Villa on Keeping the King’s Story Rocking Along
The broad strokes of Elvis’s (Austin Butler) life are all there in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis — the precarious childhood, Army stint, loss of his beloved mother, marriage to Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge), glittering Las Vegas residency masking a perilous personal descent. But this isn’t a biopic. Rather, the director’s first feature since 2013’s The Great Gatsby is also an electrifying tale of rags to riches to ruin, this time set to a compelling score mixing the best of the King’s musical catalog with unexpected contemporary bops.
Going Down the Rabbit Hole With “Russian Doll” Editor Todd Downing
One of the best descriptions we’ve heard of Russian Doll, the consistently surprising, genuinely hilarious series from co-creator and star Natasha Lyonne, Leslye Headland, and Amy Poehler comes from the show’s most tenured editor, Todd Downing. Describing a moment in season two, episode six, “Schrödinger’s Ruth,” in which nearly every character who has been in the series shows up on a Subway platform in a crucial moment, Downing said he had a realization.
“Ozark” Editor Cindy Mollo on Cutting That Shocking Season Finale
*Spoilers for the final season of Ozark abound.
Cindy Mollo‘s big break came following a move to New York where she landed on the NBC show Homicide: Life on the Street editing a number of episodes throughout the ‘90s. “I’ve always worked with great writers,” Mollo says. “With Homicide, I learned from one of the best in the business, Tom Fontana, about how to put a story together,
“The Lost City” Editor Craig Alpert on Finding Big Laughs With Sandra Bullock & Channing Tatum
The laugh-out-loud adventure comedy The Lost City, starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, found its way atop the box office. Directed by the Nee brothers Aaron and Adam, the punchy comedy delightfully entertains as Bullock plays a successful romance writer who has been kidnapped by an obsessed treasure hunter played by Daniel Radcliffe, who believes the world in her latest novel is real and wants her to help find it. It’s up to Tatum,
Oscar-Nominated “The Power of the Dog” Editor Peter Sciberras on Building Unbearable Tension
Jane Campion’s tense, character-driven Western, The Power of the Dog, is a critical favorite and Oscar frontrunner. The film’s vast landscapes (shot in New Zealand, much to the chagrin of actors not involved with the movie) are a backdrop to a slow-moving family melodrama: sweet and earnest George (Jesse Plemons) marries widowed Rose (Kirsten Dunst), bringing out the worst in Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch), George’s volatile, curiously standoffish brother.
The brothers are also partners in a successful ranch,
How the Oscar-Nominated “tick, tick…BOOM!” Editors Evoked the Excitement of Live Theatre
The magic of live theatre is a precious element that is often elusive to the lens. Countless legendary Broadway performances have sparkled and faded in a night, rarely ever recorded. Even a long run of a popular musical will never see the exact same show cross the stage twice.
Many movie adaptations of musicals are enormous affairs with extravagant sets, costumes, and visual details that fill in the gaps that exist only in the imagination of a live audience.
Oscar-Nominated “Dune” Editor Joe Walker on Finding Intimacy in a Sci-Fi Epic
For editor Joe Walker, cutting Dune was about finding a resonating balance between the epic nature of the story and the intimacy of the characters’ journey. When we interviewed Walker on two occasions back in October of 2021, Dune had just been released and writer/director Denis Villeneuve’s vision for a second and final part had yet to be greenlit. A lot has changed since then. Dune was both a critical and commercial smash,
“No Time To Die” Editor Tom Cross on Cutting to the Chase
No Time To Die gave us an appropriately epic sendoff for Daniel Craig’s final mission as James Bond. With ripping action rooted in Bond’s emotional journey, unusual for this franchise until Craig became 007, No Time To Die manages to be a breathless, nearly three-hour-long sprint towards the most bittersweet ending in Bond film history. From the riveting opening scene, a flashback that reveals the connection between Madeline Swann (Léa Seydoux) and the film’s villain,
“Don’t Look Up” Editor Hank Corwin on Cutting The End of the World
Editor Hank Corwin has a natural shorthand with Adam McKay. The duo has worked on a trilogy of films together plating the collapse of the 2008 real estate market in The Big Short, framing the power of Dick Cheney during his White House tenure as VP in Vice, and now with Don’t Look Up, they poignantly question our modern human condition under the guise of an end of the world satire.
“King Richard” Editor Pamela Martin on Finding The Film’s Rousing Rhythm
What if your life was planned out even before you were born? And if you followed it with hard work and a little perseverance, not only would you be successful, but you’d be considered one of the greatest at what you do. Would you sign up for it?
Director Reinaldo Marcus Green explores that very journey in King Richard (in theaters and on HBO Max now), a story, written by Zach Baylin,
“Belfast” Editor Úna Ní Dhonghaíle on Cutting Kenneth Branagh’s Deeply Personal Film
Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, the Dublin-based editor for Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, which Focus Features released November 12, had just attended the film’s premiere in the Northern Ireland capital the day before speaking with The Credits.
“In London, people laughed more. The Belfast audience laughed too, but it wasn’t as loud,” she says. “After the screening, I spoke with a man who said he enjoyed it but it was very emotional because he was also crying.”
Ní Dhonghaíle understood the feeling.
“American Crime Story: Impeachment” Editor Chris A. Peterson, ACE on Telling Linda & Monica’s Story
American Crime Story: Impeachment is the third limited series in what has become one of TV’s most ambitious franchises. The first season, subtitled The People v. O.J. Simpson, dealt with the most sensational criminal trial in American history, and managed, in ten episodes, to make millions of viewers take a fresh look at the main players involved, especially prosecutor Marcia Clark (played by Sarah Paulson). Season two, The Assassination of Gianni Versace,
How “Dune” Editor Joe Walker Utilized Artificial Intelligence, Hans Zimmer, & Human Vulnerability to Shape Film
For Joe Walker, editing Dune was finding a resonating balance between the epic nature of the story and the intimacy of the characters’ journey.
In director Denis Villeneuve’s adaption of the iconic science-fiction novel by Frank Herbert, viewers are taken on a coming of age story set thousands of years in the future where a natural resource called “Spice” is currency and those who oversee its production own the keys to space travel and commerce.
“Dune” Editor Joe Walker on Cutting Denis Villeneuve’s Sweeping Epic
Last week in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, UK-raised editor Joe Walker had just finished cutting a TV commercial down to thirty seconds when he took a break to discuss Dune (opening Oct. 22), which clocks in at two hours and thirty-five minutes. “But come on,” Walker laughs. “It feels like thirty seconds.” In 1984, David Lynch’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi novel failed to translate on the big screen—Villeneuve has solved the Dune riddle and delivered something astonishing.
“Hacks” Editor Jessica Brunetto on Creating Comedic Rhythm
Editor Jessica Brunetto has been collaborating with Hacks creator Lucia Aniello for years now. Brunetto worked with Aniello on Time Traveling Bong in 2016, and from there, she jumped into the editing bay for seasons four and five of Broad City (Aniello directed 16 episodes of the critically acclaimed Comedy Central series). So when it was time for Aniello to find an editor for her new series Hacks,
“Summer of Soul” Editor on Piecing Together the Nearly Forgotten Black Woodstock
For nearly half a century, videotapes documenting the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival gathered dust in the basement of a Bronxville home. Filmed by Hal Tuchin and his four-person camera crew, the trove included goosebump-inducing performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, B.B. King, the 5th Dimension, jazz drummer Max Roach and other masters of American music. Tuchin tried to package his work as “The Black Woodstock”
How the “Mare of Easttown” Editor Carefully Constructed HBO’s Brilliant Murder Mystery
Easttown is filled with secrets and lies as thick as the townsfolk’s accents. These deceptions cloud the journey to uncover the truth about a tragic and twisted mystery. It soon becomes clear that only detective Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) has the connections and clever intuition to catch a killer. Thankfully we didn’t need our own detective notebook to track down the suspect. Mare of Easttown editor Amy Duddleston worked diligently to be sure viewers didn’t lose track of a single clue while layering the suspense.
Editor Gabriel Rhodes on Cutting the Oscar-Nominated Doc “Time”
This interview is part of our ongoing Oscar series. It was originally published on April 14.
“I never thought a film could be made with such a minimal amount of information,” says editor Gabriel Rhodes. But not only was it made; it currently has an Oscar nomination for best feature-length documentary.
The film in question is called, simply, Time. Coming from director/artist Garrett Bradley,
