Editors Thelma Schoonmaker, A.C.E. and Paul Hirsch, A.C.E. took top film honors at the 55th Annual American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Awards last weekend at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for Best Edited Feature Film/Drama and Best Edited Feature Film/Musical or Comedy, respectively. Schoonmaker earned her award for The Aviator, while Hirsch triumphed for Ray.
The dramatic category was closely watched by the commercial industry as Matt Chesse, spot editor at bicoastal/international Cut + Run, earned his first prestigious ACE nomination (as well as his first Academy Award nomination) on the strength of his work as editor of Finding Neverland.
At the ACE Awards, SHOOT caught up with Chesse who talked about his career and the recognition for Finding Neverland, another collaboration with director Marc Forster, for whom he also cut Monster’s Ball, Everything Put Together and the upcoming release Stay.
The editor also recently finished Ellie Parker, a feature based on a short of the same name that debuted at Sundance in 2001, featuring a then little-known Naomi Watts. Director Scott Coffey and Chessé are teaming on the film as producers.
Neverland, Ellie Parker, and several other features were cut at Crew Cut West, where Chesse worked on commercials for clients including Visa and Schwab until New York-headquartered Crew Cuts closed its L.A. area office last year.
Chesse said Crew Cuts–where he started as an assistant–was extremely supportive of his developing career, recalling, “Crew Cuts really encouraged us to bring in outside projects.”
Chesse is currently available for commercial work at Cut +Run, and he reports that in late spring he will embark on a new feature, Stranger Than Fiction, again with director Forster.
Chesse finds features and spots to be a good creative mix, citing as an example that “commercials bring to a feature the ability to compress time in a film; you learn how to set things up quickly, cutting in 30 seconds.
“The ACE nomination is really flattering,” he said. “To be in there with this caliber of people was an incredible validation.” In addition to Chesse and Schoonmaker, the nominees in the dramatic feature category included Jim Miller and Paul Rubell, A.C.E. (Collateral), Sally Menke, A.C.E. (Kill Bill: Volume 2), Virginia Katz A.C.E. (Kinsey) and Joel Cox, A.C.E. (Million Dollar Baby).
ACE television winners included: Michael Berenbaum A.C.E. and Wendey Stanzler, A.C.E. for Sex and the City, Best Edited Half-Hour Series for Television; Philip Neel, A.C.E. for Boston Legal, Best Edited One-Hour Series for Television; Michael Brown, A.C.E. for Something the Lord Made, Best Edited Miniseries or Motion Picture for Non-Commercial Television; and Terilyn A. Shropshire, A.C.E. for Redemption, Best Edited Miniseries or Motion Picture for Commercial Television. Editor Paul Crowder’s work on Riding Giants took home the Best Edited Documentary honor.
Filmmaker James L. Brooks received the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Honor, and Lifetime Career Achievement Awards were presented to David Blewitt, A.C.E. and Jim Clark.
Following the ACE awards, Chesse was readying for the Academy Awards this weekend. (And for fashion watchers, he tells SHOOT that he will be wearing Hugo Boss on the Red Carpet.)