Art and commerce aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. In fact they can flourish in tandem as evidenced by the performance of American Sniper (Warner Bros. Pictures), which has broken through as a box office hit while earning critical acclaim on assorted fronts, most notably a DGA Award nomination for director Clint Eastwood and six Oscar noms–for Best Picture, Lead Actor (Bradley Cooper), Best Adapted Screenplay (Jason Hall), Sound Editing (Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman), Sound Mixing (John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Walt Martin), and Achievement in Film Editing.
On the latter score, the editor nominees are Joel Cox, ACE, and Gary D. Roach, ACE, long-time collaborators of Eastwood. This is Cox’s third career Oscar nomination, all for Eastwood-directed films. Cox won the Best Editing Oscar in 1993 for Unforgiven, and was nominated in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby. Cox’s work for Eastwood has over the years also garnered four ACE Eddie Award nominations, starting with a win for Unforgiven, and nominations for Mystic River in 2004, Million Dollar Baby the next year, and American Sniper.
Roach meanwhile has earned his first Oscar and Eddie nominations on the strength of American Sniper. He and Cox also teamed on a BAFTA Best Editing Award nomination for Eastwood’s Changeling in 2009.
American Sniper is a character study of Navy SEAL marksman Chris Kyle (portrayed by Cooper) who, with 160 confirmed kills, is considered the most lethal sniper in U.S. military story. The film also explores his relationship with his wife, Taya (played by Sienna Miller). Chris Kyle was tragically killed at a shooting range in 2013 by a veteran he was helping to adjust to life at home.
Among the prime creative challenges of cutting American Sniper, said Cox, was “trying to find the right tempo. There’s a lot of back and forth between homefront and war situations. Knowing when to transition out of one area to another and moving into another time in the characters’ lives was a huge balancing act while doing justice to their story and the emotional level of what they went through.”
Roach observed, “Clint shot a little more footage on this film than he does normally, due perhaps to his decision to go with a digital camera. Certainly making the transitions from war back into home life and back, and keeping the proper rhythm going were big challenges. And capturing the emotion between Bradley and Sienna at home was extremely important. What helped is that Bradley and Sienna did such an amazing job; the whole cast did. Their performances captured all the emotion. It also helped having Kevin Lacz around who played Dauber in the film. Kevin did three or four tours of duty in real life with Chris. Having him on set every day was a tremendous advantage. Clint, [executive producer] Rob Lorenz, Joel and I all talked to him to find out what happened and how it happened. Because of this, we were on better footing as editors to help tell the story.”
Collaborative spirit
Cox has worked with Eastwood for some 40 years. Their relationship began in 1975 when Cox served as an assistant editor on The Outlaw Josey Wales. Since then, Cox has worked in the editing room on more than 30 films that have, in some combination, been directed or produced by or starred Eastwood. Early in his career, Cox worked alongside his mentor, editor Ferris Webster, as a co-editor on such films as The Enforcer, The Gauntlet, Every Which Way But Loose, Escape from Alcatraz, Bronco Billy and Honkytonk Man. Cox’s filmography as a solo editor spans such Eastwood-directed movies as Flags of Our Fathers, Blood Work, Space Cowboys, True Crime, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Absolute Power, The Bridges of Madison County, A Perfect World, The Rookie, White Hunter Black Heart, Bird, Heartbreak Ridge, Pale Rider and Sudden Impact. Cox then cut with Roach such Eastwood fare as Letters from Iwo Jima, Gran Torino, Invictus, Hereafter, J. Edgar and Jersey Boys.
Roach has worked with Eastwood since 1996, starting as an apprentice editor under Cox on Absolute Power. Roach quickly moved up to assistant editor on the films Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, True Crime, Space Cowboys, Blood Work, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby and Flags of Our Fathers. It was Letters from Iwo Jima which marked Roach’s first full fledged editor credit, shared with Cox. Roach continued his collaboration with Eastwood and Cox on Changeling, and the two editors teamed on a succession of aforementioned films for Eastwood. Additionally, Cox and Roach have cut director Denis Villeneuve’s drama Prisoners and Rob Lorenz’s film directing debut, Trouble with the Curve. Roach gained his first solo editor credit on Alison Eastwood’s feature directorial debut, Rails & Ties.
Cox said of Roach, “He started out as an apprentice for me and just grew. When he got the opportunity to co-edit with me, it was a natural transition. We work great together. We talk about the project and ask ‘which scene do you want to do? You do this one. I’ll do that one.’ It’s a very fluid relationship.”
Roach recalled, “Joel was cutting Flags of Our Fathers and Clint was shooting Letters from Iwo Jima. With the timing of those two projects, Clint thought Letters from Iwo Jima would be a perfect opportunity for me to start editing with Joel. One of my first thoughts was, ‘Oh my gosh, the first film I’m going to get to edit is in Japanese. I said that to Clint and he said, ‘You’ll get it. Read the script and you’ll understand what they’re saying, the feel and meaning of it.’ He was right. If you read it, listen to it over and over again, you get a sense of what they’re expressing. From that film on, Joel and I realized that we worked well together. This came from all the years I spent watching Joel cut. It was a privilege and pleasure to sit behind Joel, to sit behind him and Clint for 10 years, watching them finesse a film and put it together.”
Cox said of Eastwood, “We’ve had a great collaboration for 40 years. I don’t take it for granted. I love what I do. I love working with him. I love going to work every day, being hands on and helping to mold the clay into its final shape. Every editor puts their heart and soul into the film. What I always tell directors is that we’re here to make the best film for them, the film which they envisioned.
Of his latest Oscar nomination, Cox related, “It’s truly an honor. Your peers nominate you. I don’t believe that if you don’t end up winning, that you haven’t won. The honor is the nomination. If your name is in the envelope, you’re the luckiest person. Any of the nominees could be the recipient.”
Of his first Oscar and ACE Eddie Award nominations, Roach said, “I got into ACE [American Cinema Editors] at the end of 2013, which meant a lot to me–to be part of that organization consisting of amazing editors. When the Eddie nominations came out and I saw that we were among them, I was honored and thrilled. For the Oscars, I usually don’t get too hyped up. But this time [with American Sniper], I got up at 5 am [for the Academy Award nominations] and I couldn’t wait for the live announcement. I can’t begin to explain how emotional and humbling it was to find out that we had been nominated–that Joel and I are in this group of amazing films and editors.
This is the 13th in a multi-part series with future installments of The Road To Oscar slated to run in the weekly SHOOT>e.dition, The SHOOT Dailies and on SHOOTonline.com. The series will appear weekly through the Academy Awards. The Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 22, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.
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