By Robert Goldrich

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. --

American Cinema Editors (ACE) recently held its annual “Invisible Art/Visible Artists” roundtable discussion starring the latest lineup of Oscar-nominated feature film editors–and once again, as strange as it may sound, ACE was glad to have some of those panelists leave early.

This time, Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders, who cut Moonlight, and Jake Roberts, editor of Hell or High Water, exited about two-thirds of the way through the Saturday morning (2/25) session at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. McMillon, Sanders and Roberts had to leave to get across town in time for that afternoon’s Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica as they were all nominees in the competition’s Best Editing category. ACE president Stephen Rivkin, ACE, noted in his opening remarks that ACE lobbied heavily over the years to get the Spirit Awards to include an editing category which was launched in 2014. Rivkin said he was only too happy to see editor panelists have to depart for the Spirit Awards ceremony, bringing added recognition to the art and craft of editing in the independent filmmaking community.

As it turns out, McMillon and Sanders won the Spirit Award for their work on Moonlight. And the next day, fellow ACE session panelist John Gilbert, ACE, won the Oscar for Hacksaw Ridge. Joining McMillon, Sanders, Gilbert and Roberts on the ACE panel discussion were Joe Walker, ACE, who cut Arrival, and Tom Cross, ACE, editor of La La Land. Moderating the session was Alan Heim, ACE, an Oscar winner for All That Jazz in 1980, just three years after he earned his first Academy Award nomination for Network.

Visceral vs. emotional
When asked by Heim how he was able to  maintain his professional composure as an editor when dealing with the graphically violent war images in Hacksaw Ridge, Gilbert quipped that he might have “a personal disorder” which enables him to be fairly “dispassionate” about such carnage. At the same time, Gilbert feels himself being emotionally moved by poignant character interaction. He related that it’s “the emotional more than the visceral content that gets to me.”

Relative to an editor’s creative approach to visceral content, Roberts noted that violence which is more edited often tends to be less convincing.

Meanwhile, as for how emotional fare affects him, Cross said that he feels its impact more in dailies than when cutting. While in the throes of editing, Cross said he tends to think “more mechanically” about his approach with an emphasis on finding solutions. His personal feelings and being emotionally moved then kick in again once he gets to see the film with an audience.

Sanders feels more objective about material when screening dailies, tapping into what he feels during that first viewing and then applying his craft to try to “maintain” those feelings in the work over the ensuing months. That, he said, is “the macro level” of what he does, striving to retain those dynamics that strike a responsive chord. The “micro level,” he continued, is more along the lines of “we need two more or two fewer frames here or there.”

Feeling blessed
Walker said he feels blessed to have been afforded the opportunity to collaborate in recent years with two of the era’s most talented auteur filmmakers, Steve McQueen and Denis Villeneuve. Walker has cut three McQueen films—Hunger, Shame, and 12 Years a Slave, the latter earning a Best Editing Oscar nomination and winning the Best Picture Academy Award in 2014. For Villeneuve, Walker first cut Sicario (2015) followed by Arrival and then the much anticipated Blade Runner sequel.

Roberts too thanked his lucky stars, recollecting that director David Mackenzie had a falling out with an editor on a short film some 18 years ago. That opened the door for Roberts to get a chance to cut that short titled Somersault. He and Mackenzie then teamed on The Last Great Wilderness (2002), went their separate ways but eventually came together again for the 2011 release Perfect Sense followed by three more features–Tonight You’re Mine (2011), Starred Up (2013) and Hell or High Water (2016), the latter earning Roberts his first career Oscar nomination for Best Achievement in Editing.

Editors Sanders and McMillon also go back some time with Moonlight director/writer Barry Jenkins. They first met as students at Florida State University Film School. Sanders edited Jenkins’ first feature, Medicine for Melancholy, while McMillon cut years ago a short film, Chlorophyl, as well as several commercials directed by Jenkins over the years. Moonlight became McMillon’s first feature film credit, an opportunity for which she thanked both Jenkins and Sanders. Extending that opportunity yielded a bit of history as McMillon’s work on Moonlight made her the first female African-American editor ever to land an Academy Award nomination.

Cross learned to cut on Avid in the commercialmaking world, moved into documentary and feature fare before landing his big break, the chance to direct a short film, Whiplash, for director/writer Damien Chazelle. This led to their collaborating on the feature film Whiplash–for which Cross won the Best Editing Oscar in 2015–and then, of course, La La Land.

Hacksaw Ridge marked Gilbert's second career Oscar nomination and first Academy Award win. He had been nominated for the Best Editing Oscar back in 2002 for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings. Gilbert noted that his major career break came when he connected with The Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson

Assistant editors
Several of the panelists talked about their assistant editors who have made invaluable contributions, a prime example being Cross who cited his first assistant editor John To. “I’m comfortable with him,” said Cross of To. “We have a shorthand. I trust him completely.”

That trust has translated into Cross occasionally giving To scenes to cut, including the champagne montage situated towards the beginning of La La Land. Cross had To working directly with director Damien Chazelle on that sequence. “I got those breaks” as an assistant editor, shared Cross who said he feels the need and responsibility to afford the same opportunities to deserving assistants.

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