Art of the Cut

Today on Art of the Cut, Oscar-winning film editor Conrad Buff, ACE on editing Antoine Fuqua’s “Emancipation,” which stars Will Smith. Conrad has been on Art of the Cut in the past to discuss American Assassin and Huntsman: Winter’s War. The rest of his filmography includes a few small films that you might recognize. He was nominated for an Oscar and an ACE Eddie for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He was nominated for another ACE Eddie for True Lies. AND He was nominated for a BAFTA and WON an Oscar and an ACE Eddie for The Titanic. Other work includes Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Terminator: Salvation, Shooter, King Arthur, Training Day, 13 Days, The Abyss, and … oh… Spaceballs. Just a little indie editor trying to make good.

Today on Art of the Cut, Oscar-winning film editor Lee Smith, ACE, on editing Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light.” Lee and I have spoken numerous times before including on 1917, Dunkirk and Spectre. Lee was nominated for an Oscar for Master and Commander, nominated for another Oscar for “The Dark Knight,” nominated for an ACE Eddie and a BAFTA for Inception, and won an Oscar for Dunkirk. Other credits include Interstellar, X-Men: First Class, The Prestige, and Batman Begins.

Today on Art of the Cut, Chad Galster, ACE discusses cutting the series “Yellowstone.” Our discussion also covers spin-offs “1883” and “1923.” Chad cut the 2021 movie “Those Who Wish Me Dead” (also written and directed by “1883” creator Taylor Sheridan.) He’s also edited the features “A Score to Settle” and “Beautiful Boy” and the TV series “Mayor of Kingston,” “The Proposal,” “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.” One of the things we’ll be discussing is his move from reality TV to scripted TV and film.

Today on Art of the Cut, Steven Spielberg’s long-time collaborators - Oscar-winner, Michael Kahn, ACE, and Sarah Broshar, discuss editing “The Fablemans.” Sarah Broshar was nominated for an ACE Eddie for Spielberg’s “The Post.” Her credits also include “Ready Player One,” Pet Sematary,” and “West Side Story.” One of Michael Kahn’s early jobs as an editor was cutting “Hogan’s Heroes.” Then he went on to cut at least 70 feature films. Some highlights: Close Encounters of the Third Kind for which he was nominated for an Oscar, ALL of the Indiana Jones movies for which he won an Oscar for Raiders, Poltergeist, The Goonies, The Color Purple, Fatal Attraction for which he was nominated for another Oscar, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List for which he won another Oscar, Saving Private Ryan - another Oscar win, Lincoln - another Oscar nomination, Ready Player One and West Side Story. And he was honored with the career Achievement Award by American Cinema Editors and probably has enough films since then to get the award again.

Today on Art of the Cut we speak with two of the four editors of Avatar: The Way of Water. Joining us on the call are Stephen Rivkin, ACE and John Re-FUE-ah, ACE. Rivkin won an ACE Eddie for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He was also nominated for ACE Eddies for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He was nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and an ACE Eddie for editing the first Avatar. Rivkin’s other credits include Fantastic Four, Ali, and My Cousin Vinny. Refoua was also nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and an ACE Eddie for the first Avatar. His other credits include Transformers: The Last Knight, The Magnificent Seven, and Balls of Fury, plus TV including Law and Order, Ally McBeal, Dark Angel, Reno 911, and CSI: Miami. One of those not on the call is David Brenner, ACE. David has been a previous guest on Art of the Cut for Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Batman versus Superman. He won an Oscar for Born on the Fourth of July. His other credits include Transformers: Age of Extinction, Man of Steel, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Independence Day and The Patriot. Sadly for the entire editing community, David died earlier this year, during production of Avatar 2: Way of Water. The other editor not on the call is director James Cameron, ACE. James won an Oscar and an ACE Eddie and was nominated for a BAFTA for editing Titanic. He was also given the ACE Golden Eddie for Filmmaker of the Year in 2000. And he was nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA, and an ACE Eddie for the first Avatar.

Today on Art of the Cut, Bob Ducsay, ACE discusses his work on Riann Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” I’ve spoken to Bob before. His credits are lengthy and include The Mummy, Van Helsing, Jack and the Giant Slayer, and Godzilla. He has worked with Riann Johnson since Looper, which was released in 2012, also on Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and on their previous film, Knives Out. They’ve also worked together on the TV series Poker Face on Peacock TV.

Today on Art of the Cut, Oscar-winning editor Tom Cross, ACE on editing Damien Chazelle’s "Babylon." I’ve been honored to have Tom on Art of the Cut five times before. Previously, we spoke about Joy, Hostiles, La La Land, First Man, and No Time to Die. Tom was nominated for a BAFTA, and ACE Eddie and WON the Oscar for Best Achievement in Film Editing for Whiplash. He was nominated for an ACE Eddie for Joy. He was nominated for a BAFTA and an Oscar and WON an ACE Eddie for La La Land. He was nominated for a BAFTA and an ACE Eddie for First Man. And he was nominated for an ACE Eddie and WON a BAFTA for No Time to Die.

Today on Art of the Cut, we speak with the two editors of Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion animation version of “Pinocchio” - Holly Klein and Ken Schretzmann, ACE. Holly Klein has been in the animation business since leaving college. She was an animator on Blues Clues and other kids TV shows and transitioned into editorial including work as an assistant editor on Coraline and Paranormal. Ken Schretzmann began his career in live action feature film editorial back in the mid-80s and worked as an assistant editor on films like “Fried Green Tomatoes” “Get Shorty” and “Men In Black.” He edited the live action feature “The Modern Adventures of Tom Sawyer” before transitioning to animation editorial working on PIXAR films such as “Toy Story 2” “Monsters Inc” “Cars” and “Toy Story 3.”

Today, on Art of the Cut we’re talking about the film, The Banshees of Inisherin with Oscar-winning film editor, Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, ACE.  Mikkel, who is from Denmark, joined us previously on Art of the Cut for the Sound of Metal, which won him the Oscar, and a BAFTA, and an ACE Eddie nomination. His other films include Beasts of No Nation, A Royal Affair, and The Outsider.

Today on Art of the Cut, we speak with writer/director/editor Brett Morgen about his film “Moonage Daydream” about the iconic artist, David Bowie. This is no simple biopic. It’s a rich, philosophical montage connecting Bowie’s life and work with the culture that he is both affected by and speaking into. This interview came from numerous requests from Art of the Cut fans who loved the masterful editing of this film. Brett Morgen is known for directing biographical documentaries like Jane - about the extraordinary life of Jane Goodall, Cobain: Montage of Heck, about the life of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, and The Kid Stays in the Picture, about the legendary Paramount producer, Robert Evans. Morgen has also directed the pilot of the series When the Lights Go On, and episodes of 30 for 30 and Runaways among other feature film and TV projects.