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Belfast Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

Editor - Úna Ní Dhonghaíle ACE, BFE

BELFAST editor, Úna Ní Dhonghaíle joins director Kenneth Branagh once again for their third feature together; having previously collaborated on ALL IS TRUE (2018) and the upcoming DEATH ON THE NILE (2022). Branagh describes BELFAST as his "most personal film" about a young boy's childhood amidst the tumult in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the late 1960's.

ÚNA NÍ DHONGAÍLE

BELFAST editor, Úna Ní Dhonghaíle is also well known for her work on THE CROWN, MISBEHAVIOUR, THREE GIRLS and STAN AND OLLIE. She has worked on the leading lights of British drama in what some are calling "The Golden Age of Television". Having completed a degree in Film and Media Studies in her native Dublin, Úna specialized in film editing at the National Film and Television School (NFTS) from 1995-1998.

Úna earned her first of four BAFTA nominations in 2009 for the Abi Morgan's TV feature WHITE GIRL. Over a five year period, she co-directed and edited a documentary INVISIBLE MAN, for which she won the 2016 IFTA for Best Editing in Television. Úna has also received much recognition for her editing of the highly acclaimed BBC drama THREE GIRLS, for which she won the BAFTA award for Best Fiction Editing, the Technicolor Craft Award from Women In Film UK, the IFTA for Best Editing, the RTS Award for Best Editing of Fiction, the RTS West of England Award for Editing and the Televisual British Bulldog Award for Editing.

Editing BELFAST

In our discussion with BELFAST editor, Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, we talk about:

Finding the film's narrator in Van Morrison's music
Aligning the audience with a child character
Establishing a scene through sound design
Collaborating with director Kenneth Branagh
Leveraging the inherent tension from a historical event

The Credits

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Last Night in Soho Nov 15, 2021

Show notes

Editor - Paul Machliss ACE

THE LAST NIGHT IN SOHO editor, Paul Machliss ACE is reunited once more with director Edgar Wright. The two first met on Wright's BBC TV series, SPACED (1999-2001) where Machliss served primarily as on-line editor until he moved into the offline role for four episodes from the final season.

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO is a 2021 British psychological horror film directed as well as co-written by Wright. The film stars Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Michael Ajao, Diana Rigg and Terence Stamp. It marks the final film appearances of Rigg and Margaret Nolan, who both died in 2020. Focus Features states that the film "tells the tale of Eloise, an aspiring fashion designer, who is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer, Sandie. But the glamour is not all it appears to be and the dreams of the past start to crack and splinter into something far darker".

PAUL MACHLISS ACE

While known most prominently for his work with Wright; SPACED (1999-2001), SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD (2010), THE WORLD'S END (2013), BABY DRIVER (2017) and LAST NIGHT IN SOHO (2021), Paul also edited the pilot episode of FLEABAG (2016), eighteen episodes of THE IT CROWD (2006-2008) and films such as THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING (2019) and THE GENTLEMEN (2019). Paul is currently working on THE FLASH (2022) with editor Jason Ballantine ASC ACE for director Andy Muschietti.

Editing LAST NIGHT IN SOHO

In our discussion with THE LAST NIGHT IN SOHO editor, Paul Machliss ACE, we talk about:

The early BBC days with Edgar Wright
Using Media Composer and Pro Tools on set for lighting and camera control
Solidifying the soundtrack before production
Taking an analog "tape loop" approach to sound design
Using dupe detection to build an edit

The Credits

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Eternals Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

Editors - Craig Wood ACE and Dylan Tichenor ACE

Editor Craig Wood ACE returns once again to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and this time he is joined by the formidable talents of Oscar®-nominated editor Dylan Tichenor ACE. Despite their extensive careers and wide variety of credits, ETERNALS marks the first time that Dylan and Craig have co-edited together. It's also the first film, possibly for any editor, where the director (Chloe Zhao) received an Oscar® nomination for Best Film Editing (NOMAD) while their current film was still in post production.

CRAIG WOOD ACE

While ETERNALS is Craig's fourth film with Marvel, following GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014), GAURDIANS OF THE GALAXY - VOL.2 (2017) and ANT-MAN and THE WASP (2018), most of Craig's own "cinematic universe" has been with director Gore Verbinski. Together they made the films; MOUSEHUNT (1997), THE MEXICAN (2001), THE RING (2002), THE PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL (2003), THE PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST (2006), THE PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: AT WORLD'S END (2007), THE WEATHERMAN (2005), RANGO (2011), THE LONE RANGER (2013) and A CURE FOR WELLNESS (2016)...just to name a few. Craig even cut MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL (2019) along with editor Laura Jennings, who appeared on THE ROUGH CUT when that film came out.

DYLAN TICHENOR ACE

In addition to his work on ETERNALS, Dylan has done a number of films with many acclaimed directors. Most notably with director Paul Thomas Anderson on films such as BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997), MAGNOLIA (1999), THERE WILL BE BOOD (2007) and PHANTOM THREAD (2017). And when he wasn't working with Paul Anderson, he was doing BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005) with Ang Lee, ZERO DARK THIRTY (2012) alongside editor Billy Goldenberg ACE for Kathryn Bigelow, UNBREAKABLE (2000) for M. Night Shamalan, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (2001) for Wes Anderson and THE TOWN (2010) for Ben Affleck. Dylan received Oscar® nominations for his work on ZERO DARK THIRTY as well as THERE WILL BE BLOOD.

Editing Eternals

In our discussion with the ETERNALS editing team of Craig Wood ACE and Dylan Tichenor ACE we talk about:

The challenge of introducing 11 new characters in one film
How Eternals is just The Revenant with laser beams
Working in 7.1 surround in the cutting room
Keeping the team together via "Zoom Hallways"
Mentoring the next generation of super hero editors

The Credits

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Watch editor Dylan Tichenor ACE take you on a guided tour of his ETERNALS timeline

Hear director/editor Chloe Zhao talk about her love of editing

Hear editor Laura Jennings discuss the film she did with Craig Wood ACE, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

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The French Dispatch Nov 01, 2021

Show notes

Editor - Andrew Weisblum ACE THE FRENCH DISPATCH editor, Andrew Weisblum ACE joins forces for the fifth time with director Wes Anderson. Andy's history with Wes began with THE DARJEELING LIMITED (2007) and was followed up by FANTASTIC MR. FOX (2009), MOONRISE KINGDOM (2012) and ISLE OF DOGS (2018).

THE FRENCH DISPATCH was written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson and stars an ensemble cast featuring Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and many more talented actors. It tells the tale of the French foreign bureau of a fictional Kansas newspaper, compelled to create its final issue when Arthur Howitzer Jr., the editor of the newspaper, dies suddenly of a heart attack. According to the wishes expressed in his will, publication of the newspaper will be suspended following one final farewell issue in which three articles from past editions of the paper are republished, along with his obituary.

The project was first mentioned in August 2018 as an untitled musical set after World War II. That December, the film was officially announced with Anderson calling it a "love letter to journalists." Filming took place between November 2018 and March 2019. Following a year delay, THE FRENCH DISPATCH had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 and was theatrically released in the United States by Searchlight Pictures on October 22, 2021.

ANDREW WEISBLUM ACE

Aside from his rich body of work with Wes Anderson, Andy is also a frequent collaborator with director Darren Aronofsky. In addition to his Oscar®-nominated work on Aronofsky's BLACK SWAN (2010), Andy also collaborated with him on THE FOUNTAIN (2006), BROKEN ENGLISH (2007), THE WRESTLER (2008), NOAH (2014) and MOTHER! (2017). The two are currently at work on Aronofsky's next film, THE WHALE.

Editing The French Dispatch

In our discussion with THE FRENCH DISPATCH editor, Andrew Weisblum ACE, we talk about:

Editing from an animatic
Wes Anderson's disdain for ADR
Using color and framing for punctuation
The fun of splits and morphs and sub-frame editing
When an editor has to neuter a film

The Credits

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No Time To Die Oct 25, 2021

Show notes

Editors - Tom Cross ACE and Elliot Graham ACE

NO TIME TO DIE editors, Tom Cross ACE and Elliot Graham ACE combine their collective talents for storytelling and their love for the Bond franchise in director Cary Joji Fukunaga's take on the iconic super agent.

NO TIME TO DIE is the twenty-fifth film in the James Bond series. It stars Daniel Craig in his fifth and final outing as fictional British MI6 agent, James Bond. In this film, Bond, who has left active service with MI6, is recruited by the CIA to find a kidnapped scientist, which leads to a showdown with a powerful adversary.

TOM CROSS ACE

Editor Tom Cross first really made a name for himself working alongside director Damien Chazelle on their breakout film, WHIPLASH. Among the many accolades garnered by the film was Cross's Oscar® win for Best Film Editing. Chazelle and Cross would follow that up with another hit movie, LA LA LAND, for which Cross was again nominated for an Oscar®. The two would team up yet again for FIRST MAN, a biopic about astronaut Neil Armstrong. Cross is currently working with Chazelle on the forthcoming film, BABYLON.

ELLIOT GRAHAM ACE

Editor Elliot Graham wasted no time in making his way into the editor's chair, bypassing the more traveled route of assistant editing. Graham cut his teeth on a healthy mix of music videos and action movies, punctuated by his work with Oscar®-winning editor John Ottman (BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY) on Bryan Singer's X2: X-MEN UNITED. Although Elliot would go on to do more action/superhero movies like SUPERMAN RETURNS and CAPTAIN MARVEL, it was his work on MILK, the story of gay rights activist and politician, Harvey Milk that brought Elliott an Oscar® nomination.

Editing No Time to Die

In our discussion with the NO TIME TO DIE editors Tom Cross ACE and Elliot Graham ACE, we talk about:

Creating action within a dialogue scene
What they require in their editing suites
Hans Zimmer taking over the music during post
How Tom and Elliot got started in the business
Considerations when cutting IMAX footage

The Credits

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Sex Education Oct 18, 2021

Show notes

Editors - David Webb, Steve Ackroyd, Phil Hignett and Izabella Curry

The Sex Education editing team of David, Steve, Phil and Izzy join The Rough Cut to talk about their work on Season Three of the hit series.

Sex Education is a British teen comedy-drama streaming television series created by Laurie Nunn for Netflix. The show follows the lives of the students, staff and parents of the fictitious Moordale Secondary School as they contend with various personal dilemmas, often related to sexual intimacy. The first season of Sex Ed was released in January 2019, the second in January 2020 and, after a pandemic related delay, the third in September 2021. The series has been renewed for a fourth season.

DAVID WEBB

David Webb is partner, Managing Director and a film editor at Final Cut Ltd . He cut his teeth on music videos in the early 2000's for George Michael, Charlatans, Super Furry Animals, Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams among others. David also collaborated with Edgar Wright on many of his early music videos, including Mint Royale's 'Blue Song', the inspiration for Wright's film Baby Driver. Earlier in his career, he spent a decade cutting commercials before moving into long-form at the request of director Jim Field-Smith. Webb has collaborated with Jim ever since, working on The Wrong Mans; Endeavour; Criminal; Defending The Guilty and, most recently, Truth Seekers.

STEVE ACKROYD

Steve Ackroyd is an award-winning editor represented by Final Cut. After starting his career cutting ads for the BBC, Ackroyd was headhunted by the edit house & expanded into the world of commercials and music videos. In 2015, Ackroyd made the leap into longform TV with Channel 4's multi-award winning comedy Catastrophe, directed by Ben Taylor - he proceeded to be the sole editor on the show for the first 3 seasons. Ackroyd has since cut series such as Hang Ups, Frank Of Ireland and all 3 seasons of the internationally acclaimed Sex Education for Netflix. He's just finished a stint on the UK version of Call My Agent and is currently working with director Paul McGuigan on four-part drama Inside Man for the BBC and Netflix, starring Stanley Tucci and David Tennant.

PHIL HIGNETT

Prior to joining the post team for Sex Education in Season Two, Phil's work could be seen on the series Dead Pixels and Year of the Rabbit, also helmed by Sex Education director, Ben Taylor. Phil is also credited with editing six episodes of the comedy, Stath Lets Flats.

IZABELLA CURRY

Izabella is a film editor based in Brighton and London. Her credits include the feature film Two For Joy [directed by Tom Beard] which premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2018 and the short film Kara [directed by Deepa Keshval] which was premiered at The London Film Festival 2017.

Editing Sex Education

In our discussion with the Sex Education editing team of David Webb, Steve Ackroyd, Phil Hignett and Izzy Curry, we talk about:

Balancing multiple story lines and "checking in" with characters
Collaborating in a COVID bubble
Team building through table tennis
Working with director Ben Taylor
Taking inspiration from Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight

The Credits

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Venom: Let There Be Carnage Oct 11, 2021

Show notes

Editor - Maryann Brandon ACE

Venom: Let There Be Carnage editor, Maryann Brandon ACE completes a trilogy of her own with her third appearance on The Rough Cut podcast! Having previously appeared to discuss her work on the Star Wars sequels (The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker), Maryann once again finds herself on board a high-profile franchise flick.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is directed by Andy Serkis and stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock / Venom and Woody Harrelson as serial killer Cletus Kasady / Carnage. In the film, Brock struggles to adjust to life as the host of the alien symbiote known as Venom, while Kasady escapes from death row after becoming the host of Carnage, a chaotic spawn of Venom.

MARYANN BRANDON ACE

Maryann Brandon is, without question, no stranger to the big movies and big movie franchises. She first teamed up with director JJ Abrams, someone who would become a central figure in her career, back when Abrams was doing the action tv series, Alias. In fact, Maryann even directed a few of those shows. From there, Maryann worked with JJ on Mission Impossible 3, Star Trek, Super 8, Star Trek Into Darkness, and finally Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Among the many other films Maryann has edited was a film that came out in 2018 called Venom, which she co-edited with Alan Baumgarten ACE.

Editing Venom: Let There Be Carnage

In our discussion with Venom: Let There Be Carnage editor, Maryann Brandon ACE, we talk about:

Managing the amount of VFX so as not to exhaust the audience or the budget
The tonal balancing act of Venom
The qualities of a great assistant editor
The value of shooting clean plates on set
Reactions to Star Wars editor, Marcia Lucas's comments on the sequels

The Credits

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The Guilty Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

Editor - Jason Ballantine ASE ACE

The Guilty editor, Jason Ballantine ASE ACE had always wanted to work with director Antoine Fuqua; he just figured it would be on an action film in the vein of the features Fuqua is known for (Training Day, The Replacement Killers, Olympus Has Fallen). But with Fuqua's remake of the critically acclaimed Danish film, Den Skyldige "The Guilty" (2018), Ballantine instead finds himself at the editorial helm of a psychological thriller.

The Guilty takes place over the course of a single morning in a 911 dispatch call center. Call operator Joe Baylor (Gyllenhaal) tries to save a caller in grave danger—but he soon discovers that nothing is as it seems, and facing the truth is the only way out.

JASON BALLANTINE

Jason Ballantine began his editing career in the horror genre (one which he would return to often) with the Australian thriller Wolf Creek (2005). From there he would edit other fright flicks, such as Prom Night (2008), Crush (2009) and Needle (2010). But it would be his work on director Andy Muschietti's adaptation of Stephen King's It (2017) and It: Chapter Two (2019) that would put an exclamation point on Jason's work in the horror medium. Currently at work on Muschietti's The Flash (2022), Jason has also previously teamed up with directors Baz Luhrmann and Matthew Vaughn for The Great Gatsby (2013) and The King's Man (2021) respectively.

Editing The Guilty

In our discussion with The Guilty editor, Jason Ballantine, we talk about:

Interviewing with a director
Recording dialogue over zoom
An assistant who's also a VFX editor
Everything you'd ever want to know about futzing audio
Ignoring the notes and making the movie the director wants to make

The Credits

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Brand New Cherry Flavor Sep 27, 2021

Show notes

Editor - Greg O'Bryant

Brand New Cherry Flavor editor, Greg O'Bryant told his frequent collaborator, and B.N.C.F. show runner, Nick Antosca that he couldn't believe that any studio would back a series based on Todd Grimson's 1996 book of the same name; but if any did, Greg was "all in". As it turns out, Netflix was all in too. The result is an 8-episode series that almost defies description, but here's how Netflix describes it anyway.

A filmmaker heads to Hollywood in the early '90s to make her movie but tumbles down a hallucinatory rabbit hole of sex, magic, revenge — and kittens.

As accurate a description as that is, it doesn't even scratch the surface of what Greg and his friends created for the streaming giant.

GREG O'BRYANT

Brand New Cherry Flavor editor, Greg O'Bryant first began his partnership with Nick Antosca on Channel Zero, a SyFy Channel anthology series based on the popular Internet "Creepypastas" Candle Cove, The No-End House and Butcher's Block. This would not be the first anthology series where O'Bryant would lend his editorial talents, as he also worked on the tv adaptation of Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience. Prior to Brand New Cherry Flavor, O'Bryant and Antosca would join forces once again on Hulu's original series, The Act. In addition to these projects, Greg also edited the critically acclaimed political drama, The Report.

Editing Brand New Cherry Flavor

In our discussion with Brand New Cherry Flavor editor, Greg O'Bryant, we talk about:

Building a partnership with show runner Nick Antosca
Creating the "nightmare logic" for the series
Working with the LiveGrain process
Keeping a clean timeline for the next editor
The importance of being intentional with music

The Credits

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Candyman Sep 20, 2021

Show notes

Editor - Catrin Hedström

Candyman is a supernatural slasher film directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld and also DaCosta. The film is a direct sequel to the 1992 film of the same name and the fourth film in the Candyman film series.

In 2019, twenty-seven years after the events of the first film, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) lives in Chicago with his girlfriend, art gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris). Brianna's brother Troy shares with them the urban legend of Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen), a graduate student who went on a killing spree in the early 1990's. Lyle's rampage culminated in a bonfire outside Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project, where she attempted to sacrifice a baby in the fire. The residents were able to rescue the child before Helen perished in the fire in an apparent act of self-immolation.

Desperate for a creative spark to turn his career around, Anthony roams around the Cabrini-Green housing project for inspiration. There, he eventually meets William Burke, a laundromat owner who introduces him to the story of the Candyman (Tony Todd). When Burke was a child he had a frightening encounter with a hook-handed man named Sherman Fields. Police believed Fields put a razor blade in a piece of candy that was given to a white girl. Young William inadvertently alerted the police to Sherman's presence inside the walls of one of the Cabrini-Green towers, leading them to beat Fields to death. When children continued to receive candy with razor blades inside, Sherman Fields was exonerated. Since then, the legend implies that if somebody says "Candyman" five times to a mirror, he will appear and kill the summoner.

CATRIN HEDSTRÖM

Candyman editor, Catrin Hedström joins us while on location for her current collaborative effort with director Nia DaCosta, Marvel Studios' The Marvels. The Swedish native first met DaCosta when she was studying at NYU. Since then, the two have gone on to work together on the British crime drama series, Top Boy (2019) and the film, Little Woods (2018).

Editing Candyman

In our discussion with Candyman editor, Catrin Hedström, we talk about: