Lee Smith

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Lee Smith (* 1960 in Sydney , New South Wales , Australia ) is an Australian film editor . He became known through his work with Peter Weir and Christopher Nolan .

Career

After initially working as an assistant editor, he switched between sound and image editing throughout his career. He did this on the one hand for pragmatic reasons, in order to be employed in the long term and on the other hand because, according to his own statement, he had to work with the sound when editing the image anyway. ("I never really saw a big difference between the two and as a picture editor I work heavily with sound.") However, he also appreciates working without music for as long as possible at work, because precisely this, according to his theory, cover a lot and do not allow an exact analysis of the images. ("My theory is that the longer you can resist putting music on a movie, the more you analyze and the more brutal you are on the images. Music is the great glue that can stick sequences together.") He appreciates longer shots that use CGI as little as possible . This was especially true with Stanley Kubrick , but also with Nolan and Weir, with whom he worked for years. ("Kubrick had a great vision and [made] great use of wide shots. Both Chris [Nolan] and Peter [Weir] are into that.")

He has a long-standing collaboration with the Australian director Peter Weir , which includes films such as Master & Commander , The Truman Show and Fearless . At the age of 22, Smith was allowed to work as an assistant editor for William M. Anderson in A Year in Hell in 1982 . But not only was working with Anderson a preparation for his later career, but also working with Weir, of which Smith said in retrospect that he was “a young man and that this encouraged him so much, as often as possible with him Working together, because it was a fantastic experience. ” (“ I was a young guy and it spurred me to work with him as many times as I could. It was a fantastic experience. ”) Until 2003 he worked with Anderson again and again and Weir together and took over both the sound and image editing for the respective projects. With Master & Commander , Weir was responsible for a project independently for the first time. This was distinguished by an Oscar nomination for him. This was the last film together until 2010 ( The Way Back ). Of Weir, Smith says that “he has a lot of ideas and is very interested in creating moods with sounds.” So it's exciting to work with him. ("He has a lot of ideas and is very interested in creating moods through sounds which makes him a very exciting director to work with.") Weir also appreciates Smith's achievements and has already referred to him as a Sound Nut .

He has also worked with the British director Christopher Nolan for several years since 2005. Until 2010 he was responsible for editing Nolan's films Batman Begins , Prestige - The Masters of Magic , The Dark Knight and Inception . This work earned him worldwide recognition. During this time he was nominated and awarded worldwide for a wide variety of film awards, including another Oscar nomination and two nominations for the British Academy Film Award . When Christopher Nolan was unexpectedly not nominated for an Oscar for directing at the beginning of 2011, the media coverage of the non-nomination for the Editing Oscar for Smith's work on Inception was no less great. Christopher Nolan only said that he was most surprised that there was no editing nomination for Lee Smith. He thought that was a clear distinction. ("The thing I was most surprised about was no film editing nomination for Lee Smith. I thought he was a sure thing to win.") After Hans Zimmer was also disappointed, the producer Emma Thomas , wife of Christopher Nolan, said that this announcement would have caused the greatest astonishment. ("It really does remain perhaps the biggest head-scratcher of last week's announcement.")

When asked when he would start working on the third Batman film, he replied that he was booked from May 1, 2011. ("I'm booked to start that on May 1st.")

At the Academy Awards 2018 he was nominated for the third time for Nolans' film " Dunkirk " and won his first Oscar .

Life

Smith is married. He has two children with his wife, Kimberly.

criticism

"The excellent cut by Lee Smith contributes significantly to the fact that the viewer is groping in the dark for a long time and the tension never breaks down."

- Inception film review

Filmography (selection)

Nominations and Awards

Oscar
BAFTA Award
  • 1994: Best Sound - The Piano (nominated)
  • 2009 : Best Editing - The Dark Knight (nominated)
  • 2011 : Best Editing - Inception (nominated)
  • 2018: Best Editing - Dunkirk (nominated)
Online Film Critics Society Awards
  • 2008: Best Editing - The Dark Knight (nominated)
  • 2010: Best Editing - Inception (won)
  • 2018: Best Editing - Dunkirk (won)
Eddie Awards
  • 2004: Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) - Master & Commander (nominated)
  • 2009: Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) - The Dark Knight (nominated)
  • 2011: Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) - Inception (nominated)
  • 2018: Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) - Dunkirk (won)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Oliver Peters: The Dark Knight on digitalfilms.wordpress.com from August 2, 2008 ( English ), accessed on April 1, 2011
  2. ↑ a b c Trevor Hogg: Cutting Edge: A conversation with film editor Lee Smith ( Memento of the original from January 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at flickeringmyth.blogspot.com January 15, 2011 ( English ), accessed April 1, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / flickeringmyth.blogspot.com
  3. ↑ a b Trevor Hogg: The Weir Way: Russell Boyd and Lee Smith Talk About Peter Weir ( Memento of the original from October 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at flickeringmyth.blogspot.com January 19, 2011 ( English ), accessed April 1, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / flickeringmyth.blogspot.com
  4. ↑ Debbie Lynn Elias: moviesharkdeblore.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Peter Weir: "Lee Smith is also a sound nut and he's done sound editing on a number of my films." ( English ), accessed April 1, 2011@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / moviesharkdeblore.com  
  5. ↑ Jeff Beck: If I picked the winners ... The 83rd Academy Awards on examiner.com from 1 February 2011 ( English ), accessed 1 April 2011
  6. ↑ Jordan Berry: Oscar snubs stir latest round of awards show skepticism  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on cw.ua.edu of February 6, 2011 ( English ), accessed April 1, 2011@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / cw.ua.edu  
  7. ↑ Pete Hammond: OSCAR: Now Every Campaign Enters Crucial Final Stretch on deadline.com of February 2, 2011 ( English ), accessed April 1, 2011
  8. ↑ Christian Tobin: Zimmer "can't believe" Nolan Oscar snub on digitalspy.co.uk from January 26, 2011 ( English ), accessed on April 1, 2011
  9. ↑ Kristopher Tapley: SANTA BARBARA: Nolan crowned as Modern Master on incontention.com from January 31, 2011 ( English ), accessed April 1, 2011
  10. ↑ Peter Mitchell: Aussie film editor Lee Smith scores Oscar nomination on news.com.au on January 23, 2009 ( English ), accessed April 1, 2011
  11. ↑ Inception on moviereporter.net of 22 July 2010, accessed 30 May 2012
personal data
SURNAME Smith, Lee
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian film editor
DATE OF BIRTH 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Sydney , New South Wales , Australia