This list of film director and editor collaborations includes longstanding, notable partnerships of directors and editors. The list's importance is that directors and editors typically work together on the editing of a film, which is the ultimate step of filmmaking during which the dozens or hundreds of hours of raw film "footage" are pruned and woven into the final movie. Film critic Walter Kerr has argued that editing is comparable in its importance to directing itself, and should be credited as such.[1] Quentin Tarantino has been quoted as saying, "The best collaborations are the director-editor teams, where they can finish each other's sentences," and that his own editor, Sally Menke, is his "only, truly genuine collaborator."[2] Crediting the editing of a film is made more difficult by the fact that the relative contributions of the director and the editor vary enormously. At one extreme lies the old Hollywood studio system; as described by Lizzie Francke, this was the "period when the editor was often left to his or her own devices in the cutting room. The pressures of production turn-over during the hey-day of the studio system often meant that the director could not be around to supervise since they were on to their next production."[3][4][5] At the other extreme lie "auteur" directors who personally edit their own films. The Coen Brothers are a contemporary example. Cecil B. DeMille's silent films (through 1918) provide an early one.[6] The following list of notable director and editor collaborations does not attempt to parse the relative contributions of the individuals. The collaborations on this list have each extended over a decade or more, and have produced at least one film nominated for an Academy Award or BAFTA Award as best film, for best directing, or for best editing; one such film is noted for each collaboration. The restriction to Oscar-nominated or BAFTA-nominated films does exclude most directors and editors whose films are not in English. The dates listed for each collaboration are based on searches of the Internet Movie Database. [edit] 35 years and more [edit] 30 – 34 years [edit] 25 – 29 years [edit] 20 – 24 years - Woody Allen: Susan E. Morse (1977-1998), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).
- John Badham: Frank Morriss (1981-2004), Blue Thunder (1983).
- Joel Coen and Ethan Coen: Roderick Jaynes (1984-present), No Country for Old Men (2007).
- Blake Edwards: Ralph E. Winters (1963-84), Victor/Victoria (1982).
- Federico Fellini: Ruggero Mastroianni (1965-1986), Amarcord (1973).
- Stephen Frears: Mick Audsley (1982-2002), Dangerous Liaisons (1988).
- Peter Jackson: Jamie Selkirk (1987-present), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
- Lawrence Kasdan: Carol Littleton (1981-2003), The Accidental Tourist (1988).
- Barry Levinson: Stu Linder (1982-2004), Rain Man (1988).
- Terrence Malick: Billy Weber (1978-1998), The Thin Red Line (1998).
- Roman Polanski: Sam O'Steen (1968-1988), Chinatown (1974).
- Roman Polanski: Hervé de Luze (1986-present), The Pianist (2002).
- Sydney Pollack: William Steinkamp (1982-2005), Out of Africa (1985).
- John Sturges: Ferris Webster (1950-1972), The Great Escape (1963).
- Robert Wise: William H. Reynolds (1951-1973), The Sound of Music (1965).
[edit] 15 – 19 years - Claude Berri: Hervé de Luze (1981-1999). Jean de Florette (1986).
- Jane Campion: Veronika Jenet (1983-1999). The Piano (1993).
- Richard Donner: Stuart Baird (1976-1994), Superman (1978).
- Lasse Hallström: Andrew Mondshein (1991-2006), Chocolat (2000).
- Scott Hicks: Pip Karmel (1988-2007), Shine (1996).
- John Huston: Russell Lloyd (1956-75 ), The Man Who Would Be King (1975).
- Norman Jewison: Antony Gibbs (1971-1989), Agnes of God (1985).
- Henry King: Barbara McLean (1936-1955), Twelve O'Clock High (1949).
- Ang Lee: Tim Squyres (1993-present), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).
- Sean Penn: Jay Cassidy (1990-present), Into the Wild (2007).
- Russell Rouse: Chester Schaeffer (1951-1967), The Well (1951).
- Quentin Tarantino: Sally Menke (1992-present), Pulp Fiction (1994).
- Peter Weir: William M. Anderson (1981-1998), The Truman Show (1998).
- Peter Weir: Lee Smith (1993-present), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003).
- Lina Wertmüller: Franco Fraticelli (1966-1983), Seven Beauties (1975).
- Robert Zemeckis: Arthur Schmidt (1985-2000), Forrest Gump (1994).
- Edward Zwick:Steven Rosenblum (1989-present), Glory (1989).
[edit] 9 – 14 years - Robert Altman: Geraldine Peroni (1990-2003), The Player (1992).
- Paul Thomas Anderson: Dylan Tichenor (1997-present), There Will Be Blood (2007).
- Woody Allen: Ralph Rosenblum (1969-78), Annie Hall (1977).
- Hal Ashby: Robert C. Jones (1973-1982). Shampoo (1975).
- Ingmar Bergman: Oscar Rosander (1946-1960), Wild Strawberries (1957).
- Jules Dassin: Roger Dwyre (1955-66), Never on Sunday (1960).
- Alfred Hitchcock: George Tomasini (1954-64), North by Northwest (1959).
- Spike Jonze: Eric Zumbrunnen (1997-present), Being John Malkovich (1999).
- Baz Luhrman:Jill Bilcock (1992-2002), Moulin Rouge! (2002).
- David Lynch:Mary Sweeney (1992-2001 ), Mulholland Drive (2001).
- Michael Mann:William Goldenberg (1995-2006), The Insider (1999).
- Vincente Minnelli: Adrienne Fazan (1951-1963), Gigi (1958).
- Arthur Penn: Dede Allen (1967-1976), Bonnie and Clyde' (1967)
- Steven Soderbergh: Stephen Mirrione (2000-present), Traffic (2000).
- Tom Tykwer: Mathilde Bonnefoy (1998-present), Run Lola Run (1998).
- Luchino Visconti: Ruggero Mastroianni (1967-1976), Death in Venice (1971).
- The Wachowski Brothers: Zach Staenberg (1996-present), The Matrix (1999).
- Billy Wilder: Arthur P. Schmidt (1950-1959), Sunset Boulevard (1953).
- Billy Wilder: Daniel Mandell (1957-1966), The Apartment (1960).
- William Wyler: Daniel Mandell (1933-1946), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).
[edit] References - ^ Kerr, Walter (1985). "Films are made in the Cutting Room," New York Times, March 17, 1985. Online version retrieved November 15, 2007.
- ^ Seif, Dena (2007). "Editors pick 'Babel,' 'Departed': 'Office,' 'Wire' win at ACE Eddie Awards", Variety, February 19, 2007. Online version retrieved 2008-07-14.
- ^ Francke, Lizzie (April 30, 1996). "Invisible hand in the cutting room". The Guardian: p. 14. http://www.editorsbench.com/documents/mclean.html. Obituary for Barbara McLean.
- ^ For many years at MGM the director of a film did not necessarily supervise its editing. Margaret Booth, a distinguished editor herself, supervised the editing department under the patronage of the studio's head Louis B. Mayer.
- ^ Gomery, Douglas (2000). "Margaret Booth", in Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast (editors), International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers, Edition 4 (St. James Press), ISBN 978-1558624498. Online version of article retrieved December 24, 2007.
- ^ See the Anne Bauchens article and the references therein.
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