Last month I kicked off a trio of podcasts that give thanks to film editors. I started with an interview with Tatiana S. Riegel, the Oscar-nominated film editor of "I, Tonya." Now I speak with Stephen Mirrione, who won an Oscar for his work on Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic."
Since I feel many filmgoers don’t fully appreciate what an editor does, I wanted to focus on three acclaimed editors working today to provide some insight into what they do.
Mirrione talked about the benefits as well as the drawbacks of digital editing but what he got most excited about was exploring the poetry of editing and how unexpected things play into the process.
"People get so obsessed with 'everything's got to be perfect,'" Mirrione said. "I think that kills exciting filmmaking. Everything should not be perfect. Let shots be out of focus. Let somebody fall out of frame. Let something be weird because you'll find a way most likely to use that in an abstract way that'll be more exciting."
I recorded my interview in October for a Comic-Con Museum panel at this year’s SAM: Storytelling Across Media. Joining me for the next and final film editing podcast will be Paul Machliss who has cut Edgar Wright’s "Baby Driver," "World’s End" and "Scott Pilgrim Vs the World."
