Most editors would be thrilled to be able to work just one time with a master like Martin Scorsese. But for Thelma
Schoonmaker, it's become a habit. She's edited every one of Scorsese's movies
since Raging Bull, all the way back in 1980.
Now that's a partnership. And it's one that has produced seven Academy Award nominations, and three wins, for Schoonmaker.
Their latest collaboration, Silence, is one of the most personal film Scorsese has ever
made. It's out now on Blu-ray and DVD.
With its vast interior landscapes, taking place
virtually completely in the mind of Andrew Garfield's characterRodrigues, Silence presented a special challenge in its editing.
"We had to find the right pace and style for this movie," she
says, "since it is meditative and not filled with the usual kind of
action and comedy and improvisation that we have in a lot of Marty's movie,
like Wolf of Wall Street, for example."
"We kept dropping more and more
voiceover," she continues, "because the images were just so powerful.
Things were being said visually, which is the best kind of filmmaking."
She also gives some insight into the great
director's passion that the movie released into the theaters is exactly the way
the team wants it. "Scorsese doesn't believe in the director's cut,"
she laughs. "We fight to the death to get the film we want. And sometimes
I do mean nearly to the death, although not on this one fortunately. But it is
a battle."
Listen to the full interview at the link above,
and order the Silence Blu-ray here.
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