List of film director and editor collaborations

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. [Kerr, Walter (1985). [http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F30A17F8355D0C748DDDAA0894DD484D81 "Films are made in the Cutting Room,"] "New York Times", March 17, 1985. Online version retrieved November 15, 2007.] 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." [Seif, Dena (2007). [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117959781.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 "Editors pick 'Babel,' 'Departed': 'Office,' 'Wire' win at ACE Eddie Awards"] , "Variety", February 19 2007. Online version retrieved 2008-07-14.]

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 in which a director might move on from directing one film to the next without being involved in editing at all. [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). [http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Ba-Bo/Booth-Margaret.html "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.] 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. [See the Anne Bauchens article and the references therein.]

The following list of 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. 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.

35 years and more

*Cecil B. DeMille: Anne Bauchens (1918-1956), "The Ten Commandments" (1956).

30 – 34 years

*Clint Eastwood: Joel Cox (1977-present), "Million Dollar Baby" (2004).
*Steven Spielberg: Michael Kahn (1978-present), "Schindler's List" (1993).
*Martin Scorsese: Thelma Schoonmaker (1978-present), "Raging Bull" (1980).

25 – 29 years

*David Cronenberg: Ronald Sanders (1979-present), "Eastern Promises" (2007).
*Arthur Hiller: Robert C. Jones (1967-1992), "Love Story" (1970).
*Ron Howard: Daniel P. Hanley and Mike Hill (1982-present), "A Beautiful Mind" (2001).
*Mike Nichols: Sam O'Steen (1966-1994), "The Graduate" (1967).
*Alan Parker: Gerry Hambling (1974-2003), "Mississippi Burning" (1988).

20 – 24 years

*Woody Allen: Susan E. Morse (1978-1998), "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986).
*John Badham: Frank Morriss (1981-2004), "Blue Thunder" (1983).
*James L. Brooks: Richard Marks (1983-2004), "As Good as it Gets" (1997).
*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), "" (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).
*John Sturges: Ferris Webster (1950-1972), "The Great Escape" (1963).
*Robert Wise: William H. Reynolds (1951-1973), "The Sound of Music" (1965).

15 – 19 years

*Claude Berri: Hervé de Luze (1981-1999). "Jean de Florette" (1986).
*Richard Donner: Stuart Baird (1976-1994), "Superman" (1978).
*Lasse Hallström: Andrew Mondshein (1991-2006), "Chocolat" (2000).
*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), "Wilson" (1944).
*Ang Lee: Tim Squyres (1993-present), "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000).
*Quentin Tarantino: Sally Menke (1992-present), "Pulp Fiction" (1994).
*Peter Weir: William M. Anderson (1981-1998), "The Truman Show" (1998).
*Robert Zemeckis: Arthur Schmidt (1985-2000), "Forrest Gump" (1994).
*Edward Zwick:Steven Rosenblum (1989-present), "Glory" (1989).

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).
*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).
*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).
*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).

References