Interviews with Christopher Nolan’s Editing Team

Editor Lee Smith & Assistant John Lee in Interview

Christopher Nolan is undoubtably one of my favourite directors and his editing team – Editor Lee Smith and Assistant Editor John Lee – will no doubt play a huge part in why his films turn so brilliantly. Film is after all a team sport.

Editing The Dark Knight Rises

To celebrate the release of The Dark Knight Rises, Flickering Myth have a fantastic interview with Lee Smith. Smith has edited 5 of Nolan’s films (The Dark Knight Trilogy as well as Inception and The Prestige) as well as several of Peter Weir’s films (The Truman Show, Master & Commander).  He’s also working on Wally Pfister’s (Nolan’s favourite DoP) directorial debut – Transcendance.

We watch the dailies every night,” states Lee Smith.  “We’re both great believers in that because it’s not just the notes; it’s a time where we can chat and I can talk about what I’m doing while the dailies are rolling.  It’s one of the few times you can actually sit down and have a conversation because of the speed and intensity of shooting a movie.

Frame of Reference also have a great interview with John Lee, Lee Smith’s assistant on how he got into the business and what he’s learned along the way. Well worth a read.

Editing The Dark Knight Rises

If you want even more interviews with these guys check out these two previous posts:

Editing Inception – How to edit a $200 million film

Batman – The Dark Knight Post Production

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