Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1014407
33 Q3 2018 / CINEMONTAGE CineMontage: Gus, why do you sometimes edit as well as direct? Do you feel like you're in better control? Gus Van Sant: I've edited a lot. Editing with someone else at the controls just means you're that much further away from the actual decisions. CM: How do you decide which of your films you won't edit? GVS: It's been a budgetary thing. Also, it's an accepted practice to have a separate editor [when the budget allows]. CM: How does your experience as an editor inform your directing? GVS: I think you're always aware of what you need at all times — like the minimum number of shots. If you are going to be intercutting things, you'd need at least two angles. I'm not sure I can remember things that have informed other things because they've become so interdependent that I've lost the "informing" thread of them. CM: How does your collaboration work with an editor, or in this case, a co-editor? GVS: In this case, David was my assistant editor and he was assembling while I was shooting. Then he helped as I was cutting it. There were certain things that he did in the original cut that were so valuable. CM: How did your working relationship with David progress and why did you promote him to co-editor? GVS: David worked first on my Promised Land with editor Billy Rich, then The Sea of Trees with Pietro Scalia, and helped me set up an edit bay for The Sea of Trees. Through