Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1061972
54 CINEMONTAGE / Q4 2018 to be in a world where I was an assistant editor working underneath editors whom I really admired, and learning how the cutting rooms worked, but…I just didn't have any connections and it didn't work out. So I ended up on this other path." Once Sanders worked on a project that could afford an assistant, he asked McMillon to join him on the HBO show Togetherness (2015-2016). The two also worked together on Girls (2012-2017). Then they teamed as co- editors on Jenkins' Moonlight. In between Moonlight and Beale Street, McMillon edited Janicza Bravo's Sundance premiere Lemon (2017) and Jake Scott's American Woman (2018), which debuted at the Toronto Film Festival. Currently, she is paired up with Bravo again on the upcoming film Zola. Sanders' other work includes Short Term 12 (2013), for which on the Independent Spirit Award for Best Editing, The Glass Castle (2017) and Just Mercy, which he is currently cutting and is due in 2020. All three were directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. CineMontage caught up with with McMillon and Sanders in late September, not long before they attended the US premiere at the Apollo, to discuss their work on If Beale Street Could Talk. CineMontage: You've both known Barry Jenkins for a while. What is his work style like? Nat Sanders: We all went to film school together, so we know Barry's style and what he's looking for very, very intimately. He is very hands-off on post while shooting. He loves production and he gets very wrapped up in it so we don't hear from him very much during that time. If he has a chance, he'll stop by the cutting room, but for the most part we are putting the first cut together ourselves during production and then we'll show it to him afterwards. CM: How did editing Moonlight prepare you for working on If Beale Street Could Talk? NS: When we made Moonlight, it had been eight years since I worked with Barry on Medicine for Melancholy. On Moonlight, it took a second to get my head back around his style, whereas on Beale Street it was there right away. Having worked much more recently with him played a big part. Joi McMillon: Because there wasn't a big stretch of time between Moonlight and Beale Street, our shorthand was more in sync on the new film. Sometimes Barry would say, "You know what I want," and in most instances we do know what he wants. This time it was like second nature to navigate his thought process, so we fell in step more quickly with each other on this film. Barry is really good at telling you when something is almost there. At times, he may not be able to put an exact finger on what's not working, but he'll say, "It's so close." What I've found is you can't rush the material. Sometimes giving yourself space away from a certain scene and then coming back to it in a day or two allows you to see exactly what the scene wants to be. But you can't force it. CM: What was it like editing Beale Street after the success of Moonlight? JM: A lot of people ask us if we felt pressure doing this movie after coming off the win for Moonlight. I think the pressure we actually felt was from James Baldwin himself. To do an adaptation of his work is a huge undertaking. His words are so powerful and you do Joi McMillon.