Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1515786
16 C I N E M O N T A G E F E A T U R E By Patrick Z. McGavin "I like to say I found editing, and editing found me," says Kevin Tent, ACE, the Os- car-nominated picture editor of Alexander Payne's dark comedy "The Holdovers." Beginning with their first collaboration "Citizen Ruth" (1996), Tent has been the only editor for Payne, on such f ilms as "Election" (1999), "About Schmidt" (2002) and "Sideways" (2004). "The Holdovers," set over Christmas vacation in 1970 at a New England boarding school for boys, is the bittersweet portrait of CUTTING FOR CHARACTER KEVIN TENT EXPLAINS THE PROCESS BEHIND ALEXANDER PAYNE'S 'THE HOLDOVERS' complicated relationships among a grumpy teacher with a troubled past (Paul Giamat- ti), his callow student (Dominic Sessa) and a long-suering dining-hall cook (Da'Vine Joy Randolph). Tent talked about editing for tone, tempo and rhythm, as well as his eorts on behalf of picture editors as the president of ACE. CineMontage: You have edited all of Alexander Payne's films. How did you first meet? Kevin Tent:We both lived in the same Silverlake neighborhood and knew the same group of people but had never met. I was an editor for Roger Corman, and I had done some art films. When he had his first feature ready to go, he asked our mutual friend, the editorCarole Kravetz, for a recommenda- tion since,as he put it, he couldn't afford her. She recommended two people, and I was one of them. We hit it off in an interview,I think he liked that I had worked at Roger Corman's and I had also cut this independent film by Tamra Davis, "Guncrazy" (1992), that Kevin Tent.