Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1515786
17 W I N T E R Q 4 I S S U E F E A T U R E made a pop. We had challenges. "Citizen Ruth" (1996) was a low-budget film, and it was the first time he ever directed.We had a good time, worked hard and I think ultimatelymade a good movie.Alexander is a loyal director and person, and when he got his next film o the ground, "Election" (1999), he asked me to cut it. Anyone who had anything to do with that film had a huge career bump. CineMontage: How has the creative dynamic evolved? Kevin Tent: He keeps the filmmaking process in perspective, and he doesn't let it consume his brain in a bad way. There's pressure, but he remains cool. We just close the door and go to work.I don't really think about what we do or how we do it. We just keep trying things.We both have radar or a spidey sense that warns us that something is not yet good. So we just keep cutting and experimenting. As he once said. "Every day we make this film suck less." Those are re- ally good words to live by in a cutting room. CineMontage: Many of your films together, like "Citizen Ruth" and "Election," have a very specific tone. They are comedies, but not typical ones. How do you capture that? Kevin Tent: Yes, sometimes you're laughing at very awkward or uncomfortable moments. Like many of his other films, the characters in "The Holdovers" are very well-drawn. They're realistic in a sense that they are flawed, or maybe the better way to put it is: they're "human." And then he takes these realistic and relatable characters and puts them in situations. Often funny, awkward situations. I think the humor (for the audience) comes from watching these characters squirm. In the cutting room we are always looking for the most honest performances which are sometimes funny, sometimes not. The tone is in some ways baked into the film by the screenplay and Alexander's directing, but we are certainly diligent in the cutting room of supporting whatever that tone is. We're also cognizant of the transitions in the shifts of tone. CineMontage: The premise of the story changes and narrows to just three people. How did you want to handle that? Kevin Tent: It's a great twist and an unexpected one for the audience. I think it's a nice surprise for them when they realize, "Oh this is the movie we're watching." I was very happy to see they didn't reveal it in the trailer. It's a twist that comes like 45 min- utes into the film, which is later than what's more or less expected in today's cinematic culture. Our attempt to handle this was to do our best to get the twist to happen as soon as we could with simple pacing and tightening. We really couldn't get to the moment much earlier without dropping scenes, which kind of hurt the movie. It seems there was enough interesting stuff going on with the characters which kept the audience engaged till the rest of the boys left the school and the movie became about our three heroes. CineMontage: The lead character played by Paul Giamatti has some anities with Miles, his character from "Sideways" (2004). Twenty years apart, but you're doing interesting variations and themes. Kevin Tent:Paul is a phenomenal actor. Always delivers, always knows his lines, always matching his action, always giving great reaction shots to other actors' reads. FUN IN THE SUN: Dominic Sessa and Paul Giamatti in "The Holdovers." P H OT O : F O C U S F E AT U R E S