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Q1 2020

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Sally Boldt P H O T O : C O U R T E S Y S A L L Y B O L D T "It was just such a great experience," Boldt says of making "Groundhog Day" (with Murray, center). P H O T O : P H O T O F E S T 58 C I N E M O N T A G E P E R S O N A L H I S T O R Y To hear Boldt describe it, the postpro- duction team knew from the get-go that they had a special film in the can. "Every- body loved the movie," she said. "It was a great crew, and there was just a feeling that came from the top down, from Har- old Ramis, who was really incredible. The film was delightful and hilarious, but it also had a wonderful message delivered not in a preachy way at all: Everybody could relate in their own way to the idea of living in the moment." A native of New York City, Boldt grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, where she played the flute and piano, and partici- pated in a youth orchestra. "There were a lot of musicians in the New York Philhar- monic and the Metropolitan Opera who lived in my area and taught," she said. "And there were a lot of kids in that youth orchestra who went on to conservatory and to have careers as musicians." The future music editor, however, had different plans. She entered Brown Uni- versity in Providence, Rhode Island, as a pre-med student, but she soon become involved in semiotics, a branch of critical theory that just happened to involve copious moviegoing. "We would watch a John Ford west- ern and we would read Freud and Marx," Boldt said. "Then we would talk about how the flow of cattle is like the flow of libido. It was very controversial at the time." Through her involvement in semiotics, the undergraduate sometimes found herself watching two films per day for an entire semester, fostering a passion for film. After graduating from Brown, Boldt pursued a career in film in New York City but was uncertain how to break into the business. "I got a job as the producer's PA on a show that was in post in a brownstone across the street from me," she said. "At the end of the day, they would let me help in the editing room. I never even knew that the job 'music editing' existed." A few years later, on another proj- ect, Boldt was hired as a first assistant editor, but her responsibilities quickly expanded. "They didn't have a budget for a music editor, and they needed a temp score," she said. "They just locked me in a room with the music supervisor." She found that she was at ease in combining her long-term passion for music with her newfound experience in the cutting room. "These are two things I love: music and film," she said. "And I decided at that point to pursue music editing." In the early 1990s, Boldt first crossed paths with British composer George Fenton, who later scored "Groundhog Day." When music editor Curt Sobel was unable to work on Luis Mandoki's drama "White Palace" (1990) — a drama also scored by Fenton — because of a sched- uling conflict, Boldt was asked to step in. "Curt miraculously and generously recommended me, so that's how I met George," she said. "'White Palace' was the first of several projects that I went on to do with George." By the time "Groundhog Day" rolled around, Fenton informed the production that he wanted Boldt to join him. "I was just finishing another project, so I wasn't free to start immediately," said Boldt, who enlisted a friend, music editor Bunny Andrews, to help out. When Boldt and Andrews were still working together, however, the two mu- sic editors were invited to a screening of an early, somewhat rough cut of the film prepared by picture editor Pembroke J. Herring. "There was hardly anybody else there besides the editing crew, Harold and [producer] Trevor Albert and their team, and me and Bunny," said Boldt, SEE PAGE 64

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