Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1504731
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 27 It was an incredible place to work, surrounded by so much talent. BF: Was there any time where you felt you wanted to move from being a Foley supervisor to being a super- vising sound editor? SSS: That is a very explosive ques- tion. I have been privileged and have had a lot of fun cutting dialogue, sound effects, and backgrounds. The hardest element to cut is dia- logue. ADR is a blast for me. I don't know why I didn't get into ADR be- cause it was so easy for me to work with actors and be on the stage as part of the process working with di- rectors. But, Foley is my home. Foley is where I belonged. And I had a lot of privileges and freedom as a Foley supervisor. I did aspire to become a supervis- ing sound editor and I was on that path to take me to supervising. I was meeting all the right producers, directors, and mixers. That's your path. Or if you could hook up with another sound editor and create a partnership and start getting your own features, that's even better. But then 9/11 happened, Ground Zero happened, that changed the course of everybody's life. It changed everything. And the path that I was taking ended because of 9/11. If you were alive, you know exactly what you were doing on 9/11 because it was a global event. I was living in the Hollywood Hills, my alarm went off with the radio and I heard that the World Trade Center Towers were hit by a plane. I jumped up, turned on the television, and watched for seven hours. I was devastated. I actually witnessed the second plane crash into Tower 2. I was working at Disney at the time on a movie called Snow Dogs the cueing and the recording of the Foley on Goonies because it's such a high adventure, high action film. While it was a tough one, I was very grateful to have gone from Goonies to The Color Purple. And that's where it all started. That's how I met Spielberg. I was wearing a Goonies jacket on The Color Purple dub stage, and we wrapped, and I hear this voice behind me say, "I know that movie." I turn around and it's Spielberg and I'm like, "Oh my God." That's another inspiration, working with a director like Steven Spielberg. What he does on the dub stage is he conducts his dub like an orchestra. He will stand in front of the mixers and discuss what is hap- pening and what's going on, what he expects to hear. I don't think I've ever seen him sitting in the back. Ron Howard is another one. Ron Howard was a genius in his direct- ing The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Angels & Demons (2009). I was very grateful and fortunate that I was able to work on those features and very inspired by the expectations of the director. When you work with genius, it just picks you up and takes you to the top shelf. You can't help but to be excellent at your craft. BF: Tell us more about Screaming Lizards. SSS: Screaming Lizards turned out to be a temporary name for the company. When Richard, Steve, and Mark bought a building in North Hollywood, they changed the name of the company again and called it Weddington Productions after the street where it was located. I had the privilege of working there for many years on over a dozen feature films. (2002) with Cuba Gooding Jr. Disney shut down operations. Rob Sephton called to tell me not to come in, Disney Studios is closed. I finished working on Snow Dogs three weeks later. After that, I started on a movie called Black Hawk Down (2001). The country was a mess. All of our free- dom was compromised. There were too many unanswered questions. BF: How did 9/11 affect you? SSS: I was devastated… Since 1980, I had been traveling to New York City to celebrate Christmas with my dear friend's family. In 2001, I didn't want to go. I didn't think I could handle New York City's skyline without the Twin Towers. Reluctantly, when we finished Black Hawk Down, I flew to New York. We went up to the top of the Empire State Building that night. When you looked down to Lower Manhattan, it looked like a well-lit football field. No Towers. I cried. After Christmas, I decided to investigate volunteering at Ground Zero. The Salvation Army had a 24- hour respite center, which offered everything from food to supplies for all of the rescue workers, all for free. The volunteers worked behind the lines feeding the rescue workers. "The volunteers worked behind the lines feeding the rescue workers. It didn't matter where you were from or who you were. We were like a tight-knit family."