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32 M PS E . O R G The responsibility of Foley is to make it sound like production, so it can blend into the environment during the mix. BF: Let's talk about awards and their relevance. SSS: As we all know, receiving a nomination and an award is an acknowledgment from your peers. What an honor! I have always felt that those who are nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound Editing are all winners! They are nominated by their peers. Someone needs to take home the trophy, but what an honor to be nominated!! In 1999, I applied to become a member of the Motion Picture Academy. I had not supervised at that time, and most of my credits were for Foley supervising. Because of my rock-solid credits, some of the most amazing people sponsored me, including Kay Rose. I found out later that some of the people on the Membership Committee thought I was already a member. It brought me to tears when I found out I was accepted. In 2008, I was privileged to receive an Emmy for HBO's John Adams. Stephen Flick hired me to "help out" on the Foley for a couple of weeks. I ended up working for three months on four out of six episodes. Each ep- isode was treated like a feature film. This Emmy was well deserved by the entire crew. Now I am a member of both the Television and the Motion Picture Academy. I have also received two Golden Reel Awards. One for Black Hawk Down (2001) and one for Speed (1994). Before then, I would get a Golden Reel nomination almost every year for over a decade. To me, that is just as relevant to receiving the award itself! You have been nom- inated by your peers! What better way to honor your hard work during your career? In 2002, I received my invitations to the MPSE Golden Reel Awards, as well as the Academy Awards. I knew that Black Hawk Down was nominated for both. At that time, I was deep into the Pit of Ground Zero in New York City. I was working 12-hour shifts from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. No days off. I handed my boss the invitations. He turned around and bought a roundtrip ticket to Los Angeles so I could attend both award shows. I declined. I couldn't leave. I knew that if I were to leave Ground Zero, I wouldn't go back. It was too severe. Black Hawk Down won the Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Effects Editing and won the Oscar for Best Sound Mixing. I am very grateful for my career. I have worked with the best of the best! It has been an honor! BF: The finer nuances of sound ar- en't well understood, how does one approach such a problem when faced with it? SSS: There's a movie I worked on where the director didn't know what Foley was. When he heard footsteps on the screen, he said, "What is that? Why am I hearing that?" They tried to explain to him what Foley was and he said, "Get it off, get it off the stage." They changed the labels on the 35mm film, called it 'Effects,' put it back in the mix and they used all of it. I've worked with another director who didn't understand what Foley was. When we explained it to her, she showed up to the Foley stage and performed Foley for the film Black Widow (1987). Then there are sound supervi- sors who will use the Foley stage for sound effects. Chuck (Charles) Campbell used his Foley stage as his sound library. If it could be done on the Foley stage, he recorded it. Whether it was Foley or not, he would record everything on a Foley stage. John Roesch was his only Foley artist and whoever the partner was with John at the time and what- ever studio John was at, it didn't matter. Working on movies like The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Angels & Demons (2009) proves that these films are very well thought out and very smart-sounding movies. The entire opening of The Da Vinci Code is nothing but Foley, backgrounds, and a subtle score. The sounds were out there, bare bones. You were put on the block. That is your one-and- only chance to get it right. And it worked. "Not only does Twister have phenomenal sound, it also was way ahead of its time in CGI. Every tornado was CGI, and they did an incredible job. The sound was amazing. All five tornadoes had their own personalities. And Stephen Flick, the sound supervisor, hit them all. He nailed every one of them."