Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1535880
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 39 Was it three hours long? Seemed longer. This thing played like an East German art film made before the Wall fell. I did understand that this was a very early cut and that we were by nature cynical, but still … Dino and I were relentless and I think hilarious in our frank assessment. I remember sweet, kind dialogue/ADR editor Kimaree Long watched it with us. After it finished, she said in that wonderful New Orleans accent of hers, "Well, ah liked it." Really Kimaree, really? Turns out she was smarter than us. Our jaded eyes hadn't seen the diamond in the rough that it was. In later years when a film came in that we thought was not quite what it could be one or the other of us would smile and say, "Well, ah liked it." The film went away, came back, went away, came back … you know the drill. One of those, "I'm making more money conforming this thing than I made cutting it" gigs. We did a couple of temp dubs and good Lord, it was actually getting better! A lot better. Producer Frank Marshall was very hands-on and had brought on picture editor Chris Rouse to tighten things up. Frank Marshall might be the most unpretentious, regular person, nice-guy producer in the business. He seemed like he would be as equally at home at Home Depot as he would be at a black-tie event. I have the feeling I could have asked him to help me unload my pickup truck and he would have said "sure" with a smile. Chris Rouse and I did a bunch of films together and he was one of those "I think we're actually friends" associations. I could be wrong. The "work friends" thing was once patiently explained to me by someone younger and wiser than me and Chris might fall into that "work friend" category. Who knows? It always felt real to me. That Bourne MINI Cooper car chase? That's an uncredited Chris Rouse and Frank's work. Lots of smart quick picture cuts ramping up the action. I, of course, don't know what went on behind closed doors at the picture department. Maybe director Doug Liman and his original picture editor were responsible for the improvements, maybe. If I remember correctly, it was mixed on the Holden Stage at Sony. The mixers were Scott Millan and Bob Beemer, two people who we knew and liked. I had worked on a bunch of films they had mixed. I think my first time on the stage with them was Gladiator, which they received Oscars for, permanently endearing us to them. Scott and Bob were not sitting on a throne waving their scepters type of mixers. They were collaborative, friendly, funny, and appreciative. I felt like an equal. I don't think I ever heard a Dino DiMuro and Chris Assells in earlier times. Much later, Chris and Dino still friends.