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 47 this is Ridley." This is Quentin Tarantino meeting Ridley Scott for the first time and I'm right there. I think I might have peed my pants a little. They were a study in contrasts. Quentin in constant motion, never settling, his speaking cadence approaching meth-addict speed. Ridley completely still and poised in (I'm guessing) custom-fitted Italian shoes and tailored clothes politely nodding and smiling. Dammit, where's a camera when you need one? What did they talk about? I have no clue, can't remember. My fanboy brain had exploded and was leaking out my ears. We're back on the stage mixing away and Bob utters those dreaded words, "We gotta find a place for the dolphin." Oh crap. "Bob, this is a Ridley Scott film. We can't screw around." "Nah, it'll be cool. We'll find a good spot," he says fearlessly. God, I love and loathe that guy. He's found the spot. There's a raid on an apartment building inhabited by our bad-guy drug dealers. The good guys sneak down a hallway, then Russell Crowe kicks open a door. Inside the apartment, they are storming, there is a parrot in a cage. "We'll put the dolphin in the parrot's mouth." Wait a second … "No, I don't think this is a good idea." "Trust me, it'll be great." Having done a number of Ridley Scott films, I knew that he liked quirky unexpected sounds. I had put choral voices in incoming fireballs in Gladiator which he liked, also in Gladiator, Dino had put high school cheerleaders in the arena crowds and in A Good Year, Dino had put Samurai warrior vocals in Russell Crowe's car's GPS. Ridley had laughed and liked them both. I wasn't feeling good about it but I dug out Flipper and sunk it up with the parrot cage getting kicked over. Bob put it in. It was awful. It was a dolphin vocal coming out of a parrot. It was painfully obvious. Nobody was going to laugh, nobody was going to applaud, people were going to shout and shake their fists in anger. My stuff would be put in a cardboard box, and I would be escorted off the stage. "Bob, this isn't a Wilhelm. We're gonna get busted." "Relax, it's going to be fine." We do playback for Ridley, picture editor Pietro Scalia, supervisor Per, various producers and others whose responsibilities were still not clear. Notes are taken. The reel ends. I sit. I wait. Bob is of course, unconcerned. Notes are given. Not a word is mentioned about the dolphin. Not one single word. Does nobody hear it? I am astonished. It made it through every fix pass, playback, preview, and final without being remarked on. The dolphin lives and I laugh every single time I hear it. You'll laugh too. Time goes by, we're working on a film called Child 44, yes, that selfsame book Ridley Scott had the The Child 44 book Ridley Scott had the author sign. Also signed by the film's director. "To the sweetest man on the planet and an inspiration. Dear Chris, Thank You! Daniel Espinosa.