Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1545202
20 S U M M E R 2 0 2 6 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y M E E T T H E W I N N E R S MOTION PICTURES – LIVE ACTION F1 by Brandon Schuster CAS Helping to bring the story of veteran Formula 1 racer Sonny Hayes [Brad Pitt] to aural life were this year's winners in the Live Action category: production sound mixer Gareth John, scoring mixer Alan Meyerson CAS, ADR mixer Michael Miller CAS, Foley mixers Dennis Leonard and Elizabeth Marston, and re-recording mixers Gary A. Rizzo CAS and Juan Peralta. Here, they share their experiences working on this acclaimed project. How did the opportunity to work on F1 come about? Gareth John: I initially met [director and writer] Joe Kosinski and [producer] Jerry Bruckheimer, who explained their ambitious plans for the project. They told me it would be a challenging job for the sound department and asked if I was up for it. Elizabeth Marston: I kind of got lucky. I was working in our, we call it our archive stage, with those particular Foley artists at the time. And so, our sound supervisor/sound designer, Alan Nelson, wanted to work with that Foley team and I was the Foley mixer on the stage at the time. That was kind of how it came about for me. Michael Miller CAS: Well, I've been working with [supervising sound editor] Gwen Whittle for years. We worked together on the last two Avatar movies that came out. We worked on Jurassic World, just a bunch of projects in the past, and so she just reached out to me and said we have this film coming in. I've worked with the director for a couple other films, too. That's how it all lined up. Gary Rizzo CAS: Well, I have a long working relationship with Joe Kosinski. Joe came to us even before he made Tron: Legacy. He had reached out to Skywalker regarding some initial test reels to get the film green lit. And we did a bunch of early work with him on that. And then when the film was green lit, we proceeded to move forward creatively working on that job. I've done a number of his films. I did Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, and I worked a little bit on Only the Brave, but I did not do the final. I did a film that he made for Netflix that was called Spiderhead. We've got a long working relationship. Joe had mentioned that he was beginning to put together the Formula One film. And he just looked at me in the eye and he said, "Don't miss it. It's gonna be a good one." Juan Peralta: I had previously worked with Joe Kosinski on several movies of his. I came in and helped out on Tron: Legacy, which is where I met him for the first time. And then when he decided he wanted to make Oblivion, he invited me to do that as well, so I worked on that with him. And after Juan Peralta and Gary Rizzo CAS mixing F1