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Hanks to make Captain Phillips, a rippedfrom-the-headlines emotional thriller about four Somali pirates who hijacked a US container ship in 2009 and then held the captain (played by Hanks) hostage as they tried to negotiate a huge ransom, it quickly racked up early Oscar buzz. It's easy to see why, as the film combines action, drama, suspense and fine performances from Hanks and the firsttime Somali actors. Shot by DP Barry Ackroyd, who also lensed United 93 and Green Zone, the film presented "huge challenges" says Greengrass, including, "shooting at sea with real ships, which is harder than you ever imagine." Locations included Malta, Morocco, Massachusetts, Virginia and the UK, and the team spent over 60 days at sea "and got great help from the US Navy," he says. "Everyone said, shoot it in the big tank in Malta, but I knew we had to shoot on the real ocean or it'd look hopelessly inauthentic. And you know you're at sea when you watch this." Post was done mostly in London, with Double Negative and VFX supervisor Charlie Noble handling most of the visual effects (along with some shots by Nvizible and Proof). Editor Chris Rouse cut in LA at first while Greengrass shot and later moved to London and cut the rest there. Sound was done at De Lane Lea in London with supervising sound editor Oliver Tarney, who did United 93 and Green Zone with Greengrass. Then they finished up post back in LA on the Sony lot. All Is Lost, starring Oscar-winner Robert Redford, is another sea yarn, but of a very different kind. Redford plays a nameless, lone sailor in the Indian Ocean who discovers his sailboat is sinking. The film was directed by J.C. Chandor (Margin Call) and needed two DPs — Margin Call's Frank DeMarco and underwater expert Peter Zuccarini (Life of Pi) — to handle all the water scenes shot at Baja Studios' famous tank (Titanic, Pearl Harbor). VFX were done by Spin VFX and the DI was done with colorist Chris Wallace on an Autodesk Lustre at Deluxe in Toronto. Pete Beaudreau was the editor and and threetime Oscar winner Richard Hymns was the sound editor and Steve Boeddeker was the sound designer and supervising sound editor on the almost wordless movie. If any film deserves Oscar attention for its sound work, this is the one. Over the past 15 years, since his 1996 feature debut Citizen Ruth, director/writer Alexander Payne has created a small but potent body of work — including Sideways (which won him the '05 Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Screenplay), About Schmidt, Election and The Descendants (which won him a writing Oscar). His new film, Nebraska, which is already getting a lot of Oscar buzz, is in B&W, and was edited by his longtime editor Kevin Tent, who edited The Descendants, Sideways and About Schmidt. "He's edited all of my projects since '95 and it's a great relationship," says Payne, who calls the post process, "my favorite part of the whole film. Writing is necessary but painful, directing is exhilarating but exhausting — and you have all those egos to massage. Post is where cinema really happens, where montages unique to cinema among the arts come alive." Also looking likely to get Oscar attention is Saving Mr. Banks, which details the in-fighting between Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and "Mary Poppins" author PL Travers (Emma Thompson) — after all, it has a lot that appeals to Oscar voters; it's a period piece, a true story, and all about Hollywood itself. Plus it has two Oscar-fave actors, although Hanks may have to fight his Captain Phillips character for a nomination. Directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side), it was edited by Mark Livolsi and features VFX by Luma Pictures. Jon Johnson was the supervising sound editor. Oscar fave Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind won him Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture) didn't get the hit he deserved with Rush, the real-life story of the 1976 Formula One season and the dramatic rivalry between British driver James Hunt (played by Liam Hemsworth) and reigning world champion Austrian racer Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). But the film deserves consideration for its spectacular visuals, courtesy of DP Anthony Dod Mantle, Danny Boyle's go-to DP who won the Oscar for Slumdog Million- Director David O. Russell shot the '70s era American Hustle on film. www.postmagazine.com Post • January 2014 17