Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/637797
32 CINEMONTAGE / Q1 2016 by Bill Desowitz T his year's Oscar nominees for Best Editing explore the economic collapse of Wall Street in 2008 as a black comedy; return to an iconic post-apocalyptic world, as well as a galaxy, far, far away; go on a metaphysical journey in the frozen wilderness; and provide an inside glimpse of The Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize–winning coverage of the Catholic Church sex scandal cover-up. The nominated editors include Hank Corwin, ACE (The Big Short), Margaret Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road), Stephen Mirrione, ACE (The Revenant), Tom McArdle (Spotlight), and Maryann Brandon, ACE, and Mary Jo Markey, ACE (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens). Corwin, who additionally snagged the LA Film Critics Award for Best Editing as well as an Eddie Award for Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy) from the American Cinema Editors, in addition to being nominated for a BAFTA Award, had two great challenges with The Big Short, which was helmed by comedy director Adam McKay: How to make sense of the complicated economics surrounding the bursting of the housing bubble, and how to make the brokers who profited from it seem sympathetic. Fortunately, Corwin had a lot of great footage from a talented acting ensemble, including brilliant on-set improvisation from Christian Bale (a Best Supporting Actor nominee for his role) and Steve Carell. "I initially started cutting each grouping differently," Corwin explains. "Christian Bale's Michael Burry character was very locked within himself and closed down. And I tried to make the editing there almost subliminal and very quiet. And then you had Steve Carell's character, Mark Baum, who was very overt and bombastic, so I tried to make that editorial really over the top. It was aggressive and not very pretty — but deliberately so. "So much was a process of discovery," he continues. "Everybody started from his own place but ultimately, when they went down, their plight became the same. Adam Davidson, the financial advisor, told me that people who shorted became physically ill; they fell apart; they broke down. I tried to bring that into the cutting toward the end when it folded into one style." Corwin credits McKay's improv background and talent for comedy as the reasons it all comes together so brilliantly. The unscripted moments help humanize the brokers, particularly quiet moments when the actors didn't realize they were on camera. "My biggest task, I thought, was to make these people not seem like cyborgs, repeating facts and figures." For this, he had a secret weapon that McKay encouraged him to pursue: the use of time-lapse stock footage for navigating through the chaotic, absurd and surreal events that comprise the narrative. "It's not that long ago that this happened, and I thought it was really O S C A R - W O R T H Y F I L M E D I T O R S Hank Corwin. Photo by Matt Harbicht