Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/681807
25 Q2 2016 / CINEMONTAGE SH: I usually read the script in an early draft. We talk a lot about it, not so much for me to give notes but to understand the characters and story. I feel it's important to get involved as early as possible in the world of the story, to understand it and the motivations and intentions of the director. I want to be in her head before we start shooting, because during the shoot, there's little time to have intense conversations. For Maggie's Plan, Rebecca invited me to be part of a week of breakdown meetings with Sam Levy, the cinematographer. At that point, we already had a lot of locations, and Sam had taken videos. They also had already worked over several months on the visual language and had developed many references. There was a whole world emerging already in the imagination of things and it was wonderful to come in and be able to think about how we were going to get from here to there, and what may still be missing. During the shoot, sometimes you need an extra transition or something is missing. To be able to respond to that, prep is everything — both creatively and technically. During the shoot, I usually send drafts of scenes to Rebecca so she can evaluate them, get a sense of how moments might feel connected and give notes. CM: What was the great challenge of Maggie's Plan? SH: There was some time pressure. The shoot was 24 days and I showed Rebecca a first assembly a week after. Then we cut for 11 weeks and locked picture. The script was long and the first assembly was 2:20. It was all wonderful, funny dialogue, but the film is now at 92 minutes, so we cut out 40 minutes of dialogue, which just emerged from our process. It just felt more and more right. We worked on balancing the characters and different storylines. I'm grateful for the trust that comes from this being our fourth collaboration, but there's no space to get lazy. You always have to give your best. When you have the opportunity to create a safe environment to experiment without being ashamed to have an idea, you can bring out things. The wonderful thing about Rebecca is that she is incredibly fearless in the cutting room. She's not precious about her scenes. She wants it to be truthful, so most of our time is spent looking at scenes and saying, "This is nice but how can it be better?" CM: Is this basically a model of working that you try to replicate? SH: Yes, of course. I do like to come in early, understand as much as possible and work parallel to the shoot to understand what's being shot; to know when you need something that isn't there. In my collaboration with Richard on The Last Five Years, we started working before the shoot. The time structure is complex, as one character's storyline moves forward, while the other one's moves backwards. We had footage from rehearsals so we looked at that to understand the intentions of the characters and the tonality ahead of time. When you have a good first assembly that isn't too far from the script, and at least captures most of the ideas, that's very helpful. Then you have to throw it all out. One of the biggest things to remember is to keep a beginner's mind. You know everything about why you had to cut it this way, but then you have to throw it out and look at the film as if you've never seen it before. You must force yourself to be innocent again and not be precious or take things personally. Being righteous about anything doesn't help at all. That's one of the many qualities I admire about Rebecca: She's completely open about making it the best it wants to be while still fighting for the things that are important to her. She'll never say, "I love that line, let's keep it." She'll "The best edit is the one that your brain does. It's not only about having fantastic shots." – Sabine Hoffman Maggie's Plan. Sony Pictures Classics