Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/756468
49 Q4 2016 / CINEMONTAGE JL: I'm obsessed with Kenneth Lonergan. I think he's incredible and I'm a huge fan of his work. I was desperate to get an interview. Somehow between my agency and others, I got sent two or three drafts of the script and read them all. I saw how they all changed but I didn't get an interview. I was devastated. But then I got a call saying they hadn't found anyone yet and would do a phoner; nobody thought I would get the job over the phone. It was a little awkward. Kenny was obviously distracted, going into production really soon. But I realized I'd read these drafts of the script. We were talking about scenes they had eliminated and I said, "Oh, I remember these two scenes that you cut that I love, and I think it might have been a mistake." It was a huge risk because he could've felt I was totally wrong, but if I didn't do something big on the phone, I wasn't going to get the job. But he said, "Oh my god, I was just talking to Casey [Affleck] and he felt the same way! I miss those scenes too and I'm definitely going to put them back now." I think that got him thinking that this girl is really interested and engaged in this movie. So he decided to give me a chance, even though they were interviewing people with more experience. CM: Then you didn't actually meet him in person until he wrapped production. How did your process emerge? JL: I'll never forget when he first came in — it was really nerve-racking for both of us — we gave each other big hugs. I'd been doing a first cut, but he really wasn't available to talk because the production schedule was so intense. I had just come off working with Noah, where we talk all the time and I go to set. It was really bizarre to go from that to never having met the person. CM: The pacing of Manchester is completely different from a Baumbach movie. JL: That was a challenge. Kenny has such unique rhythms in his writing. In the opening of the movie, you get to know Casey's character through various jobs he does. It unravels in a slow but compelling way. I remember at some point I was asked, "Could this move a little faster, maybe cross-cut it?" I didn't want it to be slow, so I tried different ways. One person I played it for said, "I don't know which is Kenny's version, but this one feels like a Kenneth Lonergan movie and the other one feels like some other movie. I want to see the Kenneth Lonergan version." You can edit Kenny's work faster and make the opening feel tighter and snappier, but it loses all of its specialness; it's not a Kenneth Lonergan movie anymore. Even if people worried about it being too long, it was clear what it was supposed to be. Then we took it to Sundance and there was a huge reaction to it, and we felt we did it right. But it was definitely a learning process; because Kenny's rhythm is so different than Noah's, I had to constantly respect and remind myself of the differences. A big part of editing is knowing what rhythm and pacing is right for the movie you are handed, but it was really interesting to go from one extreme style to another. CM: There are a lot of threads to juggle in Manchester. There are flashbacks and moments that are more atmospheric. Was there a touchstone for you? JL: Early on in the process, Kenny was deciding whether to have a device for the flashbacks — whether to shoot them on a different stock or in a different aspect ratio. Eventually he decided not to do any of that, which I think was the right move. He was thinking maybe we'd come up with some device in editorial with sound or picture. We went through a bunch of ideas, but then threw them all out. The way I decided to think about it was that they weren't flashbacks; it was like we were cutting two movies at once: the present and then Lee's life before the event in the middle of the film. If you look at the flashbacks, they're not memories; it's a narrative. If you cut the flashbacks together, they're a mini-movie in and of themselves. So that's how I thought of it, showing Lee before this thing shut him off to life and feeling. It's an emotional journey, so I made sure to be both respectful of the emotion and not exploitative with it. CM: What element most affected your selects? JL: Performance. The actors in this movie are so incredible; they have various ways of breaking down. We had so much to work with. We could have had a scene with an actor completely breaking down, or one where he holds himself together more. It was deciding what was most respectful to the characters and performance — and what we felt was true to the subject of the movie. We weren't trying to make people feel upset, but to understand. There was always that fine line to consider throughout the movie; if Lee just broke down in this scene, it would be a relief and you would just Manchester by the Sea. Photo by Claire Folger/Amazon Studios