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Q4 2017

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39 Q4 2017 / CINEMONTAGE MY MOST MEMORABLE FILM Tom Foligno on 'The Aviator' by Peter Tonguette I n 2004, after spending a decade working with Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker, ACE, assistant editor Tom Foligno finally got his first chance to be an editor. It wasn't in the cutting room, however, but on the big screen. That year, Foligno was cast as an extra in Scorsese's biopic of the publicity-averse industrialist and sometimes moviemaker Howard Hughes, The Aviator. The film — with a cast including Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes, Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn and John C. Reilly as Noah Dietrich — was honored with five Academy Awards, including Best Achievement in Film Editing for Schoonmaker. For a memorable scene depicting the editing of Hughes' 1930 classic, Hell's Angels, Scorsese turned not only to bit-part players but also to several real-life veterans of his own cutting room, including the film's first assistant editors, Foligno and Scott Brock. "It was great because Marty thought of us right away," remembers Foligno, who had worked as an assistant editor on five Scorsese films, beginning with Casino (1995) and ending with The Aviator. "He said, 'I have this scene in an editing room and I want you guys.' We also helped dress the set. They wanted our opinions on what an editing room might look like." The scene has the usual Scorsese blend of motion and energy. "It's one of those classic Scorsese shots where he starts tight on an old-fashioned Moviola and then pulls back," Foligno remembers. "It twirls around and we see the entire editing room, and it twirls around again." The camera pauses on a female editor meticulously examining a strip of film while wearing white gloves (a cameo appearance by legendary editor Anne V. Coates, ACE) before moving onto Foligno, looking dapper in a suit with a vest. The assistant editor walks across the screen while carrying a reel of film. Soon after, an off-screen character barks out: "Pat, Mr. Hughes needs this reel in the projection room right now!" Since Scorsese and Schoonmaker had The Aviator. Miramax/Warner Bros./Photofest Tom Foligno.

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