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muchofthis,notenoughofthat,youcanscrew
upthewholething.I alwaysfoundinworking
withothereditorsthatI neededtoeditmyown
movies.SothatI’vealwaysdone.Butthenagain,
I neverhadSteveRivkin,who’sanOscar-winning
editor[andeditorforAlita: Battle Angel].
DidhecomewithJim?
I wantedtoseehowJimrolls.I wantedtomake
it moreinthestyleofJim.Jimcandoeveryjob
too,buthechoosestobringoncertainhigh-
calibrepeople.Hewouldn’tscrewaroundwith
theguysI wastryingtoworkwithbefore,the
lower-budgetguys.Hegetstheguyswhoare
reallybetterthanhim,otherwisehe’llbulldoze
rightthroughthem.Sobringinginsomeonelike
BillPope,whoI’vealwaysadmired.I lovedoing
scores,butit wasoutofnecessity.Whenyou’re
filminga movie,thefirstplaceyoupullmoney
outofwhenyou’regoingoveronproduction
is fromthemusicdepartment.Sobythetime
I finished a movie I’d go to the music department
andgo,“Ooh,I’vegot$10left.LookslikeI’m
doingthescoreagain!”I wanttoworkwithHans
Zimmer,butthere’sneveranymoneyleft!Soto
beabletohavethebudgettobringonJunkie
[XL]andBillPope[onAlita]...I lovelearning
fromthemasters.Onthisnextmovie[the
upcomingRed 11 ], I havetoDPagain.I couldn’t
findanyDPsI wantedtoworkwithandwho
wereavailable.I’mbacktoDPing,I’mbackto
beingthecomposer,I’mbacktoediting.I gotta
gomakethemovie,I mightaswelldoit.You
workbetterwiththemwhenyouknowthatjob,
though.[When]BillPopeandI aretalking
lighting,hewon’ttalklikehedoeswithanyother
director.He’sreallyappreciativeofthat,too.
“I’veneverworkedwithanybodywhoknows
thatmuchaboutit.”They’vedonethejob
themselves.Yougettheresomuchfaster.You
havea lotoffun.Samewitha composer.I can
talktoJunkieintermsnotjustaboutcharacter
andstory,whichis themainone,butalsoabout
instrumentsandtonalquality.I didsomeofthe
music.Allthebarfightmusicis mine.I couldn’t
helpit.I’llusuallyoperatea camera.I love
operatinga camera.I’mrightthereinfrontof
theactorsandcangivethemdirectionandthey
canseethatI’mrespondingandI’mnotbehind
a monitor.Here,it’sa giant3Dcamerasystemon
a crane,everyshot,andtherearethreeoperators
forthat.Theguywho’soperatingthecamera
direction,theguywho’soperatingthecraneand
theguywho’soperatingtheboomofthecrane.
SowhichguyamI goingtobe?I mightaswell
sitatthemonitorsandwatchit in3Dandgive
themdirection.It wassucha bigshowthat
I neededtohavetheseotherguysforsure.I’d
workwithanyofthosecollaborators on other
moviesif I couldafford’em!Digaroundintheoldpiggybank.Editingis
interesting.You’vegota signaturestyle,usinga
lotofdissolvesintheframe.Didyouchangethat
approachforAlita, ordidyoutrytoimposeyour
styleontheothereditors?
It wasverycollaborative.I wouldletthemtake
firstswingatit.WhatwascoolwasI’vegotmy
owneditingset-uphereinthehouse.Theywould
sendmethebins,I wouldopenit upandwatch
it,I wouldrecutit andsendit back.It’seasierto
justdoit thantositthereovertheirshoulder.
They’reinanothercity,too.I couldjustrecutit
ina fewhours,sendit backtothemandsay,
“Iseeit moreassomethinglikethis.Thiswasthe
ideaI hadforthepacingofthescenewhenI shot
it.”Thentheycansay,“Thatshot’sa littletoo
short,”andtheycutit andsendit back.We
wouldgobackandforthlikethat.Yougetthere
somuchfasterthanyouwouldif I wasinthe
roomwiththemsaying,“Canyoutrythis?Can
youtrythat?”It’slikecooking.Youjusthaveto
getinthereandstartmessingaroundwithit to
show them what I had in mind.CHRIS HEWITTALITA:BATTLEANGELISOUTNOW ON DVD,
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