Recent winners of the American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Awards for best film editing have gone to The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, The Departed, Crash, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Chicago and Gladiator. I think you get my drift, but if not six out of the last ten films to win the Eddie in the Best Feature Film (Dramatic) category have gone on to win Oscar’s Best Picture and I think we can call it seven out of eleven at this point as it doesn’t really matter what film you believe is going to win Best Picture, it’s likely among this group.
I woke up this morning to a massive email chain from Oscar bloggers including those from Awards Daily, ComingSoon.net, The Film Experience, In Contention and Cinematical, all of which were discussing the absence of Joel and Ethan Coen’s pseudonym Roderick Jaynes from the nomination list for True Grit. Their curiosity seemed to be more in line with the fact we’re talking about the almighty Coens rather than pointing out anything in particular that stood out from an editing perspective with the film.
Of the films on the list of five for the Dramatic category the only one that struck me was Tariq Anwar’s nomination for The King’s Speech, but this isn’t to discount Anwar’s work as much as I was more caught up with the narrative to even notice the editing. I guess that’s a pretty good sign the editing was quite good. My first idea at a snub was Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but then I saw it listed in the Comedy and Musical category and all was right with the world.
If I was to single out a snub I would say Jon Harris’s work on 127 Hours is the clear sign of work that deserved to be nominated and wasn’t, making it seem like that film’s Oscar chances are all but destroyed. Jon Gregory’s work on Another Year was also impressive, but that film has been roundly ignored all year so no real surprise there.
The ACE Eddies will be announced at the Beverly Hilton Saturday, February 19, eight days before the Academy Awards. Will The Social Network get the nod or will the editors throw a wrench in the works and offer up a surprise? If Network gets the win we can pretty much close the door on the Oscars.
I’ve listed the complete list of nominees below.
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC):
- Black Swan, Andrew Weisblum, A.C.E.
- The Fighter, Pamela Martin
- Inception, Lee Smith, A.C.E.
- The King’s Speech, Tariq Anwar
- The Social Network, Angus Wall, A.C.E. and Kirk Baxter
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY OR MUSICAL):
- Alice in Wonderland, Chris Lebenzon, A.C.E.
- Easy A, Susan Littenberg
- The Kids Are All Right, Jeffrey M. Werner
- Made in Dagenham, Michael Parker
- Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss
BEST EDITED ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
- Despicable Me, Gregory Perler and Pam Ziegenhagen
- How To Train Your Dragon, Maryann Brandon, A.C.E. and Darren T. Holmes, A.C.E.
- Toy Story 3, Ken Schretzmann and Lee Unkrich, A.C.E.
BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY:
- Exit Through the Gift Shop, Tom Fulford and Chris King
- Inside Job, Chad Beck and Adam Bolt
- Waiting For “Superman”, Jay Cassidy, A.C.E., Greg Finton and Kim Roberts
