What is the 'Secret Sauce' of a Great Film? Oscar-Winning Editor Lee Smith Helps Us Find Out

Today’s guest is Editor Lee Smith, who has won numerous awards for his editing work, including an Oscar. We chat with Lee and find out more about this invisible art. He also describes what it was like working on the recent film, Empire of Light, now in theaters.

In this episode, we talk about…

• Comparing Empire of Light to other films he has done in the past
• The difficulty in choosing takes when working with great actors 
• Knowing how things will work in post production
• Solving rubik's cube situations in the edit
• Trusting your own instincts
• What Lee thinks is the secret sauce to a good film
• The defining film of his career
• Pacing and rhythm of a film

Memorable Quotes

• “It’s the same kind of thing as cutting a bigger film, just in a shorter amount of time and with obviously less complexity in the visual world.” [4:50]
• “There’s a million things in editing that you can do to tweak anything.” [8:30]
• “I am a lover of most films. There are very few films I won’t watch.” [13:18]

Mentioned

Empire of Light is in theaters

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