Wall*E makes history

[Ernest Rister]

'Wall-E,' 'Slumdog' win at ACE Eddies
Dickens nabs drama prize for 'Slumdog'
By PETER DEBRUGE

For the first time in the ACE Eddie Awards’ 59-year history, an animated feature has cut to the head of the class.

“Wall-E” editor Stephen Schaffer claimed the editing org’s comedy/musical trophy Sunday night, while “Slumdog Millionaire” editor Chris Dickens earned top honors in the drama category, adding to the film’s awards-season momentum.

Documentary honors went to “Man on Wire,” edited by Jinx Godfrey, whose work blended interviews, archival footage and reenactment.

Smallscreen winners included the half-hour “30 Rock,” hourlong “Breaking Bad” and, in the noncommercial category, the “True Blood” pilot. HBO’s “Recount” and Fox’s “24: Redemption” took home TV movie kudos. The latter marks a repeat win for “24” editor Scott Powell.

The nonscripted award went to “Greensburg,” a Discovery Channel series about a community rebuilding itself according to eco-friendly standards after it was hit by a tornado.

“Lethal Weapon” star Mel Gibson presented ACE’s filmmaker of the year trophy to director Richard Donner. “When you weren’t my tormentor, you were my mentor,” the thesp-turned-Oscar-winning helmer said from the stage. The pair have made six pics together.

Acknowledging a nine-film collaboration, director Robert Zemeckis presented career achievement honors to Arthur Schmidt, who edited “Forrest Gump” and the “Back to the Future” series. Veteran editor Sidney M. Katz also received a career achievement trophy.

Junna Xiao of the American Film Institute won the student editing competition.

Comedian Aisha Tyler emceed the ceremony, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The full list of winners

EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC)
“Slumdog Millionaire,” Chris Dickens

EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY OR MUSICAL)
“Wall-E,” Stephen Schaffer

EDITED DOCUMENTARY
“Man on Wire,” Jinx Godfrey

EDITED HALF-HOUR SERIES FOR TELEVISION
“30 Rock: Reunion,” Meg Reticker

EDITED ONE-HOUR SERIES FOR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
“Breaking Bad: Pilot,” Lynne Willingham, A.C.E.

EDITED ONE-HOUR SERIES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
“True Blood: Strange Love,” Michael Ruscio, A.C.E. and Andy Keir

EDITED MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE FOR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
“Recount,” Alan Baumgarten, A.C.E.

EDITED MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE FOR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
“24: Redemption,” Scott Powell, A.C.E.

EDITED REALITY SERIES
“Greensburg: The Tornado,”
Leonard Feinstein and Phontaine Judd

STUDENT EDITING COMPETITION
Junna Xiao, American Film Institute

**

Thoughts -- it is rather extraorindary that an animated film has taken this honor. There is an infamous story in the animation community regarding Jeffrey Katzenberg. Newly hired to the Walt Disney company, he asked to see the films then in production, and he got a look at the impending release of The Black Cauldron. Katzenberg immediately wanted to make changes to it (the rumour is that he wanted to "relieve the darkness" of the film removing its violence, despite the intent of the original animators). And so Katzenberg, while taking over production of the film and re-editing it, asked for the coverage on a particular scene.

This spread like wildfire across the animation community.

There IS NO COVERAGE on an animated film, the "editing" is planned at the storyboard level. There certainly aren't alternate master shots or medium shots of the same scene. Katzenberg walked into an editing bay, looking to re-edit an animated film, only to find that the best he could was censor it.

For this reason, the pre-Katzenberg cut of The Black Cauldron has gained a status in the animation community, rightly or wrongly (probably wrongly), comparable to the frenzy over the lost original cut of Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons. Welles film was seized while he was out of the country, trimmed by studio powers, and the original cut has been lost forever. The pre-Katzy cut of The Black Cauldron may indeed be the superior version -- but we don't know. Over the years, screengrabs have leaked depcting soldiers dying as their skin bubbled and ruptured. There are shots in the trailer that aren't in the film (highly unusual for an animated film). Because the censoring happened so late in the game, famed composer Elmer Bernstein had already scored the uncut version -- and there was no time to rescore the new "Katzy" version, and so to this day, astute listeners can acually "hear" the cuts made by Katzenberg to the film.

The "uncut" version of The Black Cauldron is likely to be a lost film until people get off their ass and stop believing the film is a total piece of crap and raise some hell about how it was (and is still) being treated. The people in power at Disney need to stop protecting the egos and reputations of the former executives who allowed the cuts to happen.

Of course, it is possible none of the footage even exists anymore.

*sigh* *deep breath* *cut out the vitriol*

Okay, peeps. The reason Wall*E's win here is extraorindary and historic is because animated films are pre-edited before the final animation happens. Sure, there are some variances, but you would never see, for instance, the editorial nightmare that was "The Council of Elrond" in The Fellowship of the Ring, where you're sifting though miles of takes and coverage trying to make a movie out of 10 people in goofy costumes and makeup yelling at each other. You don't have that problem in animation. Every shot was figured out before the frames were drawn.

So its extraordinary that film editors have praised Wall*E for film editing. Think about it. It's a revolutionary moment in film history. It really is. For the first time, the EDDY is going to a film where the majority of the editing was planned before any shots were rendered and approved.

As for my unfortunate side-topic, maybe, someday, audience outcry may make a difference and force the release of the un-censored Black Cauldron, or maybe Disney will realize they can make a buck by restoring the film in its uncensored form. Either way, its not happening anytime soon.