BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
CATEGORY: Achievement in film editing
INTERVIEW WITH: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
FILM: "The Social Network"
======BEGIN TRANSCRIPTION======
Q. Congratulations. Are you starting to get a feeling this might be SOCIAL NETWORK night for Best Picture?
A. I don't know. I'm worried that we're going to miss out on it. Have they announced it yet? What about the directors, has that happened? I think the directors are next, isn't it? Who knows. This would normally scare us a lot, but it's quite simple after what we just did. True.
Q. I'm sure there's a slew of young editors back in Australia that are thinking, "Maybe I can." What would you say to them?
A. Find someone very clever and harass them. I think I got that from you.
Q. So, I mean, this movie was incredible, the acting was incredible, but really what tied it together obviously was the editing. What was the biggest challenge that you guys faced while trying to edit the film?
A. I think just making sure that because it's such a talky movie and just making sure all the performances felt very, very genuine and that the movie itself was moving along very quickly, because we wanted to make sure it was under two hours. And not to create any villains, making sure that the performances and the meaning in each scene wasn't sort of singling out anyone as being incorrect or wrong.
Q. Congratulations. I was wondering in doing this with Angus, and you and Fincher have known each other for so long, how he sold you back when you first started?
A. In which way did you who sold who?
Q. How did Angus sell you?
A. Very good. He Angus was doing ZODIAC and he wanted an extra pair of hands because I think we were fine cutting a couple of scenes and the scenes were all stacking up, which we know that feeling very well. And the great part about it is I didn't have to get vetted by Fincher. Angus just invited me in. And one Saturday, Fincher was standing behind me, without any warning, and went right in and, you know, that was that. So I've done most of my communicating with Fincher by working.
Q. A lot can be made by David Fincher doing undertake scenes. As editor, is that a boon, something you look forward to, or is it daunting in terms of
A. As an editor, it's a great gift. You get lots and lots of coverage and a lot of different performances because it allows you to do that much better. There's a lot, you know, there's a lot you know, there's this rumor that there was an opening scene in the movie had 99 takes, but we never saw 99 takes. You know, David, he's always driving for something specific, and he can sometimes get it in three takes. He can sometimes get it in 30 takes. It just all depends. But he always delivers the most amazing footage for us to work with.
He's going to do well, maybe not one, but he might do two takes, if everything is working. He's not a monster that's going to make everybody do it 99 times for fun. It's all about getting a goal, and I think he got it on this film.
Q. Hi. Right here. Now, this film just seems so significant, especially in recent times with Middle Eastern revolution in Cairo, but for you guys, how does it feel to be part of this film at this time, right now?
A. Personally, I never took on any kind of film accurate (unintelligible) sort of historic significance we faced because we were trying to help tell a story that David was presenting. So we were reacting to material he gave. So it wasn't a sort of role digging in research or worry if we were treading on someone's toes.
Q. Congratulations.
A. Thank you, so much.
======END TRANSCRIPTION======
These transcripts may not be reproduced except as brief quotes used in conjunction with news reporting about the 83rd Academy Awards®. All content Copyright 2011 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. "Oscar®," "Oscars®," "Academy Awards®," "Academy Award®," "A.M.P.A.S.®" and "Oscar Night®" are the trademarks, and the ©Oscar® statuette is the registered design mark and copyrighted property, of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Additional information regarding the "Terms & Conditions of Use" and "Legal Regulations for Using Intellectual Properties of the Academy" may be accessed online at http://www.oscars.org/legal/
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Communications Department
8949 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA 90211-1972
Phone (310) 247-3090
FAX (310) 271-3395
http://www.oscars.org
publicity@oscars.org