#chrislebenzon

“I just try to put myself in the place of a viewer.” (Chris Lebenzon)

If ever there was a symbol that loudly and visibly spells America both inside and beyond its boundaries, surely it must be Hollywood: Hollywood intended as the quintessential definition of cinema, as the dream-machine, the factory where all works of imagination are materialized and brought to life onscreen through the Seventh Art.

For many of us, the love affair with Hollywood (and cinema in general) starts early on.  As an Italian (and a Roman), one might also say the tradition runs in our DNA, given the past of Cinecittà. Let’s face it, some movies, aside from setting the mood for entire generations (like “Top Gun” in the Eighties or more recently “Alice in Wonderland”, just to mention two), also deliver a parallel way of looking at reality, representing altogether the director’s vision. In fact, a director’s body of work,  on a more general and technical note, sets out to divulge his personal style.  While onscreen, his vision can occasionally be determined by a particular –and recurring– choice of “stars”, there is always more than meets the eye. Off-screen and behind the scenes, the director’s team –or crew– is also fundamental in purporting this vision. An important partnership within the crew, overlooked by the inexperienced “lay” eyes,  is the one between the director and the editor. Little is known about editors, however it is their bravura and sensibility what ultimately create the final connection between the director and the viewer, more specifically, between the director’s original intentions or message and the viewer’s comprehension and enjoyment of the film.

Against this introductory backdrop, it is no coincidence that films such as “Top Gun” and “Alice in Wonderland” were mentioned. As much as they may seem different (and they are!), the former was directed by Tony Scott whereas the latter by Tim Burton, nonetheless they were edited by the same person: Chris Lebenzon,  A.C.E. (American Cinema Editor).  Although Mr. Lebenzon has edited almost 40 feature films during the course of his career –a career which began in the late seventies– for the sake of brevity he has agreed to share details of precisely these two very important partnerships (with directors Tony Scott and Tim Burton), not before giving us a few biographical highlights that led him to be a twice-nominated Academy-Award editor and the recipient of the Eddie Award in 2007 and 2010 .

Mr. Lebenzon, many of us decide during childhood what we want to be when we grow up. In your case, did you always want to be an editor?

I didn't always want to be an editor. In fact, like most people I didn't even know what editors do. In the 70s my older brother knew the filmmakers of the movie Woodstock. They were hoping to make a movie on the American Revolution to coincide with America's Bicentennial in 1976. They needed a young assistant, so I left art school and moved to L.A. The director owned the first flatbed editing machine.  I would play on the machine threading up 16 mm outtakes. It was my first exposure to a professional editing system and I was naturally drawn to it.  They never made the movie, but I met an editor while living at the house who offered me a position on a different project and haven't looked back since. 

What is the goal of an editor, in your opinion? 

The goal is to realize the director’s vision.  I’ve learned that sometimes there is no vision, especially with less experienced directors. In that case, my job is to craft a movie that works. And works on different levels. Hopefully, when we’re finished, the people who made the movie are happy on an artistic level. And the studio is happy on a commercial level. There are many considerations when editing a movie but first and foremost I try to put myself in the place of a viewer, of an audience member.  I see all the footage and with it all the possibilities, and it’s easy to get lost in the process. So I try to remain fresh and bring no preconceptions to the experience of reacting to the footage. If I‘m editing with that mindset, I automatically make the story clear and concise.

This brings us to my next question: How did you and Tony Scott come together? 

My longtime friend, Billy Weber, was hired by Jerry Bruckheimer to edit “Top Gun” together. I had just finished “Weird Science”, which Tony loved.  Billy wanted help editing and brought me one morning to Tony's hotel. His hand was bandaged up. He said he had been in a fistfight the night before. I wasn’t sure if this would be a fruitful collaboration. But we hit it off right away and collaborated on 10 movies together over the next 25 years. 

Let us talk a bit about “Top Gun”, now. A subject, which I am sure, will interest many readers of my generation and beyond… In hindsight, what was it like being part of such a “cult” movie? What did a typical workday feel like? 

There were no typical days. Every day was like a rollercoaster. When the crew moved to Nevada to shoot the aerial scenes, we were buried in footage because of all of the cameras filming the jets. Even the pilots had cameras filming out the window. So Billy and I made select rolls from all of the flying footage. We assembled the aerial scenes from those select rolls and cut them to rock-and-roll music to get the feel of the pace. Those scenes became the basis of the action. Then the actors in the cockpit were filmed. The dialogue was added later with the help of naval advisors. Because the actors wore masks, we could put any dialogue we wanted over the pilots. So in that way we could tell any story we wanted. The hard part was cutting the aerial scenes in a way to reflect the ever-changing story. 

On this note, is having a lot of material to choose from a blessing or a curse?

It can be a curse because you have to find the story in the material, and if it’s not there, it’s much harder. It can be a blessing as well if you’re wanting to create pace, because in pace you need a lot of angles. Tony Scott would put cameras up everywhere. It was much better for his style of picture because he didn’t want you to draw breath, he didn’t want the audience to ever relax. He just kept driving home the excitement level. That shooting style would not benefit all movie genres. I doubt that romantic comedies would benefit from so many angles. Performance is more important. But in action movies, you want to create a sense of excitement and you need the angles to do it.

Going back to Top Gun, in the 2004 behind-the-scenes documentary “Danger Zone”, Billy Weber reveals a shocking detail: the love scene between Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis was shot after the movie was finished, as an afterthought. (Tony Scott himself agreed that the sensual aspect between the two protagonists was needed to complete the overall story.) Although both actors were working on other projects, they returned to shoot the missing scene, and Bob Badami, the music editor, tucked in the song “Take My Breath Away.” Considering that music is another very important element contributing to a movie’s overall final appearance and success, could you share your side of the story?

After a long day editing, Billy and I would assemble with Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (the producers), Tony (Scott) and Bob (Badami) at the composer, Harold Faltermeyer’s studio. We would listen to Harold’s music cues and then the music producer Giorgio Moroder would provide demos of songs to place on different scenes to judge how the scenes would play. It was at that studio that the soundtrack came together. The love scene between Kelly McGillis and Tom Cruise was an afterthought. We also needed an additional scene to make Tom Cruise’s character more likable. In early cuts, his character came across as self-centered and unlikable. So we filmed a scene in “Goose’s” (Anthony Edwards) room that softened his character and made him more vulnerable.

Of course, the movie turned out to be a great success, so much so that it stayed in theaters for a year. Any considerations on “Top Gun” becoming the hit that it was (and still is,  for those of us who are nostalgics)?

It was a great feeling to see the long lines and that it kept playing in theaters forever. It didn’t open like blockbuster movies do now, with huge numbers… it just steadily played throughout the whole summer. Wherever I would travel, “Top Gun” songs were on the radio.

Now, back to more recent times.  When and how exactly did you start collaborating with Tim Burton?

I had finished a movie with a director who knew Tim’s producer. That producer called me in for an interview with Tim. So I went in to talk to him. I had always admired his films for their originality.

How was it like editing with Tim Burton?

He is a very instinctive guy, so maybe he thought we’d get on in the editing room pretty well. He’s also the kind of director that doesn’t micro-manage, he doesn’t sit behind me at the computer and say “try this, try that, do this, do that”… he keeps a very broad view of the world and of the movie. A lot of directors get very lost in the detail, and they’re overworking the minutiae of the movie, which sometimes can put the big picture at risk. Tim’s dailies always surprise me with their originality. He is also the kind of person that makes people want to help him in any way possible.

Of all the movies done with Scott and/or Burton, do you have any favorite(s) and why? 

I think my favorite was “Ed Wood” (Burton). It represented my first black-and-white effort. We edited the movie in New  York in the winter. It was very soothing to go from a record cold winter in New York to the comfort of black-and-white imagery on such an off-beat subject. Plus I missed a giant earthquake that hit Los  Angeles while I was there! 

How do you ultimately approach an edit?

What I found is that my first instincts are usually the best. I think in life that’s true as well. If you second-guess yourself, sometimes bad decisions are made. I just start with what I think is the best performance in a pattern that best tells the story and work as fast as I can relying on first instincts. Then I’ll go back and wander through the material adding beats that I like. Every scene is different, every movie is different, and every studio is different but my approach is always the same. 

Last but not least, are there any other funny and/or interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes (involving not only the directors, but also producers and/or the stars themselves) that you would care to share? 

I have many behind-the-scenes anecdotes involving directors, producers and stars…  but none are suitable for printing!  If I shared them I would never work again!!!  

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At present, Mr. Lebenzon is working on the much awaited Disney live-action motion picture, “Maleficent”, scheduled for release in May 2014 and starring Angelina Jolie in the eponymous role of the wicked witch from “Sleeping Beauty.” Tim Burton was to originally direct it, yet he pulled out to focus on some of his other projects. He is being replaced by two time (consecutive) Academy Award Winner, Robert Stromberg. 

Given these wonderful premises, and in particular after the reassuring insights provided by Mr. Lebenzon, as anxious viewers we can only thrive on anticipation, confident that the “old” movie magic will happen all over again when we flock to the movie theaters next spring! 

(Genie, Rome, 13 November 2013)