Lee Smith, ACE, (born June 10, 1960) is an Australian film editor who has worked in the film industry since the 1980s. He began his film career as a sound editor before establishing himself as an editor. His breakthrough came when he began collaborating with director Peter Weir. Smith is best known for his work on several of Christopher Nolan's films, including Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Interstellar (2014) and Dunkirk (2017), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing.
Life and career
editSmith was born in Harefield, Middlesex. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2004) and The Dark Knight (2008). He was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Editing for The Dark Knight and for Inception (2010). He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Sound for The Piano (1993). He began his career as a sound editor/sound designer for films such as Dead Calm (1989), The Piano (1993) (for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Sound), The Portrait of a Lady (1996) and Holy Smoke! (1999). Smith was also editing films during this interval; he was one of the editors for RoboCop 2 (1990).
He began his notable collaboration with director Peter Weir on the 1982 film The Year of Living Dangerously, on which he was an associate editor working with Weir's longtime editor William M. Anderson. He was credited as a co-editor with Anderson for Fearless (1993) and for The Truman Show (1998).[1] He was the sole editor for Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), for which Smith was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing and for an "Eddie Award" from the American Cinema Editors.
More recently, Smith has edited seven films with director Christopher Nolan. He was nominated for a second Academy Award and American Cinema Editors Award for The Dark Knight (2008). In 2010, he received another nomination for the American Cinema Editors Award for his editing work on Inception; Inception was listed as the 35th best-edited film of all time in a 2012 survey of members of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.[2] In 2018, he received an Academy Award for his work on Nolan's Dunkirk.
Filmography
editEditor
Other credits
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Little Boy Lost | Terry Bourke | Assistant sound editor |
| 1980 | The Chain Reaction | Ian Barry | Additional sound |
| 1981 | Puberty Blues | Bruce Beresford | Editing assistant |
| 1982 | Turkey Shoot | Brian Trenchard-Smith | Dubbing editor |
| The Year of Living Dangerously | Peter Weir | Associate editor | |
| 1985 | Burke & Wills | Graeme Clifford | Sound effects editor |
| 1988 | The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey | Vincent Ward | Sound effects editor / Sound effects supervisor |
| Barracuda | Pino Amenta | Television film
Sound editor | |
| 1989 | Dead Calm | Phillip Noyce | Sound designer |
| Dead Poets Society | Peter Weir | Additional film editor | |
| 1990 | Green Card | ||
| 1992 | Lorenzo's Oil | George Miller | Additional picture editor |
| 1993 | The Piano | Jane Campion | Sound designer |
| 1994 | Little Women | Gillian Armstrong | Sound designer |
| 1995 | Tunnel Vision | Clive Fleury | Foley walker |
| 1996 | The Portrait of a Lady | Jane Campion | Sound designer |
| 1999 | Holy Smoke! |
Awards and nominations
editAcademy Awards
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World |
Best Film Editing | Nominated |
| 2008 | The Dark Knight | Nominated | |
| 2017 | Dunkirk | Won |
BAFTA Awards
| Year | Category | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | The Dark Knight | Best Editing | Nominated |
| 2010 | Inception | Nominated | |
| 2017 | Dunkirk | Nominated |
Other awards
References
edit- ^ Hollyn, Norman (November–December 2003). "Lee Smith on Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World". The Editors Guild Magazine. 24 (6). Archived from the original on 21 May 2011.
- ^ "The 75 Best Edited Films". Editors Guild Magazine. 1 (3). May 2012. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015.
External links
edit- Lee Smith at IMDb
- Kunkes, Michael (2008). "Behind the Cape & Cowl: Shedding Light on the Post for 'The Dark Knight,' Part 1". Editors Guild Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
- Kunkes, Michael (2008). "Behind the Cape & Cowl: Shedding Light on the Post for 'The Dark Knight,' Part 2". Editors Guild Magazine. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
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