before that.
TO: United 93.
KB: That’s one of the best-edited movies I’ve ever seen.
TO: When you did Benjamin Button, was it difficult to work on the film regarding the performance replacements?
KB: No. Again, that was more patience. It’s classic David—it just had to be done in a three-step process. We would cut the film using the actor who played the body. And I put a big, black circle around his face so that it wasn’t distracting us and so you weren’t judging the performance—it was just big black hole. And I would use the actor’s voice, as well, for my timing. So first it got blocked out like that. And then we got Brad Pitt in and he did readings of everything. So, you’re cutting it almost like radio.
TO: Right, the picture at this point isn’t that important—it’s the line readings.
KB: Yes, you’re putting Brad’s stuff into it and he’d retime it slightly. Then he’d do it on camera so now I was able to have these little side pictures in the frame of Brad’s head. So, now I’m doing a sort of separate performance and an audio performance and a main picture performance. So, it’s this three-tiered thing and once you’ve locked it off, the actual image started to get created. To me, it’s classic Fincher. You’re not just picking a shot—you’re doing it three times.
TO: I’d like to ask you about The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. You had a huge amount of footage on these films.
KB: Yeah. David tends to shoot for about nine months. And we’re on from the second day of shooting. An assembly goes for nine months and tag another three weeks at the end of that for us to have our first assembly. So, almost ten months to have an assembly and then we go in and fine cut and that’s going to take as long as it needs to take. Probably just under 14 months by the time we’re done.
TO: That’s a long time.
KB: Dragon Tattoo—the coverage on that and some of the scenes were very difficult. It was the hardest to do so far. It was exhausting. I actually don’t know how that could have been done with one editor in that time frame.
TO: You and Angus didn’t expect to win...
KB: With Social Network, it was so well covered and so well written. Angus and I still had to do our work, but I feel like we were given four Aces. And, Dragon Tattoo, the same thing again. But, we really worked our asses off to make that come together.
TO: I saw a video interview with you and Angus where you talk about dealing with so much footage and how hard a film it was to work on.
KB: It was much harder. I have no guilt about getting that award whatsoever! (Both Laugh) I sweated blood for that. Dragon Tattoo, based on the movie, was much more modular for us.
TO: How so?
KB: Because it took so long for these two characters to meet and intertwine. And because of the book, there were three different endings to it. You had to continue to work out how to make that work for viewers. Whereas Social Network I think we changed one line.
TO: You and Angus achieved back-to-back Academy Awards for best editing. The last time that had been done was Ralph Dawson in 1935 and 1936. And he actually won a third time in 1938.
KB: Respect to Ralph! (Both Laugh)
TO: Okay, I have some other questions that I want to ask you. They are off-the-cuff, okay?
KB: Sure.
TO: What did you think when you saw J.F.K.?
KB: Oh, my God, I forgot about J.F.K. I loved that! That was a very aggressively cut film. There was a moment when Donald Sutherland comes out…
TO: Mr. X.
KB: Yeah. And he sits in the park and he’s rattling off all of the reasons why this happened with his fingers. And everything stops. And talk about a scene landing—that scene fucking lands! It lands so well. I remember seeing that in Sydney at Avalon at this tiny little beach theatre. And they even had an interval…
TO: An intermission?
KB: Yeah. And I remember walking outside, just pacing around until it got started again. Because that film is just slapping you across the face for so long and then Donald Sutherland came in and it was so powerful.
TO: There’s so much information in that section. It’s like a mini-movie.
KB: It just forces you to stop and pay attention because it was clarifying and clearing up and it stops you from being dizzy. God that was so well cut.
TO: Is there are particular film period you like the most?
KB: The moment that I got into loving film was during that ‘70s movement.
TO: I loved that period. And it wasn’t just the two Godfathers. There was Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico.
KB: The French Connection. Kramer vs. Kramer.
TO: Think about the ’79 Best Editing Candidates—All That Jazz, Apocalypse Now, The Black Stallion, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Rose.
KB: Fabulous.
TO: Jerry Greenberg was double nominated that year. For Apocalypse and Kramer.
KB: Wow. Kramer vs. Kramer, I think, is such a good film.
TO: I really never would have thought you’d call out Kramer. That’s great. Remember, he won for French Connection.
KB: Funny—I went and rattled off two of his movies and didn’t even realize it.
TO: Fincher’s films seem richer to me. An example is sound—it’s not an afterthought in his films. It’s not tacked on.
KB: When he’s covering a scene, he knows where that camera needs to be and he knows how to get deep into it. He’s not going to just give you the wide and the over and the over. He’s going to get right into the depth of it so that you can always construct the scene to the best of what it’s supposed to be. There are a lot of takes because he’s going to make sure that all the beats are landing for each angle. There’s never going to be ‘Oh, that’s okay, we’ve got it in the close.’
TO: That’s pretty amazing to have that.
KB: Right and we’re not going to be dictated by, ‘Oh, on this line we’re going to have to be in the close because that’s the best time they said it.’ And there’s so much repetition in the footage that you can still be somewhere else and take that audio performance from the close-up and put it somewhere else. And when a scene comes in, he’s thought it through. You’ve got all the ingredients you need to cook that properly.
TO: What would you be doing if you weren’t editing?
KB: I could be a lifeguard. I like surfing. I like sand between my toes. (Both Laugh)
TO: What do you like most about your craft—your profession?
KB: I like making things. I like making a difference. I like things getting better. I enjoy it
