What was the editing process forBlitzlike?
It went on longer than I thought it was going to.
These things always take a while to come together.
It was sort of reinvented a little bit.
The original script was more of an ensemble thing.
It was much more episodic.
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Instead, it became centred more around Jason Stathams character.
Audiences responded to him more.
He was magnetic for people.
They wanted to see more of him.
There are moments of action, but its really a character thing.
Ive done two previous films with Jason.
Hes known as an action guy.
I didThe Bank Jobas well, andBlitz.
Theyre similar in a way.
Theres character and story to them more than action.
How is it that youve come to work on three Statham movies now?
Thats a good question.
So, I went over to Britain to do that, and I met Jason and his manager.
Im good with drama, good with performance.
But youve got to make that backbone first.
Thats what editings all about.
So, how do you go about making that backbone?
Youve got to look at what the storys about.
It switched characters and storylines without really going anywhere.
Is it difficult to edit those kinds of scenes to the correct dynamic?
I enjoyed doing that.
I went out and shot the pick-ups to help it along.
I shot a few of the things at the railway station at the end.
Originally, they ran out of time.
I thought Aidan [Gillen] was fantastic to work with, too.
He was living in that building for a while, theBlitzblock of flats in the East End.
He reminded me of Sid Vicious out of the Sex Pistols.
A lot of raw energy.
What was Jason Statham like to work with?
Hes an interesting character.
As an actor, hes untrained.
He does film very well, which sounds strange, but hes very focused.
You know his background as a diver and a model?
He moves very well.
Hes very, very accurate, physically, which comes from his training.
The precision of a diver.
Hes very good at action.
He works very hard at the action, getting it right, the fights and so on.
There are different sorts of pick-ups.
But youre really matching whats already been done with another shot.
Youre inventing the action, rather than plugging a gap.
One of the most high profile films youve edited is, of course,The Fellowship Of The Ring.
How did you come to get that job?
I did some work onThe Frighteners, which was Peter Jacksons film from five years earlier.
He asked me to do that, which was pretty exciting.
I presume thatFellowship Of The Ringswas a huge challenge, given the sheer scale of the story.
Yeah, thats right.
It was even longer at times.
Peters a pretty solid director.
He knows what he wants.
So, we were kind of reinventing the wheel, just in the scale of production.
And, of course, the end result is fantastic.
What was Peter Jackson like to work with, given that this was such a big project for him?
There was a lot of pressure.
But hes very adept at keeping everyone in check and keeping in control of things.
Hes the sort of guy whos always doing twenty things at once.
He still managed to control the whole process.
Hes pretty remarkable, really.
Did you get fairly free reign, then, in how you edited the film?
I wouldnt say I got a free reign, because hes always very clear about what he wants.
Things like that stayed in the movie.
Films a very organic thing.
You put it together, its four hours long.
You whittle bits away, and move the parts around.
You get to the end of it and think, Who thought of that?
Did I think of that part?
Was that his idea?
You dont really know in the end, because one thing leads to another.
Its a strange kind of chemistry.
Fellowship Of The Ringwon numerous editing awards, which much have felt good after such a long process.
Its a difficult thing to judge, one piece of editing against another.
You never know what was the editor and what was the director, or what the material was like.
I think Ive done some fantastic jobs on a couple of films that no ones ever seen!
Ive done some films that didnt get particularly well marketed and no one got to see them.
I dont think it’s possible for you to get too worked up about awards.
I think Im my own harshest critic.
I know when Ive done something good, and I know when I havent.
Ive got to live up to my own standards, rather than some arbitrary award.
You mentioned earlier about digital editing and Avid.
Just how much impact has that made on editing and filmmaking in general?
Its had a huge impact.
you might now do things so much quicker.
you’ve got the option to keep fifty versions of a scene.
Whereas digitally, you get to try so many different things.
I think films are more complexly edited now.
There are far more faster cuts, a lot more moving scenes around.
you’re free to manipulate the material so much more easily.
And, of course, you’re free to change the speed of shots.
you’ve got the option to crop shots much more easily.
I took to it straight away.
I was never like that.
I rejoiced when Avid came along.
Is there a tendency for some editors to over-edit?
Do you look at a film sometimes and think, That has way too many cuts in it?
Its really easy to do that.
Am I right in thinking thatThe Worlds Fastest Indianwas your next feature afterLord Of The Rings.
I did another film or two in New Zealand.
I didPerfect Strangersafter that, and thenFastest Indian.
What was it like working on that after such a big fantasy film?
It was a lot of fun.
[Donaldson] had made a documentary about Burt Munro, the motorcyclist, about thirty years earlier.
He always wanted to make the film and he had the script in his drawer for thrity years.
And he was talking to Anthony Hopkins about another project and he said, Have you got anything else?
So, thats how it got started so much later.
He had the documentary as well to show Tony Hopkins.
Does the editing process change at all from genre to genre, or does your approach remain the same?
To me, in some ways, its the same.
Its about performance, and audiences respond well to performances that they perceive to be real.
Real emotion comes from real, believable performances.
You dont want false moments in performances that can throw audiences out of a film.
Thats your first task when youre looking through material: whats in the performance that really grabs me?
Im not really a fantasy person, to be honest.
I prefer people I can identify with, myself.
Tolkien, if you read the stories, was quite grounded.
Theres fantasy in there, but hes quite matter-of-fact about the characters.
Theyre just people that happen to be a bit smaller or a bit bigger or whatever.
How big wasLord Of The Rings boost to the New Zealand film industry?
It really did give a boost.
I think they were nervous about funding a large film.
The effects mostly came out of New Zealand.
Certainly, theres a lot of people going down there.
The effects company, WETA, has become a big magnet for them.
And what about small films?
Has it become any easier to get independent films made in New Zealand?
I think its probably much the same as its been for a while.
Theres not a huge amount of money for small films.
Its probably much the same as Britain.
Theyre difficult to get made.
Theres a lot of competition for that money.
But those films are happening.
For me, Ive got used to working on films with more resources and more ambition, I suppose.
What was it like working with Gary McKendry onThe Killer Elite, given that this is his first feature?
So, hes very proficient and very determined.
I think hes going to be a really highly regarded director.
And its more action-oriented thanBlitz?
Its got a bigger budget thanBlitz.
There are some great action sequences that people will really react well to.
Weve had a couple of previews and the actions really working.
Do you know what youre working on afterThe Killer Elite, or is it too early to say?
John Gilbert, thank you very much.
Blitz is out in UK cinemas on 20th May.
