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Thelma Schoonmaker Quotes

Powerful Thelma Schoonmaker for Daily Growth

I just happened to see an ad saying 'Willing to train an assistant editor,' and I learned enough from that to go to NYU for just one summer course. That's all that I could afford.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Editor, Willing, Learned, Ad

Cutting improvisation is really hard, because things don't match, and you end up with some bad cuts sometimes. But we'd rather have the bad cuts and the great improv.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Bad, Some, Rather, Cuts

We don't worry about continuity because when we're doing so many improvs, it's better to get the laugh. It's better to get the great lines even if they're in the wrong part of the room.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Worry, Doing, Part, Continuity

Even in 'The Red Shoes,' a film that nobody ever has complaints about, there are enormous continuity bumps, and it doesn't matter. You know why? Because you're being carried along by the power of the film.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Bumps, Complaints, Carried, Continuity

When you're a film-maker, sometimes you have to be a slave to continuity.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Sometimes, You, Slave, Continuity

I think everyone loves 'The Departed.' That was a movie that had a lot of problems structurally. And we had to battle with it. Fight. Experiment. Try different things. And I think finally we hit it.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Think, Movie, I Think, Departed

I have a great relationship and the highest respect for Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio. But working with De Niro has been simply incredible. While I was editing 'Raging Bull,' I was literally unable to take my eyes off him.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Been, De Niro, Raging, Great Relationship

I'm not a person who believes in the great difference between women and men as editors. But I do think that quality is key. We're very good at organizing and discipline and patience, and patience is 50 per cent of editing. You have to keep banging away at something until you get it to work. I think women are maybe better at that.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Away, I Think, Very, Key

I don't think you can be a great director without knowing a lot about editing.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Think, Knowing, Lot, Great Director

You have to have a great director to make a great movie.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Director, Movie, Great Movie, Great Director

One of our big tools is screening. We screen usually 12 times, which is much more than most filmmakers do, and we recut in between each one, because we really need to feel how the audience is reacting to the movie.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Big, Each One, Screening, Reacting

The studios are nervous on every movie. It never ends, because Marty's movies are so unusual. He doesn't repeat himself, so they don't know what to expect. We have to fight hard to keep them from being ruined. Film students can't believe that when I tell them, because they think, 'Well, it's Martin Scorsese.'

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Tell, Movie, Scorsese, Ruined

An actor's performance can be improved or shaped - or ruined - by what takes you use, how long you are on the actor's face, what line you put on the other actor's face, and when do you use close-ups or wide shots or two shots.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Other, Use, Wide, Ruined

I won the Oscar for 'Raging Bull' for those fight sequences. If you look at those fight sequences, those were so incredibly storyboarded and shot in an incredible way - that is the conception a good director has to bring.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Director, Oscar, Raging, Conception

Editing is really like plumbing a good deal of the time. You put two things together, and a current runs through it.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Through, Deal, Good Deal, Runs

Having been raised overseas, I wanted to become a diplomat. But the State Department thought I was too 'liberal' to be happy with that job.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Thought, Been, Having, Diplomat

I know a lot of editors who are very bitter about the directors they work with. They feel they could have done a better job, and I say to them, 'Oh really? Why don't you go try - it's not easy.'

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Very, Directors, About, Better Job

I never thought I would get married: I'm such a workaholic.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Thought, Never, Would, Get Married

Editing is a lot about patience and discipline and just banging away at something, turning off the machine and going home at night because you're frustrated and depressed, and then coming back in the morning to try again.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Away, About, Frustrated, Banging

From the moment I met Martin Scorsese in 1962, he educated me about the films that had taught him so much about filmmaking. He had been deeply affected, even as a child, by great films that stretched his mind and struck into his heart, and he was eager to share them with friends and people who worked with him or with actors who were in his films.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Been, Scorsese, Eager, Struck

Scorsese has very defined ideas about how to shoot a scene, and he's an editor himself - we cut together. It means he's constantly thinking about my problems while he's filming.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Very, Editor, Scorsese, Defined

Boxing is insane and, in my opinion, should be banned.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Boxing, In My Opinion, Banned

To receive footage that has been shot with editing in mind, it is a blessing.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Mind, Been, Receive, Blessing

I do think there's not enough film history being taught and appreciated. Maybe it's being taught, but I've heard from professors that young kids don't want to look at black-and-white movies. And that's 85 years of film history, with masterpiece after masterpiece.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Young, Years, Maybe, Young Kids

In the very beginning, women were editors because they were the people in the lab rolling the film before there was editing. Then when people like D. W. Griffith began editing, they needed the women from the lab to come and splice the film together. Cecil B. DeMille's editor was a woman. Then, when it became a more lucrative job, men moved into it.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Woman, Very, Became, Lucrative

One day, I read an extremely vague ad looking for someone interested in working in film. Seeing as I loved watching films, I replied, and I found myself working for this guy who did his own personal editing of scenes from Antonioni and Fellini films.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Own, Vague, Replied, Fellini

There are more women editors than people realise. I think we're more able to keep our eye on what the film needs. Between men, sometimes it's a real ego battle, and that's very bad for the film.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Bad, I Think, Very, Editors

When you're in a movie with an audience, you can feel where a film is dragging. People start to move. They fidget. You need that perspective. To give it a cold eye.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Give, Audience, Move, Dragging

I love improvisation. I mean, it's hard to edit, because things don't necessarily fall together - you have to find ways to give it a dramatic scope, shape. But it's so much fun.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

Love, Improvisation, I Love, So Much Fun

I remember, at the Oscars in 1991, 'Dances with Wolves' won that year, and we were nominated for 'Goodfellas.' One of my peers said to me, 'Why'd you make that bad jump cut?' I said, 'Which one? We had about 20 in the film!' He was really upset about it.

- Thelma Schoonmaker

I Remember, Upset, Cut, Wolves

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