OSCAR CIRCUIT: FILM EDITING
By: Keith Lucas
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The Oscar Circuit Begins with Best Film Editing...who will win?
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The Nominees:
Avatar, James Cameron, John Refoua, and Stephen E. Rivkin
District 9, Julian Clarke
The Hurt Locker, Chris Innis, Bob Murawski
Inglourious Basterds, Sally Menke
Precious, Joe Klotz
Presumptive favorite to win – The Hurt Locker
Spoiler – Avatar
Biggest surprise – Precious
Snub(s): Up in the Air
Here are some astonishing facts: Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing
Oscar, and about two-thirds of the Best Picture winners have also won for Film Editing. Hence, our Best Picture winner will
probably come from one of the five Editing nominees. For the last year, we’ve heard about various films that were presumptive
favorites, yet these five are (literally) a cut above the rest. A few of the nominees were destined to be here. However, some of
them sprung from nowhere, and now look to challenge the favorites.
Of the five nominees, three of them were presumed contenders off of buzz alone. Avatar, Inglourious Basterds, and Precious
were steady and consistent throughout the race. Avatar and Basterds peaked later than Precious, but all three were considered
contenders for Best Picture (and presumably Editing). The Hurt Locker arrived on the scene later than the first three, but most
people predicted it will be nominated by August. Up in the Air, Nine, Lovely Bones, and Invictus were among the others
considered early favorites for Editing, and until last week, we all thought Up in the Air would be there. Though District 9 was an
instant success both critically and in the Box Office, prognosticators were hesitant to predict that it would do well with the
Academy. However, it peaked at the perfect time and received critical pre-cursor nominations. Despite Precious being an early
favorite for a Best Picture nomination, some thought it peaked too early, and wrote it off as a potential nominee for Editing. The
Academy seemed to disregard the prognosticators, and showed favorable support for Precious in Editing (over Up in the Air).
Most of the nominees are first timers. James Cameron and Sally Menke are the only multiple (2) time nominees (for Titanic and
Pulp Fiction, respectively). The American Cinema of Editors successfully predicted three out of five of the Editing nominees.
The Awards Circuit successfully predicted four out of five of the Editing nominees. All of our writers currently think the Hurt
Locker will win the Editing Oscar.
The nominees for Best Editing seem to be in the best position to take home the Best Picture statute. For all of the
prognosticators, it’s probably safe to assume that Up in the Air won’t win the Best Picture award. If Hurt Locker wins the Editing
award, it’ll likely take out the financial juggernaut, Avatar.
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