It's hard for people to understand editing, I think. It's absolutely like sculpture. You get a big lump of clay, and you have to form it - this raw, unedited, very long footage.

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

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

That's the great thing about filmmaking: Things happen you don't know are going to happen at the end.

Thelma Schoonmaker

All great directors or anyone who has a strong vision like Scorsese needs to have a lot of support around them. I think from the very beginning - when we met each other - he realised he could trust me to do what was right for his movies.

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

Thelma Schoonmaker

There's a great deal of mystery in film editing, and that's because you're not supposed to see a lot of it. You're supposed to feel that a film has pace and rhythm and drama, but you're not necessarily supposed to be worried about how that was accomplished.

Thelma Schoonmaker

'Raging Bull' was just a dream to work on, but it took a lot of work to get all those fights to work right and incorporate them properly into the story.

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

In 'Casino,' there was this scene where Bob De Niro tape-records Sharon Stone's phone call. Then he asks her about where she's going, and he catches her in a lie. It was a great scene, especially for Bob's work, but we found that, in light of the whole film, it wasn't needed.

Thelma Schoonmaker

I don't think enough directors know enough about editing.

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

Thelma Schoonmaker

With Technicolor restorations, it's about getting the color right.

Thelma Schoonmaker

Throwing things out is one of the most difficult and important things you ever have to do.

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

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

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

As you can imagine, between Michael Powell and Martin Scorsese, I've had quite a rich life!

Thelma Schoonmaker

We do documentaries on the history of cinema in between our feature films.

Thelma Schoonmaker

Thelma Schoonmaker Quotes

It's hard for people to understand editing, I think. It's absolutely like sculpture. You get a big lump of clay, and you have to form it - this raw, unedited, very long footage.

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.

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.

That's the great thing about filmmaking: Things happen you don't know are going to happen at the end.

All great directors or anyone who has a strong vision like Scorsese needs to have a lot of support around them. I think from the very beginning - when we met each other - he realised he could trust me to do what was right for his movies.

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

There's a great deal of mystery in film editing, and that's because you're not supposed to see a lot of it. You're supposed to feel that a film has pace and rhythm and drama, but you're not necessarily supposed to be worried about how that was accomplished.

'Raging Bull' was just a dream to work on, but it took a lot of work to get all those fights to work right and incorporate them properly into the story.

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

In 'Casino,' there was this scene where Bob De Niro tape-records Sharon Stone's phone call. Then he asks her about where she's going, and he catches her in a lie. It was a great scene, especially for Bob's work, but we found that, in light of the whole film, it wasn't needed.

I don't think enough directors know enough about editing.

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

With Technicolor restorations, it's about getting the color right.

Throwing things out is one of the most difficult and important things you ever have to do.

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.

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.

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.

As you can imagine, between Michael Powell and Martin Scorsese, I've had quite a rich life!

We do documentaries on the history of cinema in between our feature films.