Thelma Schoonmaker Quotes

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Thelma Schoonmaker

Profession : Editor

Birth : January 3, 1940

The studio was very nervous about 'Raging Bull.'

Thelma Schoonmaker

My family goes way back in New York. So I am a New Yorker; I feel like a New Yorker. It's in my bones.

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

It's part of your job always as an editor: you always have to drop stuff.

Thelma Schoonmaker

In certain fight scenes in 'Raging Bull' - for example, the shorter ones - I literally just took the head and tail of the shot and put it together, and it all worked beautifully.

Thelma Schoonmaker

I can access footage much quicker, yes. But in terms of living with a film and knowing what's right, digital doesn't do that for you.

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

It's wonderful to work on footage by someone who understands how to get it to cut right, which a lot of directors don't.

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

I love being around great artists, and I've been around a few of them.

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

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

My job is so wonderful.

Thelma Schoonmaker

I always thought that's the wonderful thing about filmmaking: people see things differently.

Thelma Schoonmaker

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

Thelma Schoonmaker

I have the best job in the world.

Thelma Schoonmaker

Ballet dancers really know how to enter a room.

Thelma Schoonmaker

Some young filmmakers, unfortunately, don't have the ability to resist attempts to maybe cut their films down unfairly.

Thelma Schoonmaker

I'm very lucky. Most of my friends wait long times for jobs and also don't get the chance to work on 20 films, like I have, with someone like Scorsese. I love working for him. I just would never - I can't imagine working for anybody else.

Thelma Schoonmaker