Oscar-nominated film editor speaks at Cinematheque

October 6, 2011

Mark Goldblatt has edited some of Hollywood’s most successful films, including Rise of the Planet of the Apes, X-Men: The Last Stand, Armageddon, True Lies, The Terminator, and Starship Troopers.

Goldblatt is a Fall 2011 speaker BU Cinematheque series, a College of Communication program that brings filmmakers to campus to screen and discuss their work.

An excerpt from a Q&A with BU Today:

What’s your advice to students hoping to break into the business?

Very simply, have a clear plan of what you want to do. If you don’t have a plan, investigate the options. Be tenacious. Get the training you need. If you want to get into editing, you have to learn the programs and the equipment and become good at them. And last, I would say watch a lot of good movies to pick up what makes a good movie. See if you can figure out why it is well made.

It’s weird—I do all of these action films, but some of my favorites are science fiction and horror. I would watch everything that people think is good—for example, films from directors John Ford, Howard Hawks, Michelangelo Antonioni, Samuel Fuller, and Nicholas Ray, to name a few. Soak these influences up and see how far you can soar.

Read the rest of the interview at BU Today.