At the age of 15, Thelma Schoonmaker watched The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, a famous war movie created by British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. She saw it immediately after finishing school for the day.
She nostalgically recalls that it was simply turned on, but the memory never left her. It remained in her mind for nearly 70 years. She had no clue that it was created by the man she would eventually wed.
Currently, Schoonmaker is possibly the most accomplished film editor in the world. For over 50 years, she has worked closely with Martin Scorsese. She is the behind-the-scenes mastermind responsible for some of the most popular movies in recent times – including Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed, Wolf of Wall Street, and Killers of the Flower Moon, which has recently been voted as the top film in Sight and Sound’s 2023 poll.
Because of the strike by actors, Schoonmaker and Scorsese took on a lot of the promotional responsibilities for their newest movie. However, the motivation behind Schoonmaker’s trip to the UK for promotion is the BFI’s 12-week look back at the films created by Powell and Pressburger, also known as the “Archers”. These filmmakers produced twenty-four films from 1939 to 1972, including A Matter of Life and Death and The Red Shoes.
In 1984, Schoonmaker and Powell got married. After Powell’s passing in 1990, Schoonmaker, along with Scorsese, have been dedicated advocates for his movies, collaborating to revive eight of them using funds from Scorcese’s Film Foundation.
The 83-year-old expresses that her time with Michael was the most joyful period of her life. She shares that his passing left a constant warmth inside her. For Schoonmaker, advocating for her husband’s films serves as a way to ease her sorrow. It also reveals her humble nature, as she tends to focus on his accomplishments rather than her own, which have been quite impressive.
Schoonmaker has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing eight times and has won three, making her the first woman to win multiple Oscars in this category. She also holds the record for the most wins in this category. She has received two British Academy Film Awards, four American Cinema Editors Eddie awards, and has been recognized with the BFI Fellowship, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and the Bafta Fellowship.
However, her path towards film-making was not a straightforward one. She spent most of her childhood on the Dutch-Caribbean island of Aruba, where her father worked for an oil company and frequently traveled for his job. When she was a teenager, she relocated to the United States and found it to be a somewhat unfamiliar place. Her original career goal was to become a diplomat, but she was rejected by the state department due to her strong political liberalism and vocal opposition to South African apartheid. “They told me I wouldn’t fit in here,” she chuckles.
She made the decision to pursue a career in film-making and it happened unexpectedly when she attended a summer course at Washington Square College, which is now NYU. It was during this time that she met Scorsese, when she was 23 and he was 21. She remembers how he trusted her to make the right decisions for his films and began teaching her about editing, an area she had no prior knowledge in. From there, she went on to edit his first feature film, Who’s That Knocking at My Door in 1967, as well as Raging Bull in 1980 and all of his subsequent projects.
She acknowledges Scorsese as not only responsible for her growth as an artist, but also for teaching her about the films of Powell and Pressburger. She then had the opportunity to meet Powell in person in New York, thanks to Scorsese. She was already a fan, but meeting him made her appreciate him even more. Their relationship slowly developed, much to the surprise of those around them. She laughs playfully like a teenager when talking about it.
Powell encountered challenges when the film industry began to oppose him, particularly following the release of his provocative movie Peeping Tom in 1960. According to her, he was largely ignored until Scorsese intervened and reignited interest in his films. She believes that Marty has been the greatest advocate for Powell and Pressburger’s work.
Although it may seem unlikely that the works of an Englishman from Kent and an Italian-American from Little Italy would have many similarities, there are actually several things that connect them. For example, Robert Helpmann’s eyes in The Tales of Hoffmann served as inspiration for Robert De Niro’s intense gaze in Taxi Driver. Additionally, the buildup to a championship fight in Raging Bull was influenced by the duel scene in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. Both directors also share a fascination with characters who fall somewhere in between being a hero or a villain, as evident in their films. Martin Scorsese even considers The Red Shoes to be a major influence on his work, thinking about it on a daily basis.
The classic film, The Red Shoes, will be shown in theaters again on Friday in honor of its 75th anniversary. The movie follows the journey of a young woman, played by prima ballerina Moira Shearer, who dreams of becoming a top dancer. Martin Scorsese has lent a pair of the iconic shoes from the film to an exhibition at the BFI Southbank, on display until January 7th.
Schoonmaker finds it heartwarming to witness the mutual support between the two significant men in her life. When Powell fell ill, Scorsese halted the editing process of Goodfellas to allow Schoonmaker to bring him back to England. His passing two months later left her deeply saddened. She credits Goodfellas for giving her a reason to keep going, despite not wanting to live anymore. She knew that Michael would have wanted her to finish the film. It is unfortunate that Powell never had the chance to see the finished product, although he had encouraged Scorsese to persevere despite multiple rejections from studios who did not want to include drug use in the film.
I feel sorry for those who criticize, as Goodfellas solidified Scorsese’s reputation as one of the top directors in the world. Schoonmaker describes working with him as “the best job in the world.” Each film presents a unique challenge, from Wolf of Wall Street to Silence to Killers of the Flower Moon. The two collaborate on every film, with Scorsese possessing the mindset of an editor.
The movie “Killers of the Flower Moon” has become the first Scorsese film to rank first in Sight and Sound’s yearly survey, voted on by approximately 100 esteemed film critics around the globe. Schoonmaker expressed her hope that the film, which focuses on the systematic theft and murder of the Osage Nation, will bring attention to a neglected period in American history. When asked about the lengthy runtime of 206 minutes, she simply stated that collaborating with the Osage Nation has greatly enriched her life and believes that viewers will have a similar experience. She has previously voiced her disapproval of intermissions being added to the film’s screenings, calling it a violation.
Schoonmaker is particularly talkative when discussing the significance of women in the film industry. Despite facing discrimination during the 1960s and 70s, she recalls an incident where a man at a laboratory told her to put down a can of film because he was shocked that a woman had entered the lab. However, she also recognizes the contributions of prominent female editors during that era, such as Dede Allen, Margaret Booth, and Verna Fields. She notes that the opportunities for women in film have greatly improved since then.
There have been other changes as well. Recently, when promoting Powell and Pressburger movies, Schoonmaker has been pleasantly surprised by the amount of young individuals attending screenings of the timeless films. “Even Greta Gerwig mentioned that A Matter of Life and Death and Red Shoes greatly influenced her movie Barbie! It’s truly fantastic to see that young people have taken an interest in Michael’s films again.”
Source: theguardian.com
