0:02

I had such a great, amazing time working on

0:04

this film. I love everyone that worked on it.

0:06

It's such a great group of people. And

0:08

then on top of that, you know, with the awards

0:11

stuff, it's just like, it's crazy. It's

0:13

really cool to be told that you did a good

0:15

job where you got to work in a movie where

0:17

you loved your job. That's

0:25

Jennifer Lane. And if you

0:27

don't recognize her voice, you'd certainly recognize

0:29

her work. She's the film

0:31

editor behind some of Hollywood's biggest movies

0:33

of the last decade. Lane

0:36

made a name for herself editing Noah

0:38

Baumbach's Francis Ha, a film I absolutely

0:41

love, and catapulted to

0:43

excellence as the editor on Ryan

0:45

Coogler's Black Panther, Wakanda Forever, Ari

0:48

Aster's Hereditary, and Christopher Nolan's

0:50

Tenet. Directors

0:52

usually get most of the credit in

0:54

Hollywood, but film editors are often the

0:57

ones responsible for making a movie what

0:59

it is. And Jennifer

1:01

Lane is at the top of an elite

1:03

list of female editors who are shaping Hollywood

1:05

from behind the scenes. Now,

1:07

as the editor of Oppenheimer, her

1:09

latest collaboration with Christopher Nolan, Lane

1:12

has earned her first ever Oscar nomination

1:14

for film editing. It's one

1:16

of Oppenheimer's 13 Oscar nods,

1:18

making it the most nominated film of the

1:21

year. She's also won

1:23

a Critics' Choice Award and a

1:25

BAFTA for her work on Oppenheimer.

1:28

And in our conversation, she talks about

1:30

what film editors see that others don't,

1:32

how she relates to visionary directors, and

1:34

our shared love of 1990s video stores.

1:38

I'm Charlotte Alter, senior correspondent for Time,

1:40

and this is Person of the Week.

1:54

So, I want to go sort of back in

1:56

time to when you were a

1:58

kid, because frankly, I'm in

2:00

how you got into

2:02

this sector of the industry.

2:04

So can you remember the first film

2:06

that left a real lasting impression on

2:09

you? And what was it? I

2:12

went through a big Hitchcock phase as

2:14

a really young kid and not because

2:16

I'm like super interesting or precocious. It's

2:18

because there was this video store called

2:20

West Coast Video, which is funny because I

2:22

lived in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I remember

2:24

West Coast Video too. You do? And

2:27

I lived in New Jersey. Oh my God, right?

2:29

And it had the stars and the red boxes

2:31

and it was so exciting. Anyway, they had a

2:33

section that they curated by directors. So I would

2:36

just wander around there and just devour random things.

2:38

And I got really into the Hitchcock ones. And

2:40

I did the big ones first,

2:43

like Notorious, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too

2:45

Much, and all those. But then I remember

2:47

I picked up Shadow of a Doubt. And

2:50

it was just so strange

2:53

and interesting. And it just

2:56

left this crazy impression on me of seeing

2:58

a director that felt kind of like mainstream.

3:00

It was a director my parents knew, but

3:03

then he obviously took these big risks and

3:05

made this bizarre movie that I really loved.

3:07

And it was like looking

3:09

around when I was watching it like, this

3:12

is so weird. Like, how did he do

3:14

this? And yeah, I just think that left

3:16

a big impression on me and made me

3:18

feel like movies were this exciting place to

3:20

do kind of crazy and weird things. So

3:23

tell me more about this video store. Like, did you

3:25

have a systematic approach to

3:27

going through all of these different directors?

3:29

How did you approach going to this store?

3:32

Yeah, I think, you know, I would just get

3:34

to go there on the weekends. Like, you know,

3:36

my parents would take me and at first I

3:38

would just pick random movies. And then you start

3:41

getting sick of the regular movies. And that's when

3:43

I kind of meandered into that weird section of

3:45

just like curated by directors. And I got

3:48

really into John Carpenter movies for a while.

3:50

Like it was so fun with the video

3:52

stores because you didn't have that anxiety

3:54

that I have. I don't know if you

3:56

have it today of when you turn on

3:58

any of the platforms like NetFlow. or Hulu

4:00

or all those things. I get exhaustion just

4:02

thinking about what to pick that I end

4:05

up not picking anything. And listening about like,

4:07

yeah, your parents drop you

4:09

off at the video store. You have 10 minutes

4:11

to pick and then you're leaving and

4:13

they don't care and you just have to run around and

4:15

you kind of just, you know what I mean? Like that's

4:17

it. And if you don't pick something, you

4:19

don't watch a movie that night. So yeah, I

4:22

just found it thrilling and you have to trust other

4:24

people. And I was growing up

4:26

in kind of a place where I felt like a little

4:28

bit of maybe an outsider and there was something about

4:30

that video store that I felt like they were my friends

4:32

recommending things even though they weren't. Because

4:35

I didn't really have friends that were like movie

4:37

nerds as much as I was. So it

4:40

was just kind of this like nerdy little place I

4:42

could go and feel like I had fake movie friends.

4:46

It's so funny to hear you say this

4:48

about the video store because I have this

4:50

like distinctive memory. For us, it was blockbuster,

4:52

but like we were only

4:54

allowed to watch a movie on

4:57

Friday night and on Saturday night. So

4:59

two movies per weekend. And there were three kids

5:01

in my family and my parents would drop us

5:04

off at the video store. And just

5:06

like you said, you had like 10 or 15 minutes to pick

5:08

out a video and it was like battle

5:10

royale alliances. My brother wants to

5:12

watch baseball. It's like the 90th

5:14

time he's trying to get me

5:16

or my sister to like align

5:18

with him. My sister's like, no,

5:20

I want to watch Beethoven. Oh,

5:22

so good. Yeah. It's

5:26

like a core memory. So cute. So

5:28

you ended up going to Wesleyan. Did

5:31

you realize at the time that you went to

5:33

college that you wanted to work in film or

5:35

that you wanted to be an editor? How did

5:37

you come to that? I

5:39

didn't go to like the most creative high school.

5:42

So I think I picked Wesleyan. I had visited

5:44

a couple of schools, but I liked that Wesleyan

5:46

was like super liberal arts, kind of weird, you

5:48

know. And I knew

5:50

they had a film program, but it was quite difficult

5:52

to get into, but I wasn't like positive I wanted

5:55

to do film. I was really into history and English

5:57

too, but I liked that the film

5:59

department was like. history-based, right? A lot

6:01

of what Wesleyan's film department is about is

6:03

like watching movies, screening them on film. They

6:05

have a great film preservation collection and writing

6:07

about them and thinking about them and talking

6:09

about them. So I read

6:11

that your thesis was actually a documentary.

6:14

So what did you learn from working

6:16

in documentary that you then brought into

6:18

your film work? I

6:20

got very invested in the editing

6:22

of my documentary. I think documentary editing

6:25

is incredibly difficult and I admire

6:27

the people that do it. And

6:29

I actually thought that I wanted to

6:31

edit documentaries based on doing it

6:33

in college, but I became obsessed with

6:35

editing this kind of 10 or 12 minute documentary

6:38

I had shot. And I

6:40

think I just became kind of enamored by

6:42

the editing process by way of doing

6:44

that documentary. But I think

6:47

I like working with

6:49

writer directors and I like working

6:51

on really complex kind

6:53

of big complicated movies. And I think,

6:56

you know, having been in

6:58

love with and come from that documentary world,

7:01

I think that just lended itself to the types of

7:03

movies I was attracted to. But I think just working

7:06

on that documentary was really just kind of where I

7:08

fell in love with editing. So

7:11

how did you get your first big break

7:13

into the film world? I

7:16

would say two big breaks. My first big break

7:18

was right after Wesleyan, I moved to LA and

7:21

I had a really hard time breaking into

7:23

Hollywood, you know, just getting on a movie

7:25

or a TV show or anything. And

7:27

so I ended up editing commercials from stock

7:30

footage for a startup company, which

7:32

was actually kind of interesting. And I met some

7:34

great people, but I really wanted to work in

7:36

movies. And a friend of mine's sister named Jennifer

7:39

Lilly, she had worked in Woody Allen's cutting rooms.

7:41

She was an assistant editor and her brother was

7:43

my friend. And I always asked her brother, you

7:45

know, if she ever needs any help, let me know. And

7:47

one day on a Friday, she called me and she was

7:49

like, I actually need an apprentice editor. My

7:51

apprentice editor quit. If you come to New York, I'll get

7:54

you into the union. And I quit my job, packed my

7:56

bags and just went to New York. Wow. Because I was

7:58

so young, you know, I just gave a my apartment

8:00

to a friend of mine. Like I literally just

8:02

left. Yeah, it was intense. But she got me

8:04

to the union and it was the Sidney Lumet

8:06

movie called Before the Devil Knows Your Dead. So

8:09

my first film job was with Sidney Lumet, which

8:11

is incredible. Wow. It was an amazing

8:13

job. And she kind of became a mentor to me.

8:15

And then I, you know, did a lot of assistant

8:17

editing on TV shows and movies for a while. And

8:19

then I eventually got another big break when an editor

8:22

named Michael Taylor recommended me to another editor named

8:24

Tim Streedo, who was working for No Bombac. And

8:26

he needed an assistant who could cut because it

8:29

was a super low budget movie called Francis Ha. Yes.

8:31

And then luckily, Noah and I really got along. And it

8:33

was one of those things like I was in the right

8:35

place the right time. And I also just made sure

8:37

I was an expert on the film. So I was

8:39

invaluable and they didn't get rid of me. Right.

8:42

I was just like working my butt off to

8:44

make sure that that didn't happen. And luckily it

8:46

didn't. So yeah, and then I ended up doing

8:48

I think five movies with Noah. I mean, we

8:50

just got along fantastically. And what

8:52

a great first film. I love that movie so

8:54

much. It was one of my favorite movies. I

8:56

love Francis Ha. It was very personal to me

8:58

at the time, because one of my best

9:00

friends was dating this guy that I hated. And we

9:03

were like attached at the hip. So I was kind

9:05

of devastated. And obviously, that's a big part of

9:07

the movie. And I just felt really

9:09

lost in my life. I was like, Am I ever

9:11

going to be an editor? What am I going to

9:13

do? You know, so it was just like such an

9:15

amazing first film, because I felt so deeply connected to

9:18

the material. Hmm. Yeah. So I would say those are

9:20

kind of the two kind of amazing breaks that I

9:22

got. So tell me

9:24

more about editing Francis Ha. Like what

9:26

did you learn from that experience? I

9:30

learned so many things. I mean, I learned to

9:32

work with the director and also a director that

9:35

I was incredibly intimidated by because I was a

9:37

huge fan of his, which I could never really

9:39

let on, because you don't want to make them

9:41

uncomfortable. But I mean, I love squid and the

9:43

whale and Greenberg and Margot at the wedding, I

9:45

think is fantastic. And editing wise, I think it's

9:47

incredibly experimental and interesting. So Noah

9:50

Baumbach, you know, I was, I looked up to him immensely.

9:52

So to have to sit in a room and kind

9:54

of give him my opinions was quite

9:56

intimidating. So kind of learning how to

9:58

navigate that relationship. was a huge

10:00

learning curve for me. And

10:02

yeah, learning to have like a voice

10:05

and have an opinion and just also

10:07

be creative and experimental because

10:09

Noah actually really loves editing and he

10:12

encouraged me to try a bunch of

10:14

things. And I just

10:16

learned so much on that job. It was

10:18

incredible. Yeah. Can you help

10:20

our listeners understand, you know, what

10:22

is the difference between a director's

10:24

vision and an editor's vision? What

10:27

is an editor seeing

10:30

that a director isn't seeing? Or

10:32

what is an editor going

10:34

for that a director isn't going for? I

10:38

think it's less about like that they're

10:40

not seeing it. And I think a

10:42

director's job is one of the hardest

10:44

jobs, obviously, in

10:46

my industry. You're with so much in your

10:48

brain. You're dealing with so much. You're making

10:50

thousands of decisions a day. So

10:53

I think an editor's job is to

10:55

keep your focus on the performances and the story

10:57

kind of during the shoot. You know, like oftentimes,

10:59

for example, when I would work with Noah, he would

11:02

call me kind of midday and at the end

11:04

of the day and just talk through like, do

11:06

you feel like we're getting the right performances for

11:08

the character? Because I'm keeping track of the character,

11:10

right? Like he's keeping track of that along with

11:12

a thousand other decisions. And that's all I'm keeping

11:14

track of is, are we getting the performance to

11:16

have this through line for this character? Are we

11:19

getting these performances? Do we need another take? Do we

11:21

need a different reading? So

11:23

just really my focus is

11:25

the performances, the stories. Are

11:28

things cutting together? Rhythmically, does it feel right?

11:30

You know, all that stuff that a director

11:32

obviously is paying attention to, but he can't

11:34

focus just on that. Like I'm that part

11:37

of their brain kind of and kind

11:39

of let them know what's going on. And then once

11:41

we're in the edit room, I'm just that collaborator to

11:44

help continue that

11:46

trajectory of finishing the movie and making the

11:48

movie the best version it can be once

11:50

it's been shot. Because obviously there's deviations

11:52

from the script or things you thought would turn

11:55

out didn't. And just putting the whole thing together, it's

11:57

kind of like writing a book, like an author of

11:59

a book that doesn't... want to edit their own book,

12:01

right, need that person to kind of have that struggle

12:04

with and relationship with in a person who you vibe

12:06

with that can be honest with you and they can

12:09

work through problems and sit in a room with other

12:11

people and then afterwards you talk through what happened. What

12:15

do you think is the key to a

12:17

successful collaboration? You were just mentioning that so

12:19

much of your work is about collaborating with

12:21

a director. What are some

12:23

of the things that you've learned about collaboration

12:26

in your years of doing this work? I

12:29

think for me it's really about

12:31

learning the personality

12:33

and getting to know how a director

12:36

likes to work and how I can be the

12:38

most useful to them because oftentimes it's quite different

12:40

from director to director and

12:42

I think really taking a

12:44

minute and listening and observing

12:47

and just really understanding what is

12:49

needed rather than kind of just

12:51

interjecting your style because that doesn't

12:53

really work and that's not going to help anybody.

12:56

Like when I would work with Noah he would

12:58

send me super early drafts of the script and

13:00

we would talk about stuff really early on and

13:02

with someone like Chris that's not how he works

13:05

at all but he works very different when we're

13:07

editing together than when I did with Noah. So

13:09

I think it's just about

13:12

establishing that relationship and it's

13:14

a very complicated, intense

13:16

relationship so I find as I get

13:18

older I don't really want to start

13:21

new relationships with directors. I

13:23

just interviewed a year or two ago with a director

13:25

and I kind of made a joke where I was

13:27

like I don't want to meet new people and he

13:29

laughed too and he's like me neither because it's a

13:32

really intense relationship with the director-editor and in a dream

13:34

world you kind of just have two or three because

13:37

when I did Tenet with Chris I remember by

13:39

the end of it I finally was like okay

13:41

I hope I get to do another one because

13:43

now I really get it but it took a

13:45

whole movie to really kind of understand

13:47

how this person works and it

13:51

was exhausting and stressful

13:53

to learn all that and so I was like I

13:55

hope I get to use these skills and apply it

13:57

to another movie. Right. Speaking

14:00

of Christopher Nolan, what is

14:02

the difference between working on a Noah Baumbach film

14:04

and working on a Christopher Nolan film? Oh,

14:07

God, that's a tough question. I

14:09

think the difference is their personalities and how they

14:11

like to work, but both of them are

14:14

similar in that they both love the

14:16

editing process and they're both writer directors.

14:18

And I've mostly worked with writer directors,

14:20

so in that regard, kind of editing

14:22

with those types of filmmakers

14:24

is quite intensive, but I find

14:26

very fulfilling because it's their

14:28

work, right? They're very personal to them.

14:30

But so I feel like when you change things or

14:32

when you're talking about the film, it's quite personal, which

14:34

I love because I feel like everything is kind

14:36

of heightened, right? There's stakes to everything in a

14:38

way that is a little bit different. The one

14:41

or two times I've worked with kind of directors

14:43

that haven't written the material, there's

14:45

a little bit of a distance there. But I think

14:47

one of the differences is Noah, because of the way

14:49

we worked on Francis Ha and Mr. Samarico, and they

14:51

were these low budget, really fun projects that we did

14:53

together. It was really, we were all kind of in

14:55

it together. And I think because

14:57

we started that way and then progressed onto bigger

14:59

and more traditional movies, we kind

15:01

of always kept that vibe that we had

15:03

on Francis and Mr. Samarico, where we were

15:06

really all just like in it together and

15:08

constantly talking. And I feel like

15:10

with Chris, because I came on kind of later

15:12

for him, I've only done two movies with him.

15:15

It's quite different. And he also, he operates in

15:17

a much different way. I read his scripts right

15:19

before he starts shooting and we talk about it,

15:22

but they're very tight at that point. There's not

15:24

much to edit at that point. And

15:26

then when he's in the edit, he's in the edit,

15:28

he's very invested. And then every other director I've worked

15:30

with has been different than both those guys. They all

15:32

kind of have a different way of working. So

15:37

many Noah Baumbach movies feature a

15:39

lot of dialogue and specifically arguments.

15:42

I'm thinking most famously of that big

15:44

fight in marriage story, which you also

15:47

edited. In your experience, what makes

15:49

a good fight scene? God,

15:53

I love a fight scene. I think relatability,

15:56

like when I saw that fight

15:58

scene in Anatomy before. fall. Like

16:00

that's a fight I could completely relate to in

16:02

my husband as well, which he admitted. So I

16:05

think just it feeling relatable and

16:08

real and messy and

16:10

emotional and has to have the highs and the lows

16:12

and the moments like, you know, a roller coaster, like

16:14

I feel like that marriage story fight, you know, it

16:16

has moments where it's maybe almost you want to laugh

16:19

and then you want to cry and then you

16:21

want to hide your face. So I think it has

16:23

to be a real kind of ride, which is how

16:26

all fights feel in real life. But it is hard

16:28

to create that on film because it can very quickly

16:30

feel unnatural or a bit forced

16:32

or a bit just actory, you

16:34

know. When

16:37

we come back, film editor Jennifer Lane

16:40

talks about getting nominated for her first

16:42

Oscar for her work on Oppenheimer. More

16:44

in a moment. So

17:06

tell me about Oppenheimer. How

17:09

did you get approached about Oppenheimer?

17:11

And what were you thinking as

17:13

you sort of started to work on this film? I

17:17

think I had lunch with Chris and he

17:19

kind of said he was working on something,

17:21

but he wasn't sure yet. And then I

17:23

had signed on to Wakanda Forever with Ryan

17:25

Coogler. And then I did

17:27

get a call from Chris and he was

17:29

like, Hey, come over the house. I have

17:31

this project for you. And so

17:33

I read the script right before shooting, but

17:36

then I wasn't able to come on until after the

17:38

shoot because I was on Wakanda Forever. So

17:41

all that complicatedness to say that

17:43

I missed the shoot of Oppenheimer, but because Chris

17:45

and I had done a film together previously, he

17:47

was okay with that. So I came on the

17:50

day they wrapped filming, which isn't typical for an

17:52

editor. Usually you're on the whole

17:54

shoot. So yeah, that was scary because most editors

17:56

don't like doing that. Cause if you just think

17:58

about it on a basis, level, you're

18:00

just behind, right? I'm behind. I have to

18:02

do the whole movie and they already shot

18:04

it. But it ended up being okay.

18:06

Chris just gave me four weeks, I think, and

18:09

he said, you know, watch all the footage, try

18:11

to cut as much as you can, but don't

18:13

stress. And I think taking that pressure off of

18:15

that assembly that you're supposed to have at the

18:17

end of a shoot, I actually

18:19

found it kind of freeing and it allowed me to

18:21

just play around and just

18:23

watch all the footage. And then I naturally kind

18:25

of did just cut an assembly. So

18:28

how did you approach pacing

18:30

this film? Because Oppenheimer is three

18:33

hours long. How do you

18:35

know when pacing is working? Do you have a strategy

18:37

for that? I don't have

18:40

a strategy. I think pacing is a hard thing

18:42

for me to talk about because it's kind of

18:44

like, for me, for an

18:46

editor, pacing is everything, right? So

18:49

it's like my whole job in

18:51

a way is pacing. So I

18:53

think for me, pacing wise, this film, I

18:55

thought of it just kind of in

18:58

these increments. And I kind of just kept

19:00

going back to when I read the script

19:02

and how the script made me feel

19:04

these like ups and downs, because I like ripped through

19:06

that script when I read it, I couldn't wait to

19:09

get to the end, which is not a typical thing,

19:11

because reading scripts can be quite painful most of the

19:13

time. But that script in particular,

19:15

I found thrilling. And to go back to

19:17

the beginning, like I love history, I love

19:20

drama, the script has everything in it

19:22

for me, aside from just being brilliant

19:24

and just being about this incredible moment

19:27

in history. So I think

19:29

pacing wise, I just would keep

19:32

referring back to the script and that initial hit that I got

19:34

and want to make sure that I emulated

19:36

that in my editing of the film, right?

19:38

So I could recreate that

19:40

feeling I had. And pacing is so much a

19:43

feeling and a feeling of having screenings and a

19:45

feeling of screening, it just Chris and I and

19:48

it's something that I've been doing for so long in

19:50

terms of just editing the film that I feel like

19:52

I have an intuitive kind of like musical idea of

19:54

what I want. And then of course, I watch it

19:56

most of the time and it's bad, which is why

19:58

editing takes a while. And so yeah, it's

20:01

just a constant you think it's good and then

20:03

it's not but it's a relief when you know

20:05

It's not right and then you can see yeah

20:07

So I want to ask you about the you know What I

20:10

consider to be the climax of Oppenheimer which

20:12

is this Trinity test scene where all the

20:15

scientists of the Manhattan Project? Come together and

20:17

they test the first atomic bomb It's

20:20

this obviously this huge historical moment. Can

20:22

you tell us anything about? Some

20:25

of the decision-making that went into the editing

20:27

of that scene Yeah,

20:30

I think that

20:32

scene They shot a

20:35

lot of extra stuff because the production designer

20:37

had done a lot of great Research

20:40

and put together a lot of stuff. So there's a

20:42

lot more footage than was in the script So so

20:44

building up to that We really got

20:46

to be creative and like really build that kind of

20:48

anxiety and playing a lot of it on the faces

20:50

of these young Scientists who are just you know So

20:53

nervous and have the weight of the world on them

20:55

just trying to get this going and then the bomb

20:58

actually going off I think we've

21:00

all seen images of the bomb. We all know what the

21:02

bomb looks like, but I think Just

21:05

being in screenings when it actually goes off and

21:07

hearing people kind of gasp I think that's

21:10

what our goal was right to get the gas

21:12

right up to that There's no way to make

21:14

it more horrifying than we can all imagine Right.

21:17

Our goal is to get the gas bleeding up to it

21:19

and then kind of make it poetic

21:21

and interesting and About

21:23

Oppenheimer and about the scientists and their

21:26

reactions to it. Mm-hmm. So

21:29

What was it like to

21:31

hear that you were nominated for an Oscar? Oh

21:35

Man, it was crazy I actually

21:37

purposely slept through that whole announcement thing that morning

21:39

because I think leading up to it You're just

21:41

like God I really it would be so amazing

21:43

and now my friend Oscar and then when it

21:45

gets close to it You're like, I don't even

21:47

want to know you don't even really want to

21:49

deal with it or there's so many

21:51

mixed emotions with it So I think I just

21:53

slept through and tried to like get through my

21:55

morning. I woke up around like 7 a.m I

21:58

knew it was that morning and I tried I tried to not look

22:00

at my phone and woke up with my two-year-old and went

22:03

downstairs and saw my husband in the kitchen. He's like, you

22:05

know, you got nominated for an Oscar. And

22:07

I was like, wow. And

22:10

of course I ran upstairs and like grabbed my

22:12

phone, but I really just like tried not to

22:14

focus on it because the whole thing just felt

22:16

so it's just so overwhelming, right? It's like you

22:18

can't even imagine it. Yeah. But

22:21

then when he said that, I of course was like, what? And

22:23

I let it sink in. Like that day I remember I

22:25

had like a sinus infection. I was going to look for

22:27

a neti pot and I kept having to stop and being

22:29

like, you got nominated for an Oscar today

22:32

and had to like, like take a minute

22:34

for myself. But yeah, it's

22:36

just, it's so strange. It's so strange,

22:38

you know, the other thing

22:40

that's really hard about all this that I like

22:43

want to, I just have to say a lot

22:45

is like I worked on Oppenheimer almost two years

22:47

ago. Oh, wow. Whenever people ask me about things,

22:49

specific things, like I really have to like go

22:51

back there in my mind. Like

22:54

working on movies is like having a baby. It's

22:56

like I forget everything, right? Because it's so intense.

22:58

Like, I don't know if you

23:00

have kids, but if someone's like, how did you deal with sleep

23:02

training? I'm like, I don't remember. But

23:05

at the time, it's like the most important thing in

23:07

my life. Oh, totally.

23:09

I have a two year old. I'm about

23:11

to have another one. Oh my God. Congratulations.

23:13

Does your two year old know that you

23:15

are nominated for an Oscar? No, he has

23:17

no idea. I have a six year old

23:19

who knows he's heard Oppenheimer because you know,

23:21

I've had to go away. I've had

23:23

to go to work. He's heard the word Oppenheimer. And I

23:25

think at like a coffee shop one time, he saw like

23:27

a bus drive by or like a poster and he's like,

23:30

my mom did Oppenheimer. He blurted that

23:32

out. I was like, what

23:34

are you talking about? So they

23:36

like kind of know I worked on a film

23:38

and I think they I've tried to explain editing

23:40

to them. But yeah, they really have no idea.

23:45

So one thing I kind of wanted to ask

23:47

you about is this question of like credit

23:50

and ownership because a lot of times

23:52

there are these really

23:54

incredible films that are made. And

23:57

typically it's like the director and the

23:59

movie stars. who get all the credit

24:01

for that. And I'm thinking about your kid

24:04

saying to you, my mom did

24:06

opping my mom. Do

24:08

you feel like editors

24:10

get their due in terms

24:12

of the recognition for the work that they

24:14

do to make the movies that people really care

24:16

about? I think all

24:19

creative heads of department on movies and

24:21

also the crew and the gaffers and

24:23

the costume department and you know the

24:25

people like I feel

24:27

like everyone probably does feel

24:29

like they would like more

24:31

credit than they get at times like these when

24:33

it does have to be a lot about the

24:36

stars and the directors and stuff like that. But

24:38

I actually do feel like I've been lucky enough

24:40

to work with directors that are super

24:42

supportive of what I do and what everyone on

24:45

their film sets do. And I

24:47

do feel sad when I do notice a

24:49

film or a project where I do think

24:51

an editor did a great job or a

24:53

production designer or somebody that nobody talks about.

24:56

On the other hand, the director is, it is his movie

24:58

you know it's their baby like you know

25:00

they wrote it, they directed, they poured everything

25:03

into it and it's a incredibly difficult job

25:05

and I do a tiny tiny part of

25:07

it that I do think is quite important

25:09

but um it's that weird

25:12

balance right? Right. Is

25:14

there a director living or

25:16

dead that you always wanted

25:18

to work with? I

25:21

think a director who has actually, I'm halfway

25:23

through his biography

25:25

is Mike Nichols who I love. I

25:27

mean he has so many, what I

25:29

love about his movies is um just

25:32

like the range you know like

25:34

the graduate who's afraid of Virginia

25:36

Woolf and then Working Girl which is one of

25:38

my favorite movies and it's what a great

25:40

movie that I feel like would get made today

25:42

which is just like a huge movie

25:44

but also funny and a romantic comedy but also

25:47

a great film. Yeah,

25:49

yeah he's just incredible. So

25:51

I totally agree with you. There seems

25:53

like there is something, there

25:56

is a sense of like they don't make movies like they

25:58

used to make them anymore. Yeah. And

26:00

part of that is like the way the industry

26:02

has turned. Part of

26:04

it is like movies seem really intense

26:07

now. They're like really emotionally intense. They're

26:10

often very psychological. How

26:12

do you think movie making has changed

26:14

since, for example, the Mike Nichols era?

26:17

That is such a good question. I'm actually reading the book

26:19

right now so you'd think I would have a good answer.

26:23

I don't know. It's weird. It's

26:26

like just reading that book. It felt like back

26:28

then people took bigger risks. It's

26:30

funny that people took such big risks back then and

26:32

they don't today because there's so

26:35

many different platforms to put everything on. You'd

26:38

think you'd see more experimentation with that regard.

26:40

And obviously there's the digital era. So it's

26:42

like with digital movies, people think it's easier

26:44

to make movies. And obviously we live in

26:47

a world where someone can pick up anything

26:49

and shoot a movie, but the

26:51

experimentation isn't happening as much as it does. And so

26:53

I don't know. Maybe it's a risk.

26:55

I think it's like the film studios. I don't know. I

26:57

have no idea. But yeah,

27:00

it does feel like things are all

27:03

a bit same-same. So

27:06

my very last question for you is, do you have an

27:08

editing routine or a sort of a thing that

27:11

you do to get in the zone? Anything

27:13

that you kind of

27:15

use to get you sort of into your

27:18

editing mind space? You know what? I

27:21

don't really. And I probably should. Like

27:23

by not having that is

27:25

what I do is I try to kind

27:27

of like delay it a little bit. So

27:29

I'll like go to work and I'll like

27:31

chat with my coworkers or like mine is

27:33

like avoidance is my routine and procrastination and

27:35

by procrastinating, I usually fun

27:38

comes out of it. And then all of a sudden I'm like,

27:40

oh God, I got to go to work. And then I just

27:42

like, you know, get to work. But

27:44

I think that's kind of my vibe is like just

27:47

connecting with everyone and trying to be a little

27:49

bit social and have a little bit of fun

27:51

before I sit down alone in a room for

27:53

many hours by myself. Yeah,

27:56

we journalists call that thinking.

28:00

And you're right, and I think if I didn't do that and

28:02

I had some other weird thing where I just like sat down

28:04

with my coffee and dots work, I probably wouldn't be

28:06

as creative. I'm going to call

28:08

it thinking for me. Of

28:11

course not. Of course not. Yeah.

28:13

It's called contemplation. Okay, good. Thank you.

28:16

Because I clearly feel guilty about it, but it's clearly important.

28:20

It's the cult of productivity getting to you.

28:22

Don't let them win. Jennifer,

28:27

it's been so great talking to you about this.

28:30

I've got Oppenheimer and your work in film, but

28:32

now I want to take a second to get

28:34

to know more about you in a segment that

28:36

we like to call The Last Time. So

28:40

when is the last time you ate

28:42

your favorite movie theater snack? Oh,

28:45

the last time I ate my favorite movie theater snack.

28:48

I haven't been to the movie theater in a long

28:50

time. It's okay. What is your

28:52

favorite movie theater snack? Like really buttery popcorn, and I'm

28:54

trying to think the last time I ate that. It's

28:56

so good. I'm so good. Okay,

28:58

as good as movie theater popcorn. Okay,

29:00

when's the last time you put together a blooper

29:02

reel? Well

29:05

Conda Forever, I did like a funny blooper

29:07

reel for Ryan Coogler. Nice.

29:10

When's the last time you took your son to the

29:12

playground? Oh my gosh, like

29:14

a week ago. We live five minutes for a playground.

29:17

I usually go every weekend. When's

29:19

the last time you read a script you were

29:21

excited about? Recently, probably a month

29:24

ago. And when's the last

29:26

time you used TikTok? I

29:28

don't use TikTok, but my husband does. The last

29:30

time is probably like a week ago when I peeked

29:32

over his shoulder and wanted to see something funny. When's

29:35

the last time you used iMovie? I've

29:38

never used iMovie. Wow.

29:40

I know. I feel

29:43

like most of my friends edit all of their kids'

29:45

magical videos, and I don't, and it's crazy, and I

29:47

feel like a failure. If

29:50

it makes you feel any better, I don't edit any of

29:52

my kids' videos either, and they're all just like... Sitting there,

29:54

I know. Sitting there. I

29:58

really appreciate you making time to speak with us. Thank you. so,

30:00

so much. I've learned

30:02

so much from you and it's just really

30:04

great to hear about your career

30:06

and all the incredible movies that you made. So

30:09

thank you. Thank you and this has been so

30:11

fun. Thank you for having me. Jennifer

30:18

Lane is nominated for an Academy Award

30:20

for Best Film Editing for her work

30:22

on Oppenheimer. And you can see if Oppenheimer

30:24

ends up winning all 13 of

30:27

its nominations, including for Best Picture

30:29

and Best Director at the Oscars

30:31

this Sunday. Thank

30:34

you so much for listening to Person

30:36

of the Week. If you like what you heard,

30:38

don't forget to subscribe wherever you get

30:40

your podcasts. And as always, we'd

30:42

love to hear from you. So

30:44

send your tips or thoughts on

30:46

our show to personoftheweekattime.com. I'm Charlotte

30:49

Alter. See you next week. Person

30:56

of the Week is hosted by Charlotte

30:59

Alter. It's produced by Nina Bizvano and

31:01

Alison Bailey. Our senior producer is Ursula

31:03

Sommer. Our story editor is Katie Fender.

31:06

This episode was made by Cedric Wilson. Her

31:08

theme music was composed by Billy Lippie. Joseph

31:11

Fishmouth is our fact tracker. Person

31:14

of the Week is a co-production of Time Studios

31:16

and Sugar 23. At Time, our

31:19

executive producers are Dave O'Connor, Michael

31:21

Erlinger, and Sam Jacobs. At

31:24

Sugar 23, our executive producers are Mike

31:26

Mayer, Michael Sugar, and Liam Billingham. Sasha

31:29

Mathias is the head of audio at Time. You

31:32

can find us online at time.com-personoftheweek.com

31:35

and wherever you get your podcasts.