Kirk Baxter

Last updated

Kirk Baxter
TheKillerBFILFF051023 (14 of 22) (53255664790).jpg
Baxter and Ren Klyce on the red carpet for The Killer
Born1972 (age 51–52)
Sydney, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Occupation Film editor
SpouseSusan Murphy
Children1
Awards Academy Award for Best Film Editing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The Social Network (2010)

Kirk Baxter (born 1972) [1] is an Australian film editor. He has worked with director David Fincher and editor Angus Wall several times, winning Academy Awards for The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo .

Contents

Early life

Baxter grew up on Sydney's Northern Beaches and attended Pittwater High School. [1]

At age 17, Baxter's school gave him the chance to undertake work experience with a local production company, [1] Ross Wood Productions. [2] The company had a range of departments in both production and post-production, allowing Baxter to see how directors, cinematographers, editors, focus pullers, grips and gaffers operated. [3] Baxter quickly fell in love with the editorial process and dropped out of school to pursue a career. [1]

Baxter was a full-time assistant editor by the age of 18. [4]

Career

Due to a scarcity of work in the Australian film industry, Baxter focused primarily on editing commercials. [4] He was an early adopter of Avid, a non-linear editing software.

Due to his family's Scottish heritage, Baxter was able to secure a British Passport and moved to London at age 23. [4] Baxter worked for the post-production house Final Cut (not to be confused with the software). [2] He soon begin flying to the United States for projects with British directors abroad. [5]

Preferring both the lifestyle and wages, Baxter decided to emigrate to the US after six years in London. [5] He led the newly opened Final Cut offices in New York. [2]

In 2004, Baxter joined Angus Wall's firm Rock Paper Scissors, which specialised in feature film and commercial work. [6] Baxter then worked with Wall as an "additional editor" on David Fincher's film Zodiac . When Wall began to prepare to edit The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , he proposed to Fincher that Baxter be the co-editor. [7]

Baxter and Wall were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, the BAFTA Award for Best Editing, and the American Cinema Editors Eddie Award for their work on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. [8] For their work on The Social Network , Baxter and Wall won an Oscar and a BAFTA in 2011. The following year, they won a second Oscar for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo .

Baxter refutes that Fincher does "a thousand takes", saying "it is not the same angle getting repeated a thousand times, it is coverage. So there is always somewhere to be in the scene...It’s the volume of angles that really differentiates how information is presented in David’s work." [3]

Fincher, Baxter, Erik Messerschmidt and Klyce on stage for The Killer TheKillerBFILFF051023 (21 of 22) (53255527214).jpg
Fincher, Baxter, Erik Messerschmidt and Klyce on stage for The Killer

In 2014, Baxter's edited Gone Girl , his first solo editorial credit with David Fincher. It was the first Hollywood film to be cut entirely in Premiere Pro. [9] Baxter said they chose the software "to bring all the After Effects closer. Shots could be stabilized, have split screens done perfectly, all the editing within scenes of inside monitors. There’s VFX in every couple of shots... It’s about speed and working with the most up to date material immediately. It’s creating the best sort of utopia for a village.” [10]

Baxter also has editorial credits for Fincher's TV Series Mindhunter , House of Cards and Love, Death and Robots .

In 2023, Baxter edited Dumb Money, his first non-Fincher feature film. [11]

Baxter co-owns editorial company Exile Edit. [11]

Approach to Editing

Typically, Baxter joins the production early, starting to cut after the second or third day of shooting. [12] He starts by treating each scene as a sole entity, a unit he will extensively fine cut even before the whole film is assembled. [11] Baxter likens editing to a headgame, similar to writing. [13]

When working with Fincher, Baxter will initially cut and align dailies as they are positioned in a scene, allowing quick changes between takes and camera angle for every line of dialogue or action. [14] The method allows Fincher to quickly review Baxter's choices for coverage and understand why he has chosen one angle over another for each moment.

Baxter prefers not to visit the set, having stated that his workload and a desire to be at a distance from the shooting process keep him away. [15] The separation helps to keep Baxter's eyes fresh and prevents his editorial choices being biased by what he experiences on set.

When asked if he was a "tech head", Baxter replied that he has "no curiosity in the technology at all. It just allows me to do my work efficiently." [13]

Filmography (as editor)

YearFilmDirectorNotes
2008 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button David Fincher Nominated—Academy Award for Best Film Editing
Nominated—ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Editing
2010 The Social Network Academy Award for Best Film Editing
ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic
BAFTA Award for Best Editing
Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Film Editing
Nominated—Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Editing
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Editing
2011 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Academy Award for Best Film Editing
Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Editing
Nominated—ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic
2014 Gone Girl Nominated—ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Editing
Nominated—Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Editing
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Editing
Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Editing
Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Editing
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Editing
2020 Mank Nominated—Greater Western New York Film Critics Association Award for Best Editing
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Editing
2023 The Killer
2023 Dumb Money Craig Gillespie

Selected Television Credits

YearTitleNotes
2013 House of Cards 2 Episodes (Chapter 1 & 2)
2017-19 Mindhunter 8 Episodes
2022 Love, Death and Robots 1 Episode (S3 E2)
Won - American Cinema Editors Awards 2023 for Best Edited Animated Series
2022 Mike 2 Episodes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Fincher</span> American film director

David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film director. His films, most of which are psychological thrillers, have collectively grossed over $2.1 billion worldwide and have received 40 Academy Award nominations; this includes three Best Director nominations for him. He has also received four Primetime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Final Cut Pro</span> Video editing software by Apple

Final Cut Pro is a professional non-linear video-editing application initially developed by Macromedia, and, since 1998, by Apple as part of its pro apps collection. Final Cut Pro allows users to import, edit, and process video footage, and output it to a wide variety of formats.

<i>Zodiac</i> (film) 2007 American film by David Fincher

Zodiac is a 2007 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt based on the nonfiction books by Robert Graysmith: Zodiac (1986) and Zodiac Unmasked (2002). The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr., with Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox, Elias Koteas, Donal Logue, John Carroll Lynch, Chloë Sevigny, Philip Baker Hall, and Dermot Mulroney in supporting roles.

<i>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</i> (film) 2008 film by David Fincher

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy romantic drama film directed by David Fincher. The storyline by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film stars Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse and Cate Blanchett as the love interest throughout his life. The film also stars Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas, and Tilda Swinton.

Claudio Miranda, ASC is a Chilean cinematographer. He is best known for his work on Ang Lee's film Life of Pi (2012), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and for David Fincher's film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), which was the first film shot entirely digitally to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and the American Society of Cinematographers Award. He is also known for his collaborations with American director Joseph Kosinski. He is the second Chilean person to win an Academy Award.

The 59th American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards, which were presented on Sunday, February 15, 2009, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, honored the best editors in films and television.

The 12th Online Film Critics Society Awards, honoring the best in film for 2008, were given on 19 January 2009.

Donald Graham Burt is an American production designer. He has worked on multiple films including The Joy Luck Club, Dangerous Minds, and Donnie Brasco, as well as with David Fincher on Zodiac in 2007. In 2008, he designed the sets for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction in 2009, an Art Directors Guild Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction, and a BAFTA Film Award for Best Production Design, along with receiving a nomination for a Satellite Award for Best Art Direction & Production Design. In 2020, Burt won an Academy Award for David Fincher's black-and-white biographical drama film Mank.

Angus Alexander Wall is a film editor and film title designer. He and fellow film editor Kirk Baxter won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for the David Fincher film The Social Network (2010) and again the next year for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). He and Baxter were nominated the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, the BAFTA Award for Best Editing, and the American Cinema Editors Eddie Award for the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, also directed by David Fincher. Wall's title design work on the HBO television series Carnivàle and Game of Thrones both received Emmy Awards in 2004 and 2011, respectively, and his work on the series Rome's titles was nominated for the BAFTA Award in 2005.

Matte World Digital was a visual effects company based in Novato, California that specialized in realistic matte painting effects and digital environments for feature films, television, electronic games and IMAX large-format productions. The company closed in 2012 after 24 years of service in the entertainment industry.

Ren Klyce is a Japanese-American sound designer and sound mixer. He has been nominated for nine Academy Awards; six for Best Sound and three for Best Sound Editing. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with director David Fincher, having been the primary sound designer on every one of his films since Seven, including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He is also known for his frequent collaborations with Spike Jonze and films by Pixar Animation Studios.

Ceán Chaffin is an American film producer who has frequently collaborated with her husband, director David Fincher. She and her fellow producers were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010), and Mank (2020). She won American Film Institute's AFI Awards for these films as well as for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). Chaffin was nominated for Producers Guild of America's Producers of the Year Awards for the three aforementioned films and was also nominated for a British Academy Film Award for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Social Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Fincher filmography</span>

David Fincher is an American film director who has worked on feature films, television series, and music videos. His works have been nominated for Academy Award, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Grammys and Emmy Awards, among other accolades. He received Academy Award for Best Director nominations for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010), and Mank (2020).

Eric Barba is a visual effects supervisor for television, film, and commercial advertising.

Mindhunter is an American psychological crime thriller television series created by Joe Penhall, based on the 1995 true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The series debuted in 2017 and ran for two seasons. Executive producers included Penhall, Charlize Theron, and David Fincher, the latter of whom served as the series' most frequent director and de facto showrunner, overseeing many of the scriptwriting and production processes. The series stars Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, and Anna Torv, and follows the founding of the Behavioral Science Unit in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the late 1970s and the beginning of criminal profiling.

Tyler Nelson is a film and television editor who has edited the feature films The Batman (2022) and Creed III (2023) and the TV series Mindhunter (2017-2019). Nelson has worked for director David Fincher both as an assistant editor and as an editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erik Messerschmidt</span> American cinematographer

Erik Messerschmidt, ASC is an American cinematographer. He is best known for his collaborations with director David Fincher on the films Mank and The Killer and Gone Girl, and on the Netflix series Mindhunter. He has also shot episodes of the TV series Fargo, Legion, and Raised by Wolves. His work has been nominated for an Emmy. In April 2021, he won the top ASC Award and the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Mank.

<i>Mank</i> (soundtrack) 2020 film score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Mank (Original Music Score) is the score album for David Fincher's 2020 film of the same name, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. It was released by The Null Corporation label on December 4, 2020, coinciding with the worldwide release on Netflix. The film marks Fincher's fourth collaboration with Reznor and Ross after the Academy Award-winning score for The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and Gone Girl (2014). Both Reznor and Ross used period-authentic instrumentation from the 1930s and 40s, instead of their synth-heavy style. The orchestral sections were performed by each members at their homes, due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

<i>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</i> (soundtrack) 2008 soundtrack album by Alexandre Desplat

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack album to the 2008 film of the same name, released by Concord Music Group on December 16, 2008. It was released in physical forms as a two-disc album, with one disc containing the film's original score composed by Alexandre Desplat, and the other consists few classical songs as well as dialogues featured in the film. The David Fincher-directed film, written by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and stars Brad Pitt as the titular character, alongside Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Mahershala Ali, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas, and Tilda Swinton.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Garry, Maddox (27 February 2012). "From work experience to Hollywood, editor rides wave of success". Sydney Morning Herald.
  2. 1 2 3 Lynchy (1 March 2011). "Long way to the top: Aussie editor Kirk Baxter celebrates Oscar win for The Social Network". Campaign Brief. Archived from the original on 8 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 Patrick Z., McGavin (25 September 2019). "Kirk Baxter Talks About Methods and Madness in Editing Netflix's 'Mindhunter'". Cinemontage. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Picture Editor Kirk Baxter". Movieset. Archived from the original on 9 April 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
  5. 1 2 Ledgerwood, Angela. "The Unassuming Excellence of Academy Award Winning Film Editor Kirk Baxter". Billabout. Archived from the original on 30 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Vines, Emily (19 August 2005). "Kirk Baxter Heads West". Shoot.
  7. ↑ Caranicas, Peter (6 February 2009). "Editing duos realize helmers' visions". Variety.
  8. ↑ "Rock Paper Scissors: Kirk Baxter's works" . Retrieved 25 March 2009.
  9. ↑ "David Fincher's Gone Girl, edited with Adobe Premiere Pro CC by two-time Academy-award winning editor Kirk Baxter, ACE". ProductionHUB. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021.
  10. ↑ Desowitz, Bill. "'Gone Girl' Editor Kirk Baxter Talks the Art of Cutting Solo with David Fincher". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 8 January 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 Douglas, Edward (26 September 2023). "Dumb Money Editor Kirk Baxter on Cutting Craig Gillespie's Real Life Stock Market Comedy". Below the Line. Archived from the original on 4 October 2023.
  12. ↑ Grobar, Matt (19 February 2021). "'Mank' Editor Kirk Baxter On The Most Daunting Scene To Cut & The Performance That Captured His Heart". Deadline. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023.
  13. 1 2 Blair, Ian (6 December 2023). "Kirk Baxter on Editing David Fincher's The Killer". Archived from the original on 9 January 2024.
  14. ↑ Hullfish, Steven (15 December 2015). "ART OF THE CUT WITH KIRK BAXTER, A.C.E. on cutting "Gone Girl" in Premiere". Provideo Coalition. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023.
  15. ↑ McGovern, Joe. "'Mank' Editor Kirk Baxter Describes His Preparation: 'Lurking and Sneaking'". The Wrap. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023.

Further Viewing

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.