Kirk Baxter

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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

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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.

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