Paul Hirsch (film editor)

Last updated
Paul Hirsch
Born
Paul Frederick Hirsch

(1945-11-14) November 14, 1945 (age 79)
New York City, U.S.
Education Columbia University (BA)
OccupationFilm editor
Years active1970–present
Movement New Hollywood
Father Joseph Hirsch
Awards Academy Award for Best Editing, Saturn Award for Best Editing, ACE Eddie Award for Best Edited Feature Film
Honours Camerimage Award to an Editor with Unique Visual Sensitivity

Paul Frederick Hirsch (born November 14, 1945) is an American film editor [1] with over 40 film credits since 1970, best known as one of the premier filmmakers to come out of the New Hollywood movement, [2] collaborating with directors like Brian De Palma, [3] George Lucas, George A. Romero, and Herbert Ross. He won an Academy Award and Saturn Award for his work on the original Star Wars, which he shared with Richard Chew and Marcia Lucas.

Contents

Life and career

A native of New York City, and son of painter Joseph Hirsch. His father was of German-Jewish descent. [4] After graduating from Columbia in 1966, [5] he began to pursue a career in editing. In the late 1960s, while editing trailers in NYC, he was introduced by his brother, Charles, to then unknown filmmaker Brian De Palma. Their collaboration has yielded eleven feature films. [6]

In 1978, he won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for his work on Star Wars , along with Richard Chew and Marcia Lucas. He was also the first person to win the Saturn Award for Best Editing twice, first for Star Wars in 1977 and then Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol in 2011.

He has edited over 35 feature films, including The Empire Strikes Back , [1] Ferris Bueller's Day Off , Mission: Impossible , Planes, Trains and Automobiles , Footloose , Carrie , Falling Down , Phantom of the Paradise , Obsession , Blow Out , The Secret of My Success , Steel Magnolias and Ray , for which he received a second Academy Award nomination in 2005 and the American Cinema Editors' award for Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy or Musical). He has also worked with Duncan Jones on Source Code and Warcraft .

Hirsch rarely watches movies other than his own more than once. However, he cites that the musical An American in Paris and the science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey are worthy of repeat viewing. [7]

Filmography

As film editor

YearFilmDirectorNotes
1970 Hi, Mom! Brian De Palma
1972 Sisters
1974 Phantom of the Paradise
1976 Carrie
Obsession
1977 Star Wars George Lucas Co-editor with Marcia Lucas & Richard Chew

Academy Award for Best Film Editing
Saturn Award for Best Editing
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Editing
Nominated—ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film

1978 King of the Gypsies Frank Pierson
The Fury Brian De Palma
1980 The Empire Strikes Back Irvin Kershner
1981 Blow Out Brian De Palma
1982 Creepshow George A. Romero Segment: "The Crate"
1983 The Black Stallion Returns Robert Dalva
1984 Footloose Herbert Ross
1986 Ferris Bueller's Day Off John Hughes
1987 Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The Secret of My Success Herbert Ross
1989 Steel Magnolias
1990 Coupe de Ville Joe Roth
1991 Dutch Peter Faiman Co-editor with Adam Bernardi & Rick Shaine
1992 Raising Cain Brian De PalmaCo-editor with Robert Dalva & Bonnie Koehler
1993 Falling Down Joel Schumacher
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway Randa Haines
1994 I Love Trouble Charles Shyer Co-editor with Adam Bernardi & Walter Murch
1996 Mission: Impossible Brian De PalmaNominated—Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Editing
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Editing
1998 Hard Rain Mikael Salomon Co-edited with Amnon David and Gillian L. Hutshing
Mighty Joe Young Ron Underwood
1999 Lake Placid Steve Miner Co-edited with Marshall Harvey
2000 Mission to Mars Brian De Palma
2002 The Adventures of Pluto Nash Ron UnderwoodCo-edited with Alan Heim
2003 The Fighting Temptations Jonathan Lynn
2004 Ray Taylor Hackford ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature film - Comedy or Musical
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Film Editing
2006 Date Movie Aaron Seltzer
Deck the Halls John Whitesell
2008 Righteous Kill Jon Avnet
2010 Love Ranch Taylor Hackford
2011 Source Code Duncan Jones
Dylan Dog: Dead of Night Kevin Munroe
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Brad Bird Saturn Award for Best Editing
2016 Warcraft Duncan Jones
2017 The Mummy Alex Kurtzman Co-editor with Gina Hirsch & Andrew Mondshein

As additional editor

YearFilmDirectorEditor(s)Notes
1979 Home Movies Brian De Palma Corky O'Hara
1986 The Clan of the Cave Bear Michael Chapman Wendy Greene Bricmont
2002 Extreme Ops Christian Duguay Clive Barrett
Sylvain Lebel
2007 Lions for Lambs Robert Redford Joe Hutshing
2012 Life of Pi Ang Lee Tim Squyres Uncredited
2013 The Great Gatsby Baz Luhrmann Jason Ballantine
Jonathan Redmond
Matt Villa
World War Z Marc Forster Roger Barton
Matt Chessé
2018 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms Lasse Hallström
Joe Johnston
Stuart Levy

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References

  1. 1 2 "Paul Hirsch". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22.
  2. "Paul Hirsch (Editor) - Star Wars Interviews". www.starwarsinterviews.com. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  3. "Paul Hirsch on 'Blow Out' - CineMontage". CineMontage. 2014-09-01. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  4. Paul Cummings, Oral History Interview with Joseph Hirsh, (Archives of American Art, November 13 & December 2, 1970).
  5. ""Oh, Who Owns Paree?"". Columbia College Today. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
  6. John Castagno, Jewish Artists: Signatures and Monograms (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), p. 209.
  7. "The Movie I've Seen the Most". Slate. 2006.