Michael Ondaatje - The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film

I would like to thank Shelley Wanger and Louise Dennys who worked with me on this book almost from the start, and also Aggie Murch who inspired me with that first three-way interview, and who later helped find and clarify many of the personal photographs in this book. Thank you to George Lucas, Francis Coppola, Rick Schmidlin, and Anthony Minghella for their personal thoughts about Walter Murch. The remarks by George Lucas and Rick Schmidlin are drawn from their comments made at a tribute to Walter at the Academy of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, in October 2000. The statement by Francis Coppola is made up partly from comments at that event and partly from an interview he gave me. Anthony Minghella's remarks were written especially for this book.

I would like to thank all at Knopf in New York and Vintage Canada in Toronto, especially Kathy Hourigan, Susan Roxborough, Carol Carson, Kapo Ng, and Deirdre Molina. Also Rick Simon, Darren Wershler-Henry, and Stan Bevington at Coach House Press in Toronto. For transcribing the many hours of taped conversations, thank you to Donya Peroff. For photo research, thank you to Ann Schneider; also to Fantasy Films, to Miramax, and to Phil Bray for the photographs from the set of The English Patient. Thank you also to Walter Murch, Jr., for his work on obtaining pulls from various films, and also Sean Cullen.

Thank you to John Berger, to Donald E. Westlake, to Dai Vaughan for the use of quotes from The Invisible Man (BFA), to Sharon Thesen, Atom Egoyan, Alexandra Rockingham, Gill Dennis, Davia Nelson, Kim Aubrey at Zoetrope, Ellen Harrington, The Directors Guild of Canada, and Ellen Levine and Tulin Valeri.

Finally thanks to the following who helped me with the manuscript at various times during the early drafts: Esta Spalding, Griffin Ondaatje, Linda Spalding, Liz Calder, and Sonny Mehta.

And to Saul Zaentz.

MISCELLANY

MURCH AND THE MOVIES

The Rain People (1969), sound montage and re-recording mixer. American Zoetrope/ Warner Bros. Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola; starring James Caan, Shirley Knight, Robert Duvall, Marya Zimmet, Tom Aldredge

Gimme Shelter (1970), camera. Maysles Films/Cinema 5. Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin; starring the Rolling Stones, Ike and Tina Turner, Jefferson Airplane, the Flying Burrito Brothers, The Grateful Dead

THX 1138 (1970), co-writer, sound montage, and re-recording mixer. American Zoetrope/ Warner Bros. Written by George Lucas and Walter Murch; directed by George Lucas; starring Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Maggie McOmie, Don Pedro Colley, Ian Wolfe

The Godfather (1972), supervising sound editor. American Zoetrope/Paramount. Written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, from the book by Mario Puzo; directed by Francis Ford Coppola; starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, John Cazale, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Robert Duvall, Richard Conte, Sterling Hayden, John Marley

American Graffiti (1973), sound montage and re-recording mixer. Lucasfilm/The Coppola Company/Universal. Written by George Lucas, Willard Huyck, and Gloria Katz, and directed by George Lucas; starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ronny Howard, Paul LeMat, Charlie Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips

The Conversation (1974), film editor, sound montage and re-recording mixer. American Zoetrope/The Coppola Company and The Directors Company/Paramount. Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola; starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest, Cindy Williams

The Godfather, Part II (1974), sound montage and re-recording mixer. American Zoetrope/ The Coppola Company/Paramount. Written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, from the book by Mario Puzo; directed by Francis Ford Coppola; starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Lee Strasberg, Michael V. Gazzo, Troy Donahue

Julia (1977), film editor. Twentieth CenturyFox. Written by Alvin Sargent, from the book Pentimento by Lillian Hellman; directed by Fred Zinnemann; starring Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, Maximilian Schell, Hal Holbrook, Rosemary Murphy, Meryl Streep, Cathleen Nesbitt, Maurice Denham

Apocalypse Now (1979), film editor, sound design and re-recording mixer. Omni/American Zoetrope/Paramount. Written by John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola; directed by Francis Ford Coppola; starring Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Laurence Fishburne, Sam Bottoms, Dennis Hopper

Dragonslayer (1981), re-recording mixer. Walt Disney/Paramount. Written by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins; directed by Matthew Robbins; starring Peter MacNicol, Caitlin Clarke, Ralph Richardson, John Hallam, Peter Eyre, Albert Salmi

Return to Oz (1985), co-writer and director. Walt Disney/Silver Screen Partners. Written by Gill Dennis and Walter Murch, from the books Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum; directed by Walter Murch; starring Fairuza Balk, Jean Marsh, Nicol Williamson, Piper Laurie, Matt Clark

Captain Eo. (1986), editor. LucasFilm/Disney. Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Starring Michael Jackson, Anjelica Huston, Dick Shawn

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1987), supervising film editor. Saul Zaentz/Orion. Written by Jean-Claude Carrire and Philip Kaufman, from the book by Milan Kundera; directed by Philip Kaufman; starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint, Erland Josephson, Daniel Olbrychski

Call from Space (1989), film editor. A Showscan Co. film. Written by Chris Langham and Sarah Paris; directed by Richard Fleischer; starring Bill Campbell, James Coburn, Charlton Heston

Ghost (1990), film editor and re-recording mixer. IP/Paramount/Howard W. Koch. Written by Bruce Joel Rubin; directed by Jerry Zucker; starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, Stanley Lawrence, Christopher J. Keene, Susan Breslau, Martina Degnan

The Godfather, Part III (1990), film editor and re-recording mixer. Paramount/Zoetrope. Written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, from the book by Mario Puzo; directed by Francis Ford Coppola; starring Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton, Bridget Fonda, Sofia Coppola, Raf Vallone, Franc D'Ambrosio, Donal Donnelly, Richard Bright, Helmut Berger, Don Novello

The Godfather Trilogy: 19011980, editor. Paramount Pictures. Re-edit of The Godfather(1972); The Godfather, Part II (1974); and The Godfather, Part III (1990) into one film. Written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo; directed by Francis Ford Coppola