Film editor David Brenner, who died in the course of work on the Oscar-nominated “Avatar: The Way of Water,” by no means shied away from a problem. Ahead of the American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards, administrators Zack Snyder and James Cameron remembered Brenner and his celebrated profession.
Throughout a profession spanning greater than 4 many years, Brenner labored alongside a few of the most technically demanding administrators in Hollywood, from Oliver Stone to Cameron. But whether or not he was modifying an alien invasion in “Independence Day” or a Vietnam veteran main an antiwar protest in “Born on the Fourth of July” (for which he gained an Academy Award), he at all times discovered the humanity of his topics.
“He dedicated himself to bringing human conduct to the display screen,” mentioned Brenner’s widow, Amber Dixon. “Being an editor is like being a god, as a result of placing issues collectively takes you out of a black-and-white paradigm. He may abandon his prejudices and put that into his artwork.”
Brenner started his profession as an assistant to editor Claire Simpson on Oliver Stone’s “Salvador.” Stone remembers their first assembly effectively.
“He had a briefcase and a really nervous expression on his face,” he mentioned. “It was in his nature to fret, however he at all times did a terrific job.”
Brenner finally labored on 9 movies with Stone.
“Of all my editors, I used to be the friendliest with David,” Stone mentioned. “He by no means had the ego different editors develop. He by no means wanted to be the one one credited.”
“He was at all times one step forward of everybody,” mentioned Zack Snyder, who labored with David on “Man of Steel,” “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.” During the modifying of that movie, Snyder recollects, he added Rose Betts’ “Song of the Siren” because the background music for the scene when Flash enters the Speed Force. “When he confirmed it to me, I mentioned ‘This is superb! We ought to completely do this!’”
Brenner’s colleagues continuously describe him as a life pressure whose innate compassion and empathy made him each a talented co-worker and a devoted husband.
“David taught me learn how to heart myself,” says Dixon, “When he would change into stressed on movies, I may assist re-center him. We had a give-and-take that was very lovely.”
This prolonged to his parenting. Dixon, who had two youngsters with Brenner, says that “he understood the psychological growth of children and what they wanted to listen to. As my children have grown up, they’ve emulated his grace.”
“It’s the identical factor as within the modifying room,” she says. “It’s figuring out the rhythm of life, studying when you possibly can let go and having the capability to forgive your self and others, as a result of it’s vital to get again to grace as quickly as attainable.”
Brenner started work on “Avatar: The Way of Water” in 2017, on the suggestion of James Cameron’s co-editor Steve Rivkin. Due to the technical complexity of the movie, Cameron issued a warning to Brenner at the beginning. “I mentioned, ‘You’ll be ineffective to me for the primary six months,’” he remembers, “as a result of that’s how lengthy it took me and my co-editors to determine learn how to do it the primary time. But David proved me incorrect, giving me good scenes inside three months.”
Brenner ended up taking up a few of the most difficult scenes in “The Way of Water,” together with Jake and Neytiri’s raid in the course of the movie’s climax. But Brenner by no means allowed the spectacle to overhaul the storytelling.
“David fought for moments of efficiency that he thought had been vital to the character or the scene,” Cameron says. “He would remind me of little nuances of the actors’ performances so I might ensure that to incorporate them in close-ups.”
“I’m saddened he didn’t reside to see his scenes totally rendered,” Cameron continues. “But I do know he would have been proud to have created a few of the most memorable scenes in a movie that fills folks with a way of profound magnificence and hope, making them cry, and in some instances even serving to them course of their very own emotions of grief and loss.”
Dixon agrees with Cameron: “The movie exhibits what it means to have a karmic understanding of 1’s place within the universe, and learn how to reside a life in alignment with one’s values and, above all else, love.”
“He was the perfect editor there ever was,” she says. “I don’t care what anybody else says.”
