Lee Smith (editor)
Encyclopedia
Lee Smith is an ACE
-certified Australian film editor. He began his career as a sound editor/sound designer for films such as Dead Calm
(1989), The Piano
(1993) (for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Sound
), The Portrait of a Lady
(1996) and Holy Smoke!
(1999). Smith was also editing films during this interval; he was one of the editors for Robocop 2
(1990).
He began his notable collaboration with director Peter Weir
on the 1982 film The Year of Living Dangerously
, on which he was an associate editor working with Weir's longtime editor William M. Anderson
. He was credited as a co-editor with Anderson for Fearless
(1993) and for The Truman Show
(1998). He was the sole editor for Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
(2003), for which Smith was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing
and for an "Eddie Award" from the American Cinema Editors
.
More recently, Smith has edited four films with director Christopher Nolan
. He was nominated for a second Academy Award
and American Cinema Editors
Award for The Dark Knight
(2008). In 2010, he received another nomination for the American Cinema Editors
Award for his editing work on Inception
. He however was not nominated for an Oscar.
American Cinema Editors
Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
-certified Australian film editor. He began his career as a sound editor/sound designer for films such as Dead Calm
Dead Calm (film)
Dead Calm is a 1989 thriller film starring Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. It was based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Williams...
(1989), The Piano
The Piano
The Piano is a 1993 New Zealand drama film about a mute pianist and her daughter, set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier backwater on the west coast of New Zealand. The film was written and directed by Jane Campion, and stars Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin...
(1993) (for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Sound
BAFTA Award for Best Sound
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Sound has been presented to its winners since 1968 and sound designers of all nationalities are eligible to receive the award.-Winners 1968-present:...
), The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady (film)
The Portrait of a Lady is a 1996 film adaptation of Henry James's novel The Portrait of a Lady directed by Jane Campion.The film stars Nicole Kidman, Barbara Hershey, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Martin Donovan, Shelley Duvall, Richard E...
(1996) and Holy Smoke!
Holy Smoke!
Holy Smoke! is a 1999 Australian drama film directed by Jane Campion, who co-wrote the screenplay with her sister Anna. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was shown at the New York Film Festival and the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival before being released theatrically.-Plot...
(1999). Smith was also editing films during this interval; he was one of the editors for Robocop 2
RoboCop 2
RoboCop 2 is a 1990 science fiction action film directed by Irvin Kershner and starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Belinda Bayer, Tom Noonan and Gabriel Damon. Set in the near future in a dystopian metropolitan Detroit, Michigan...
(1990).
He began his notable collaboration with director Peter Weir
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office...
on the 1982 film The Year of Living Dangerously
The Year of Living Dangerously
The Year of Living Dangerously is a 1982 Peter Weir film adapted from the novel The Year of Living Dangerously by the author Christopher Koch. The story is about a love affair set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno...
, on which he was an associate editor working with Weir's longtime editor William M. Anderson
William M. Anderson
William M. Anderson is an Irish film editor who was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Editing for the film Dead Poets Society...
. He was credited as a co-editor with Anderson for Fearless
Fearless (1993 film)
Fearless is a 1993 film directed by Peter Weir and written by Rafael Yglesias from his novel of the same name. It was shot entirely in California....
(1993) and for The Truman Show
The Truman Show
The Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone...
(1998). He was the sole editor for Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir, starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin and released by 20th Century Fox, Miramax Films and Universal Studios...
(2003), for which Smith was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing
Academy Award for Film Editing
The Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
and for an "Eddie Award" from the American Cinema Editors
American Cinema Editors
Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
.
More recently, Smith has edited four films with director Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Jonathan James Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer.He received serious notice after his second feature Memento , which he wrote and directed based on a story idea by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Jonathan went to co-write later scripts with him,...
. He was nominated for a second Academy Award
Academy Award for Film Editing
The Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
and American Cinema Editors
American Cinema Editors
Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
Award for The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
(2008). In 2010, he received another nomination for the American Cinema Editors
American Cinema Editors
Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
Award for his editing work on Inception
Inception
Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...
. He however was not nominated for an Oscar.
Film editor
Based on the Internet Movie Database. The director and any co-editors for each film are indicated in parentheses.- Dead End Drive-InDead End Drive-InDead End Drive-In is a 1986 Australian New Wave film about a teenage couple trapped in a drive-in theater which is really a concentration camp for societal rejects. The inmates, many of whom sport punk fashion, are fed a steady diet of junk food, New Wave music, drugs, and bad movies.The film was...
(Trenchard-SmithBrian Trenchard-SmithBrian Trenchard-Smith is an English film and television director, producer, writer, consultant and actor who is notable for his contributions to the horror and action genre during the 1970s and 1980s in Australia. Most of his work has been in television, and the majority of his films have been...
-1986; with Alan Lake) - Howling IIIHowling IIIHowling III is a 1987 Australian horror sequel to The Howling, directed by Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch director Philippe Mora and filmed on location in and outside Sydney, Australia...
(MoraPhilippe MoraPhilippe Mora is a French-born Australian film director. Born in 1949 to a German Jewish father and a French Jewish mother, he began making films while still a child.- Career :...
-1987) - CommunionCommunion (1989 film)Communion is a 1989 drama/thriller film based on the book of the same name by Whitley Strieber. Starring Christopher Walken and Frances Sternhagen, it tells a story of a family that experiences the extraterrestrial phenomenon while on vacation at a remote vacation home in the wilderness...
(Mora-1989) - Blinky BillBlinky Bill (film)Blinky Bill is a 1992 animated movie animated by Sydney-based Yoham Gross Films Studios. It was released in Australia on 17 September 1992.-Plot:...
(GrossYoram GrossYoram Gross is an Australian producer of children’s and family entertainment. The company is best known for producing Blinky Bill and Dot and the Kangaroo.- History :...
-1992; with G. Y. Jerzy) - Turtle BeachTurtle Beach (film)Turtle Beach is a 1992 Australian film directed by Stephen Wallace and starring Greta Scacchi and Joan Chen. The screenplay was written by Ann Turner, based on the novel of the same name by Blanche d'Alpuget...
(Wallace-1992) - RoboCop 2RoboCop 2RoboCop 2 is a 1990 science fiction action film directed by Irvin Kershner and starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Belinda Bayer, Tom Noonan and Gabriel Damon. Set in the near future in a dystopian metropolitan Detroit, Michigan...
(KershnerIrvin KershnerIrvin Kershner was an American film director and occasional actor, best known for directing quirky, independent films early in his career, and then Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. -Background:...
-1990; with Armen Minasian, Julie Offer, and Deborah Zeitman) - FearlessFearless (1993 film)Fearless is a 1993 film directed by Peter Weir and written by Rafael Yglesias from his novel of the same name. It was shot entirely in California....
(WeirPeter WeirPeter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office...
-1993; with William M. AndersonWilliam M. AndersonWilliam M. Anderson is an Irish film editor who was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Editing for the film Dead Poets Society...
and Armen Minasian) - The Truman ShowThe Truman ShowThe Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone...
(Weir-1998; with William M. Anderson) - Two Hands (JordanGregor JordanGregor Jordan is an Australian film director.Jordan's films include Two Hands , Buffalo Soldiers , and Ned Kelly . He has also directed the concert video These Days: Live in Concert by Australian rock band Powderfinger.His film Two Hands won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Direction...
-1999) - Risk (White-2000)
- Buffalo Soldiers (Jordan-2001)
- Black and WhiteBlack and White (2002 film)Black and White is a 2002 Australian film, directed by Craig Lahiff and starring Robert Carlyle, Charles Dance, Kerry Fox, David Ngoombujarra, and Colin Friels.Louis Nowra wrote the screenplay and Helen Leake and Nik Powell produced the film...
(Lahiff-2002) - The Rage in Placid LakeThe Rage In Placid LakeThe Rage in Placid Lake is a 2003 Australian film starring Ben Lee and Rose Byrne. It features Placid Lake , a seventeen-year-old boy who has led a suburban hippie life with his neurotic, free loving parents...
(McNamara-2003) - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir, starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin and released by 20th Century Fox, Miramax Films and Universal Studios...
(Weir-2003) (nominated for Academy Award for Film Editing) - Batman BeginsBatman BeginsBatman Begins is a 2005 American superhero action film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson,...
(NolanChristopher NolanChristopher Jonathan James Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer.He received serious notice after his second feature Memento , which he wrote and directed based on a story idea by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Jonathan went to co-write later scripts with him,...
-2005) - The PrestigeThe Prestige (film)The Prestige is a 2006 mystery thriller film written, directed and co-produced by Christopher Nolan, with a screenplay adapted from Christopher Priest's 1995 novel of the same name. The story follows Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, rival stage magicians in London at the end of the 19th century...
(Nolan-2006) - The Dark KnightThe Dark Knight (film)The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
(Nolan-2008) (nominated for Academy Award for Film Editing) - The Way BackThe Way BackThe Way Back is a 2010 drama film about a group of prisoners who escape from a Siberian Gulag camp during World War II. The film is directed by Peter Weir from a screenplay also by Weir and Keith Clarke, inspired by The Long Walk , a book by Sławomir Rawicz, a Polish POW in the Soviet Gulag. It...
(Weir-2010) - InceptionInceptionInception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...
(Nolan-20102010 in filmThe year 2010 saw many new films released worldwide. 2010 saw a dramatic increase and prominence in the use of 3D-technology in filmmaking and film releases after the success of Avatar in the format, with releases such as Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Jackass 3D, all animated films and...
) - X-Men: First ClassX-Men: First ClassX-Men: First Class is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics starring the X-Men.-Publication history:The original series was an eight-issue limited series. It began in September 2006 and ended in April 2007. It was written by Jeff Parker and penciled by Roger Cruz...
(Vaughn-20112011 in filmThe year 2011 is notable for containing the release of the most film sequels in a single year, at 27 sequels. The following tables list films that are in production or have completed production and will be released in the United States and Canada at some point in 2011.- Highest-grossing films :...
)
Sound designer or editor
- Green CardGreen Card (film)Green Card is a 1990 romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by Peter Weir and starring Gérard Depardieu and Andie MacDowell. The screenplay focuses on an American woman who enters into a marriage of convenience with a Frenchman so he can obtain a green card and remain in the United...
(1990) - FearlessFearless (1993 film)Fearless is a 1993 film directed by Peter Weir and written by Rafael Yglesias from his novel of the same name. It was shot entirely in California....
(1993) - The PianoThe PianoThe Piano is a 1993 New Zealand drama film about a mute pianist and her daughter, set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier backwater on the west coast of New Zealand. The film was written and directed by Jane Campion, and stars Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin...
(1993) - The Portrait of a LadyThe Portrait of a Lady (film)The Portrait of a Lady is a 1996 film adaptation of Henry James's novel The Portrait of a Lady directed by Jane Campion.The film stars Nicole Kidman, Barbara Hershey, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Martin Donovan, Shelley Duvall, Richard E...
(1996) - The Truman ShowThe Truman ShowThe Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone...
(1998)