Ace Eddie Preview

The American Cinema Editor (ACE) will hand out their awards this weekend. The ACE Eddie is the right up there with the SAG ensemble for being kind of a barometer of overall Academy taste.¬† What I’ve found in looking over ACE vs. Oscar history is that the nominees for editing matter more than what film wins editing. A Best Picture winner almost always has an editing nomination. It is more rare, though, for a film to win without any writing or any acting nominations than it is for the film to be missing an editing nod.

But the Eddies can often be slightly different from the Oscars. The winner of one of the categories tends to win the Oscar for editing, but not always.  You can judge for yourselves on the charts below.

Here are the feature film nominees for the Eddie (* denotes that they are also a Best Pic nominee, ^ denotes that they are an Oscar editing nominee):

Avatar *^
Stephen Rivkin, A.C.E., John Refoua, A.C.E. &
James Cameron, A.C.E.

District 9 *^
Julian Clarke

The Hurt Locker *^
Bob Murawski & Chris Innis

Star Trek
Mary Jo Markey, A.C.E & Maryann Brandon, A.C.E.

Up in the Air *
Dana Glauberman, A.C.E.

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY OR MUSICAL):
500 Days of Summer
Alan Edward Bell

The Hangover
Debra Neil-Fisher, A.C.E.

Julie & Julia
Richard Marks, A.C.E.

A Serious Man *
Roderick Jaynes

It’s Complicated
Joe Hutshing, A.C.E. & David Moritz
BEST EDITED ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
Coraline
Christopher Murrie & Ronald Sanders

Fantastic Mr. Fox
Andrew Weisblum

UP *
Kevin Nolting

So probably the animated winner will be Up. It’s possible it could be any of them, but I suspect that the fact that Up is a Best Pic nominee gives it the edge. Musical/Comedy is a real problem. If it were me, I’d probably go for Julie & Julia as a film that is kind of notable for its editing back and forth (for better or worse). That would probably be my pick for that win. It’s either that, or you go with the Oscar rule and say that the only film with a Best Pic nod, A Serious Man, is your winner. Actually, that film had great editing.

Finally, the one that counts, as usual, is in the drama category. I really think it could be down to Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker. Either win could lend some momentum. Titanic won the Eddie and then won the Oscar in all-out sweep. Gun to my head I say The Hurt Locker. District 9 could also make a play here. The Hurt Locker has standout editing, though, and Best Picture heat. We’ll have to see how it plays out.

Why are the editors so important? Perhaps because editing is very closely aligned with directing. Unless the film stands out for its editing alone (like the Bourne film that won both categories) or was edited by an editing star (like Thelma Schoonmaker) somehow directing and editing are an essential component to a successful Best Pic winner.

I was building the editing page on the Contender Tracker and I was curious about how the editing rule applied to Oscar history back when there were ten nominees and back when they used the preferential balloting system. Did it matter if a film had an editing nod or not?

Working backwards from 1943, I discovered that it was possible for a film to win Best Picture without an editing nod, as with The Life of Emile Zola, but not possible without the other crucial nominations – directing, writing and acting.

1943 – Casablanca — Editing, writing, acting, directing
1942 – Mrs. Miniver — Editing, writing, acting, directing
1941 – How Green was My Valley – Editing, writing, acting, directing
1940 – Rebecca – Editing, writing, acting, directing
1939 – Gone with the Wind – Editing, writing, acting, directing
1938 – You Can’t Take it With You – Editing, writing, acting, directing
1937 – Life of Emile Zola – writing, acting, directing
1936 – The Great Ziegfeld – Editing, writing, acting, directing.

So, even though Up in the Air doesn’t have an editing nod, it would seem less important than if it were lacking a director, writer, or acting nod under the preferential system.

Ace Eddie Award Noms

Won ACE | Won
Oscar for editing

+ indicates also went on to win Best
Picture at the Oscars

* indicates nominated for Best Picture

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

Won ACE | Won Oscar

*Nominated for Best Picture

+Won Best Picture

-Won ACE/Oscar for editing but not nominated
for Best Pic

Check out the seven year
streak from 1990 on.