Napoleon editor Sam Restivo credit the dutiful mentoring of Claire Simpson for the way he discovered himself co-chairing the editorial duties for Ridley Scott’s newest movie. Sam first labored with Claire as her assistant editor on the TV sequence Raised By Wolves (2020). From there, Claire introduced Sam as her assistant to his first Ridley Scott function, The Last Duel (2021). He would help Claire another time for Scott’s House of Gucci (2021) earlier than getting the promotion for Napoleon.
Napoleon Plot Summary
Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is a take a look at the navy commander’s origins and his swift, ruthless climb to Emperor, seen by means of the prism of his addictive and infrequently risky relationship together with his spouse and one real love, Josephine.
In our dialogue with Napoleon editor Sam Restivo, we discuss:
- Going leisure first, historical past lesson second
- Holding off on the V.O. till the top
- How generally subtitles are simply funnier
- Turning 72, 48 and 36 frames into 24
- The Legend of Claire Simpson
Editing Napoleon
Matt Feury: There’s a sentiment within the press that this movie is just not a biography. It’s not meant to be an in depth historic account, however relatively an exploration of Napoleon as an individual and his love affair with Josephine and France. How a lot do you know about Napoleon and French historical past going into this?
Sam Restivo: I solely knew what I realized in highschool. I’m only a regular American particular person. Ridley is superior about cluing the editors in early. We get advance copies of the script. He additionally had this thirty-five-year working relationship with Claire Simpson. He’ll ship the script to her and ask, “What do you think? Do we need all these scenes?”
The factor that impacted us was, “What would the music of the time have been?” We had been already taking a look at classical needle drops earlier than the shoot. We had a number of cellphone calls with Ridley discussing varied classical composers.
MF: Since you talked about composers, composer Martin Phipps talked about how Stanley Kubrick’s movie Barry Lyndon, was a degree of reference for the tone of Napoleon. That is smart as a result of Kubrick developed Barry Lyndon out of analysis he had accomplished for a movie about Napoleon that by no means acquired off the bottom. Did Ridley offer you any references to attract from?
Sam Restivo: The North Star for us was Barry Lyndon. We all love that movie. We had been editorially leaning on its ironic humorousness. That film is way drier than ours, however Ridley didn’t thoughts, a minimum of within the preliminary assemblies, that it was pedantic and held on its pictures just a little bit longer. Once we acquired right down to refining issues, we began trimming pictures just a little bit. We simply had a lot story to inform.
MF: Do you sometimes really feel prefer it’s incumbent upon you to do a number of analysis earlier than you begin working? Or do you simply say, “This is the script I got, these are the dailies I’m getting, and that’s all I need.”
Sam Restivo: A bit of little bit of each. I did some analysis, however I didn’t learn the entire Napoleon biographies or something like that. And I knew that we weren’t doing a documentary. Once I noticed the script for the primary time and noticed the tone of what it was going to be, I believed, “No, this is all that I need” and went from there.
MF: What, if something, did Ridley say about what he needed to perform with this film?
Sam Restivo: He could be very cognizant of eager to entertain the viewers. It’s two methods. Ridley is making the movie for himself. If he’s proud of it, then that’s all that issues. And he’s earned that due to the insane quantity of expertise that he has.
“Ridley is making the film for himself. If he’s happy with it, then that’s all that matters.”
On the flip aspect, he’s additionally conscious that individuals are going to pay cash to come back to a movie show and see it. So, he was at all times encouraging us to lean into the entertaining aspect of the present. Take the battles, for instance. That’s simply Ridley Scott. That’s what he does. It’s his bread and butter. But the humor within the intimate scenes between Joaquin and Vanessa, he stated, “Let’s have this be as enjoyable as it can be.”
MF: Regardless of what you already knew about Napoleon getting into, you’re going to have viewers members who know little or no. I’ll increase my hand for that. What did you and Claire do to present the viewers some context, or a minimum of the required minimal data about this era and these folks?
Sam Restivo: The legend in the beginning was an entire factor. We spent perpetually making an attempt to determine precisely what number of traces there needs to be and the way we should always arrange the world, Marie Antoinette, and the revolution in France. We additionally wanted to let folks know that Napoleon himself was not French, that he was Corsican. That’s why that final line of, “an ambitious young Corsican Lieutenant” went in.
We had been making an attempt to not overwhelm folks with dates and settings, however we knew we needed to embrace some simply to perform the passage of time and to orient folks.
MF: There are some stuff you’re going to want to clarify to the viewers. Certain characters, for instance, are given title playing cards once they seem on display screen, however not everyone. It’s only for very particular characters. Why these characters? What form of discussions did you, Claire, and Ridley have that ultimately led you to this?
Sam Restivo: Whenever there was an essential navy advisor, they acquired a card. Junot (performed by Mark Bonnar) didn’t get one as a result of he was solely within the first a part of the film. But each Caulaincourt (Ben Miles) and Talleyrand (Paul Rys) had huge components all through the complete movie, so we needed folks to casually concentrate on them.
Talleyrand exhibits up on the very finish as a part of the Congress of Vienna. He’s one of many guys that activates Napoleon, so we needed him to have a card. We additionally didn’t give too many playing cards as a result of we didn’t need to overwhelm the viewers with too many issues.
MF: Please inform me that you simply and Claire had some form of French Revolution household tree the place you would maintain observe of all these folks. These names, titles, and roles have gotten to be overwhelming.
Sam Restivo: It was. There had been a number of historians concerned with the movie. Countless folks had been correcting the information and figures that we had been working with. Getting precisely the best title was one thing that went by means of a number of revisions. Different historians stated, “No, it would be something closer to this at the time.”
MF: During publish, would you have got check-ins with these historians the place they’d do a evaluation of your minimize?
Sam Restivo: Yes, that occurred a number of occasions. Right on the very finish, Sony had a special set of Napoleon historians are available to present us notes. We had to return and revise some titles. It was largely concerning the precise variety of useless on the finish as a result of it’s a bit open to interpretation. With a battlefield like Waterloo, it’s arduous to get the overall variety of people who died. There’s going to be completely different faculties of thought of what these numbers needs to be, for those who’re going to incorporate all sides and civilian deaths as nicely.
MF: Did any of those historians ever get too comfy and lean in and go, “Sam, the pacing right here is not doing it for me.”
Sam Restivo: No, no. Thankfully, no.
MF: There’s one other ingredient of the movie that I believe you leaned on to assist arrange context. The letters between Napoleon and Josephine serve a number of functions. They present context and so they work as transitions between scenes. Was that textual content derived from precise letters? How did you go about using these items of connective tissue?
Sam Restivo: The author, David Scarpa, referenced precise letters from Napoleon. There are a whole lot of letters from Napoleon to Josephine, however only a few letters from Josephine to Napoleon. So there was just a little little bit of determining that needed to be accomplished for her letters.
We had Joaquin file for us whereas they had been capturing, however we didn’t make use of the voice over till fairly late within the recreation. We knew it was going to come back in, however we needed to chop the scenes beforehand to see if we couldn’t do voice overs.
What we had been lacking was that further layer of understanding between the 2 of them. We additionally needed to maintain them related for these lengthy stretches of screentime. For instance, Josephine acquired a letter when Napoleon was going by means of Russia, and that was an essential factor to maintain her included.
The controversial one for us was the ultimate letter, which was learn after she died. We realized that didn’t make sense, but it surely’s a captivating factor to immediately conjure her into Napoleon’s thoughts. She was actually haunting him after her loss of life. Ultimately, we determined it was tremendous cool.
MF: I used to be undecided when that letter was purported to have been written. Did she write it earlier than he got here again from exile? Where does that letter match within the timeline?
Sam Restivo: That letter, by the way in which, is an amalgam of a wide range of completely different sources from Josephine. That one would have been written whereas he was on the way in which again from Russia.
MF: So, for the ending, it’s the sentiment of what she’s saying relatively than the context that issues.
Sam Restivo: Yes, precisely.
MF: The letters are a degree of transition between scenes. Then there’s a stylistic transition you probably did a couple of occasions. You pale as much as white. I believe you solely did it a few occasions, although.
Sam Restivo: Twice. That was a Ridley factor. He knew we had been going to have a giant explosion on the finish of the Siege of Toulon and he appreciated the concept of going full white on the market. We launched Josephine on the finish of the Reign of Terror, and he appreciated that flash to white landed on this mysterious particular person strolling by means of the streets of Paris. He cherished that picture, so we went with it.
MF: One factor individuals are listening to about is that the actors communicate of their pure accents. But you deviate from that a minimum of as soon as within the movie. There’s a scene the place Napoleon is making an attempt to construct bridges with Austria. He sends an emissary to counsel the king’s daughter ought to marry Napoleon, and that’s accomplished in Austrian with subtitles. Why?
Sam Restivo: They shot it each methods, as soon as in English and as soon as in Austrian. We simply cherished the Russian ambassador’s efficiency a lot. And the joke performed higher within the Austrian model. The cadence of the way in which they spoke to one another was funnier to us.
MF: Were there different situations that had been shot each methods?
Sam Restivo: Not actually. There was some Russian stuff with Tsar Alexander. That actor, Edouard Philipponnat, speaks Russian. But we had already put so many title playing cards and dates in that we didn’t need to additionally put a ton of subtitles. It made sense in that one occasion as a result of we had been making a joke of it. It was clearer and funnier that means.
MF: I don’t need to simply breeze previous that call to let the actors communicate of their native accents. Was it that means from day one?
Sam Restivo: We weren’t get together to the discussions that went on with that, however we do this Joaquin needed to do it that means. He didn’t need to complicate issues by making an attempt to do a French accent. He didn’t need that to be the factor that folks had been commenting on. I’m assuming that they adopted his lead for that.
MF: Two hours and thirty-eight minutes would possibly sound like an extended runtime for a movie, however when you think about that you simply’re encapsulating Napoleon’s rise and fall, that’s little or no time to inform that story. What features of this story did you wrestle with probably the most by way of getting the purpose throughout with out slowing down the tempo?
Sam Restivo: Our first assemblies of the battles had been twice as lengthy, not as a result of there have been extra story beats, there was simply extra battle. There had been extra horses and extra preventing and all that enjoyable stuff. When we had been watching early cuts of it, we felt prefer it was exhausting. We felt we would have liked to rein every battle in in order that we may heart the Napoleon and Josephine relationship. Pretty a lot all the things we shot of their relationship made it into the film.
MF: Before the movie got here out in theaters, it was introduced that there could be a four-hour director’s minimize launched on Apple TV. Does that change the method for you in any respect? How do you tackle the director’s minimize realizing that it’s going to be launched?
Sam Restivo: Two hours and thirty-eight minutes was at all times our intention for a theatrical launch of the movie. We had been at all times conscious of the general size. We determined that two and a half hours was probably the most we may pressure onto a captive viewers.
Again, there’s simply a lot historical past. The battle scenes are so intense. And the movie’s humorousness might be sudden. We needed to make it palatable for almost all of viewers members. Two hours and thirty-eight was excellent for us. Ridley was on board with that working time.
Having stated that, the screenplay that David wrote was 130 pages lengthy however there have been 239 scenes in it, which is loopy. It was such an enormous factor. So, we had a number of completely different choices editorially. There had been plenty of completely different instructions that we may go.
“We were not going to have a twenty-five-minute version of the Battle of Waterloo!”
We had been at all times going to concentrate on the connection between Napoleon and Josephine. In our first meeting of the film, we put each scene in to indicate it to Ridley. It was not even an editor’s minimize or something like that. It was a straight meeting that was 4 hours and thirty-three minutes lengthy, which was loopy discuss as a result of the film was by no means, ever going to be that lengthy. We weren’t going to have a twenty-five-minute model of the Battle of Waterloo!
When we began chopping the scenes down, we realized that perhaps we had been repeating some thematic issues or beats. We simply didn’t have to have all of that in there. But for a streaming surroundings, if this occurs, there are many further bits that folks at dwelling would possibly take pleasure in seeing in the event that they’re followers of the movie.
MF: Well, I’m trying ahead to the four-hour director’s minimize. Let’s discuss concerning the comedy of the movie. There are these comedic beats which might be simply generally ludicrous.
In one scene, Napoleon is arguing with a British normal and he shouts, “You think you’re so great because you have boats!” It acquired a giant snort from the viewers I noticed the movie with. How have you learnt when to play up the comedy and when to not?
Sam Restivo: We had been threading the needle a bit with that. Lines like that one and the lamb chop line will not be essentially anachronistic per se, however they’re very literal and really humorous. And we don’t have too many which might be like. We knew this movie wasn’t a slapstick comedy or something like that.
We knew what the script was, however when Claire and I acquired dailies, we might undergo and see what the actors had been giving us. We’re the primary viewers in that case. So, at any time when one thing amused us, we put it in to see if it may stick. Ridley was on board with that. He at all times cherished seeing if we had a barely completely different tackle how a scene may very well be performed. He likes to be shocked. Editorially, one of many methods we may do this was by chopping it to make it just a little bit extra comedic.
“He always loved seeing if we had a slightly different take on how a scene could be played.”
There’s a scene we name the ‘look down scene’, as we name it. In it, Josephine says, “Look down and you’ll see a surprise.” Claire did that scene. The first time we confirmed it to him he was in stitches. That was the primary time he stated, “This is it. This is the tone.”
It’s an attractive distinction to the presentational means that stately folks have to make use of once they go on a date. She’s saying this very lurid factor and she or he’s first additionally displaying her energy and being a seductress. Ridley simply ate it up. He thought it was hilarious.
The first time I confirmed him the minimize from the dinner scene to the intercourse on the mattress, he nearly fell out of a chair laughing. He stated, “Yeah, this is exactly the tone that we wanted.”
MF: Claire, sadly, couldn’t be a part of us as we speak. Let’s discuss the way you two divided the workload. How do you divvy up such a giant movie? How do you keep in sync as soon as the work does start?
Sam Restivo: The very first thing I ought to say about Claire Simpson, who is among the best movie editors of all time, is that her dedication to mentorship is past admirable. The editors which have come up beneath her are a few of the better of all time. I’m immensely grateful for the final 5 years of my profession.
I used to be employed on Raised by Wolves as her first assistant and we hit it off straight away. She was giving me issues to chop early on, and that blossomed into extra on The Last Duel and extra on House of Gucci. She then needed to share the duties solely on Napoleon.
The means that it really works is that we are going to sit collectively and watch the dailies from the day earlier than. Because it’s Ridley, there have been normally 9 or extra cameras working on the similar time. We would watch all 9 cameras in a cut up view on the Avid. Otherwise, we might have by no means gotten by means of all of it.
Once we watched all of the dailies, we might say, “Okay, which scene do you want?” and we’d divide it up on the day. When it got here to the sequences that took extra days, just like the battle scenes and whatnot, Claire would say, “You take Waterloo. I’m going to do Austerlitz.”
During the manufacturing part, we needed to sustain with Ridley’s breakneck tempo of capturing. They’re hurtling by means of places and units and it was incumbent upon us to be caught as much as digicam. We needed to be, or we might by no means be capable to catch up. It helped to have two editors for that alone.
During manufacturing, we might divvy up the dailies after which we might minimize away. We would present one another our cuts a couple of days later and get suggestions. Occasionally, Ridley would pop in, normally on a Saturday. He would at all times say, “Only show me when you’re ready.” We’d present him that had been accomplished early and he would say, “Yes, I love it.” and we used that to maintain going by means of the shoot.
We wanted to have the complete movie assembled to indicate Ridley by the final two manufacturing days. Ridley was going to depart instantly after the shoot, so we needed to have the complete movie assembled earlier than he left. We confirmed him the entire film and it was 4 hours and thirty-three minutes. His fundamental response was reduction. He stated, “Oh my God, there’s a movie.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t assume that he may do it, however I can solely think about that, as a filmmaker, you’re working at this breathless tempo and doing all these scenes simply hoping that it’s going to work out. He was so, so relieved and so elated that he had one thing.
Once we had the meeting accomplished, it was the 2 of us sitting collectively at one Avid. We would commerce who was driving by the day and we went from begin to end by means of the entire film. Ridley would say, “When you’re ready, I’ll come in and watch something.” That’s the way it was for the remainder of the chopping course of.
MF: It feels like he has a really relaxed strategy to working with editorial.
Sam Restivo: Yes. What’s wonderful about working with Ridley Scott is that there’s an aura about him. He is an icon and a legend. There’s no query. People consider him as a really dry British man, however he’s hilarious. He was at all times telling us jokes and retaining issues gentle within the chopping room. He’s additionally very respectful. He’s identified Claire for a very long time. Like many of the different division heads engaged on his motion pictures, we’re trusted members of the workforce. He trusts us.
Ridley additionally offers us hand-drawn storyboards, which act as a roadmap for what the film goes to be. We know the place he’s going, however he lets us run wild with it and go in no matter course that we need to.
That very first screening that we present him is at all times, for us, an important. We are displaying him what he shot, however we’re additionally making an attempt to shock him with one thing out of the field as nicely. He loves that. He’s a incredible collaborator within the chopping room and tremendous respectful and a number of enjoyable to be round.
MF: As you stated, battles are Ridley’s bread and butter. They’re simply wonderful. What is the evolution of one thing like a Waterloo or Austerlitz battle? Does it begin with animatics, storyboards, and previs? What are the weather that you simply get to start out constructing this out?
Sam Restivo: Ridley usually says that his most satisfying moments are the early days of a movie. He was already drawing the entire storyboards for Napoleon whereas we had been ending House of Gucci. He drew each single body that he knew he needed. Those storyboard references exit to each division, together with ours, as a result of he places it within the order of how he thinks the minimize would possibly go. We have that as a reference.
As far as previs, there’s not a lot. They did just a little bit for Austerlitz as a result of it was a really difficult part. But truthfully, we didn’t find yourself utilizing many of the previs within the minimize. We simply adopted his storyboards. That’s the primary factor we go off of from the start.
MF: Are the storyboards purely only a reference or do they get scanned into the Avid?
Sam Restivo: Oh, you’ve acquired to see these things. They’re known as Ridleygrams. It’s an entire actual factor. There’s an Instagram account called Ridleygrams that has most of them. They’re posting them every day.
But sure, the storyboards get scanned and now we have them within the Avid. We don’t essentially minimize with them as a result of we don’t begin chopping the sequence till we’ve acquired all of the footage. Also, Ridley will get precisely what he drew. All of these pictures confirmed up.
Ridley gave the entire heads division a really candy crew reward. It was a leather-bound ebook of all of the storyboards for Napoleon. And it’s beautiful. It’s a shocking ebook. That’s one thing he does for each single film. He attracts each body of the movie.
MF: That beats the hell out of a satin jacket. Right now, Claire is in Italy engaged on Gladiator 2. You’re engaged on it too, however you’re again right here within the States. For Napoleon, had been you on-site? Were you working from dwelling? Do you have got a desire both means for the way you prefer to work?
Sam Restivo: Normally, we observe the manufacturing wherever they’re. Amazingly, most of Napoleon was shot on location round England. Then we did three weeks in Malta on the very finish. We had been on location for all of that.
Ridley bounces between LA and the south of France. For the previous couple of exhibits, he’s needed us to be there for his director’s minimize interval, which is the official ten weeks after the top of the shoot. That’s the place the director will get to do no matter they need with the film. We spent these ten weeks within the south of France. Then we did the entire ending in London. It’s a troublesome life for certain.
MF: I need to return to the start of the movie. The first character that we meet within the movie is just not Napoleon, however Marie Antoinette. It’s an fascinating selection to not start with Napoleon himself, however one other well-known determine in French historical past. I’d prefer to get a way of the way you and Claire put that opening sequence collectively. It feels very rock and roll. I don’t know why, but it surely’s only a wild sequence.
Sam Restivo: She appears to be like like a rock star. You see, Napoleon was alive when Marie Antoinette was beheaded. Was he there? Who is aware of. We had been making extra of a thematic connection there than a historic one. Claire minimize that sequence superbly, I’d add. She was the one who heard that Edith Piaf music and needed to make use of it to set the tone of the film. It’s a captivating distinction and it makes it a slight rock-and-roll factor.
Ridley will shoot a number of gradual movement for some scenes. In that scene, he stated, “Lean into it. Have this be a raucous environment where Marie Antoinette is being defiant toward the people who are plotting to kill her.” There was a query of which scene begins the film. That scene simply made probably the most sense to us.
That’s when the French Revolution will get going. From there, we will go on to Robespierre, after which Robespierre will get his finish as nicely. And this entire time, Napoleon is taking part in it cool. He’s letting issues unfold as a result of he wasn’t essentially a royalist or an anti-royalist. He was only a soldier for the longest time, ready for his second to grab energy.
MF: On the day, a director is marshaling a literal military to create these battle sequences, however you don’t know the way it’s going to play out within the chopping room. I’ve heard you shoot a number of major beats, after which a number of normal crowd work, proper?
Sam Restivo: Correct.
MF: How do you and Claire take these components and create a cohesive battle sequence?
Sam Restivo: That was one of many largest challenges. Claire did the Siege of Toulon. That was in all probability the toughest one as a result of it was probably the most logistically difficult. On paper, it reads like, “Wait, where are these guys going? Who is shooting?” Sure, we had Ridley’s storyboards, however he’s not storyboarding what all eleven cameras shot, as a result of on the day they’re all developing with new frames and new angles.
That’s the stuff that took the longest to place collectively. We needed to strategy it like we had been simply viewers members who had been making an attempt to not get confused. We needed to take it one shot at a time. Toulon was in all probability probably the most difficult. Austerlitz was probably the most laid out. I wouldn’t say it was easy, however a minimum of it was clear about who the assorted events had been and the way we had been going to get to the top.
For Waterloo, we had very particular moments specified by a sequence to clarify how all the things occurred. It wasn’t too difficult to inform the story, it was only a problem due to how a lot story there was. There are solely so many charging horses you’ll be able to present earlier than it turns into monotonous. So it was about deciding how a lot of the battle to maintain in.
“There are only so many charging horses you can show before it becomes monotonous.”
MF: How would you evaluate these sequences to one thing just like the “look down” scene? The motion stuff generally offers an editor a spot to cover, but it surely’s trickier within the intimate scenes.
Sam Restivo: Yes, completely. The “look down” scene is an ideal instance. It exhibits why Claire is the legend that she is. Her instincts and her expertise knowledgeable that scene. She knew, “All right, we’re going to start in this beautifully composed wide shot of the two of them. Then, we are going to slowly get to the two close-ups.” She took her time with the cuts as a result of it was about creating this temper, this stress between the 2 of them and sustaining it for a couple of minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urFVsWlgS8I
The punchline is the close-up on Joaquin. That second the place he appears to be like down is such a superb piece of appearing. Claire held that till the final doable body, and it labored completely. I observe her lead on all issues like that. It’s primarily about going again to the right movie enhancing grammar and understanding the place the viewers must be at a given second. Then simply maintain it easy from there.
Don’t have too many cuts. That’s at all times the primary rule. Sometimes I might minimize a scene and I might get too enthusiastic about all of the completely different instructions I may go. These actors at all times give us so many nice moments to work with. I might present these cuts to Claire and she or he would say, “There’s too many cuts. It’s got to be simplified. It has to be the clearest version of the scene.” You’re not going to get each little factor that you really want in, however you retain the very best stuff.
“Don’t have too many cuts. That’s always the number one rule.”
MF: Let’s discuss just a little bit extra concerning the sensible issues these actors are supplying you with. There’s a scene the place Napoleon goes to go to Josephine after their divorce. He’s acquired his notorious hat on. Napoleon kisses her, his hat falls off, he places it again on his head, after which he places the hat on her head. That appeared so pure. Was that improv?
Sam Restivo: As far as we all know, sure, it was, as a result of that was a standard factor. Joaquin and Vanessa at all times persist with the script for a couple of takes, however then they prefer to let the scene breathe just a little bit. They need to keep centered on the feelings that they’re taking part in with. So, they simply get playful and let issues occur.
In that particular shot, and I truthfully didn’t discover this at first, she knocked the hat off his head. He went in to kiss her, however she put her hand up and knocked the hat off his head. That’s a part of her being playful. In the sooner intercourse scene, she knocked his hat off too, saying “Take the hat off.” Joaquin simply rolled with it and put it on her head and had a enjoyable second along with her.
MF: You did say that Ridley likes to be shocked by you and Claire within the chopping room. Is that improv particular to Joaquin and Vanessa? Or does Ridley encourage improv generally?
Sam Restivo: It will depend on the script and what sort of movie he’s making. On this one, the one improvising got here from the 2 of them. Joaquin is such an incredible performer. When you’re watching him, he’s so participating. You by no means know what’s going to occur. When Claire and I had been watching the dailies, we had been so centered on him.
There had been loads of scenes the place he caught to the script solely, however the one the place the council interrogated him about why he deserted his troops in Egypt was completely different. Joaquin improvised the take that we ended up utilizing. That’s the place he shushed them after which named the entire guys within the room. Claire and I believed, “Wow, that’s very useful. We can use that to identify the people in this scene.” And Ridley cherished it as a result of it felt genuine. It completely labored for us.
MF: You talked concerning the needle drops, which isn’t one thing I might have thought of. Score, certain, however needle drops? How do you go about doing that for one thing that takes place on this interval?
Sam Restivo: Very fastidiously. But we had a incredible music supervisor. Her identify is Kathleen Wallfisch. In our discussions with Ridley nicely earlier than the shoot, Kathleen gave us all of those wonderful choices. She’s the one who confirmed us the Edith Piaf model of the ‘Ça ira’ music.
We at all times knew it was going to be a mixture of needle drops and the composer’s music. When you’re listening to classical music, it’s very stately and measured. It appears very prim and correct, and that makes an incredible distinction when paired with Napoleon in a few of these scenes. The scenes are inherently comical by having this music in them.
That additionally occurs with the needle drop through the coup sequence. You don’t consider that piece of music as a comical piece, however when it’s performed towards these performances, it’s hilarious.
MF: It appeared such as you and Claire had been usually taking part in towards what was occurring with the music.
Sam Restivo: We had been all on board with leaning into the satire at any time when we may. From our perspective, the musical decisions did the heaviest lifting for us.
Having stated that, we knew there have been going to be moments the place we needed to have a incredible unique rating. Martin Phipps simply knocked it out of the park. He was making an attempt to mix the rating with the classical music that we had been already utilizing, but in addition give it a voice. Specifically, and this was a Ridley request, he needed it to have Corsican voices. Ridley needed to have the ability to return inside the music and keep in mind the place Napoleon got here from.
That begins in Austerlitz. We deliver within the Corsican Voices for perhaps the primary time. The music brings us again to simply this one man and the place he’s from. For us, it simply works superbly.
MF: The sound design is so essential to creating these battle scenes work. Tell me just a little bit about sound design for Napoleon. Were you working in 5.1 to assist with the Atmos facet of it?
Sam Restivo: Claire and I simply do LCR mixing. It’s easier for us editorially. A film like this has so many tracks. We have to maintain issues easy. We even have a trusted sound editorial workforce led by Oliver Tarney and James Harrison. We additionally had the grasp of sound mixing, Paul Massey and Will Miller. We knew that we had been going to be positive.
I used to be an assistant for a very long time and I needed to do tons and plenty of sound work. That’s one of many expertise that I can deliver to the desk. When we had been first displaying Ridley cuts of the film, earlier than even bringing in any of the sound editorials, we had been making it very presentational by including plenty of sound results. Design-wise, we had been deciding the place we had been going to push music and the place we had been going to push results.
Napoleon is a huge movie with huge battles. We had been at all times cognizant of not wanting it to be too huge, too quick, or too sustained. Oliver and James particularly breathed life into the battle scenes. They added little issues like repeated orders and sounds from the blokes within the subject. All that rounds out the sonic surroundings.
On the music aspect, we had a wonderful music editor named Tony Lewis. When we acquired to Waterloo, for instance, there have been various kinds of drums being performed for each the French aspect and the British aspect. That simply provides this further layer of character to the scene. All of these issues come collectively after we lastly get to the combo stage with Paul and Will. It all comes collectively superbly and turns into an actual film.
We are at all times making an attempt to construct the sound from the very starting. On Napoleon, we had a minimum of one sound editor on workers throughout manufacturing to assist us out. For the Royalists riot scene, we needed some dialog cleanup and likewise some results assist and so they had been already on board throughout manufacturing to us out. That was a incredible collaboration.
MF: When you’re enhancing a film, you begin by working off a twenty-inch display screen perhaps, and even an OLED display screen in your chopping room. But then you definitely see it displayed vast on an actual display screen. Did you discover that the film performed in another way whenever you had been watching it projected theatrically? Did it’s important to make modifications after seeing it on a giant display screen?
Sam Restivo: Yes, there’s at all times a distinction. We have a sixty-five-inch OLED 4K monitor that Ridley loves as a result of the distinction ratio is fabulous and the colours look nice. It’s not too far off from what the film goes to appear like. But we additionally watch it on the large display screen, particularly to guage visible results.
I wouldn’t say we made modifications simply because we noticed it within the theater. We had been fairly assured. But the conversion to IMAX was fascinating. That occurred very late within the recreation. We weren’t reviewing reels of it or something whereas we had been chopping. It was solely after Sony had agreed to distribute the movie that that befell. I simply acquired to look at the primary two reels of the film in IMAX two weeks in the past. IMAX is a wildly completely different expertise. It is tremendous cool. It’s so immersive and the sound is so overwhelming. I can’t wait to go see it like that. I encourage everybody I do know to go see an IMAX.
MF: In normal, do you prefer to edit with audio in place or do you want to chop the scene visually after which work with the audio?
Sam Restivo: I minimize with the audio. It’s at all times just a little bit difficult. It will depend on the scene although. These battle scenes are all shot at completely different body charges. Our assistant editors, led by first assistant Danielle El-Hendi, get all the things to 24fps and sync it with the audio that means. Then we will at all times match again to the slower body charge stuff.
We at all times have the sound out there until they went MOS (no sound), which wasn’t usually. I normally minimize with the sound. Claire would possibly do extra stuff with out, however I don’t recall how that labored there.
MF: So you talked about Claire mentoring you and also you simply introduced up your assistant crew. You additionally talked about that sound work was a giant a part of what you probably did as an assistant. What do you want or search for in an assistant?
Sam Restivo: Organization is the primary factor. I’m a fastidious particular person and don’t like having too many bins, or too many folders. I would like the timeline tracks organized correctly the place dialog is in a single by means of 4, mono results are in 5 by means of eight, stereo results in 9 to 14, after which music after that. Organization is a giant factor. Having sound expertise is a plus, however that’s one thing I realized on the job. Honestly, I didn’t simply have that naturally. That acquired drilled into me by earlier editors that I work with.
“Organization is the number one thing.”
We had among the best visible results editors, Michael Cheung. He was nice about doing fast comps. Ridley is at all times out there to see issues earlier than they’re full visually, but it surely at all times helps to have it temped out as rapidly as doable. I additionally knew tips on how to do some compositing after I was an assistant. It was simply fast stuff utilizing the Avid, not essentially After Effects or another packages. Avid has completely positive instruments for that. I survived by simply doing fast comps utilizing Avid.
MF: Unfortunately, Claire couldn’t be a part of us as we speak as a result of she’s over in Italy. She’s accomplished Wall Street, she received an Oscar for Platoon and was nominated for The Constant Gardener. Then, after all, there’s all of the movies that she’s accomplished with Ridley Scott. Which one do you ask her about probably the most, Platoon or C.H.U.D., her first function?
Sam Restivo: I at all times ask her about all the things. But the chopping room she ran on Wall Street is unbelievable. It was Claire Simpson, ACE, Joe Hutshing, ACE Pietro Scalia, ACE, David Brenner, ACE, Julie Monroe, ACE, and Mark Livolsi, ACE. All of these individuals are absolute legends. Before I labored with Claire, I labored with Joe Hutsing on a number of movies. He’s one other incredible mentor to me.
Claire can be such a particular particular person and such a particular editor. She needs to deliver you into the method with open arms. She could be very supportive. I wouldn’t have this chance if it wasn’t for her championing me and telling Ridley that she needed to share credit score with me.
All the Money within the World is one other fascinating one. They needed to substitute Kevin Spacey. They had been fully accomplished and so they needed to deliver everyone again collectively and make it occur very quickly. And Christopher Plummer acquired an Academy Award nomination for his efficiency.
Something else about Claire, the quantity of actors that she has edited to Academy Award nominations and wins is staggering. Kate Winslet, The Reader. Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener. Michael Douglas in Wall Street. I believe actors are very fortunate when she is the editor as a result of it’s in all probability going to prove nicely for them.
MF: Sam, be sincere with me. Do you assume she bailed out as a result of she thought I used to be going to deliver up C.H.U.D.”
Sam Restivo: No, she loves C.H.U.D. It’s a hilarious, incredible film. That was her first film and she or he had a blast doing that.
MF: All proper. You inform her that I need to discuss that one sometime.
Sam Restivo: I’ll. I’ll.
