Peeking Between My Fingers

Carol Littleton, the great film editor who cut E.T. and The Big Chill among other movies, once said to Lawrence Kasdan, "Before me, everything is theory." Meaning: you can write whatever you want in the script, you can shoot whatever you want on the set, but until an editor starts putting pieces of pieces of film together and seeing if there are actual scenes in it, and a story, it's all wishing, praying and guessing. Which leads me to:

I just got, from my editor in L.A., a DVD of the cut-together scenes from the first three days of shooting. I've been putting off taking a look at them but it's time to act, I'm going to do it now. It's a scary moment. Is he any good as an editor? Is this movie coming together? How will I be able to tell what's him and what's what I'm doing? Well: hang on for a few minutes and we'll have some answers.

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Okay I watched it and the editor knows what he's doing. It's not too bad. I let one performance on the first day go way out of control but the character is kind of off her nut so in the context it'll work. I hope. Well, let's face it, I let her go over the top and there you are. Other than that, in terms of reaching my goal of a nice effective melodrama that will make its inteded audience happy, I'm on the way.

Or am I just saying that because I know none of you want to hear any more "oh woe is me why aren't I making The Godfather or at least Sideways" handwringing?