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EE British Academy Film Awards in 2013 – Winners Press Conference: Editing

10 February 2013
BAFTA winners and presenters in the press room backstage at the Royal Opera House for the EE British Academy Film Awards on Sun 10 Feb 2013.

Press conference interview with William Goldenberg, winner in the Editing category at the EE British Academy Film Awards in 2013.

Q.        Now please welcome the winner of tonight's BAFTA for best editing from Argo, William Goldenberg.  Congratulations.

WILLIAM GOLDENBERG:  Thank you very much.

Q.        William, how does it feel to be a BAFTA winner?

WILLIAM GOLDENBERG:  It's thrilling.  I came a long way and I'm happy.

Q.        In a surreal kind of John Williams/Steven Soderbergh episode you were up against yourself in one category.

WILLIAM GOLDENBERG:  I know, it was a very handsome problem.

Q.        Were you tempted to nobble yourself just in case you beat yourself?

WILLIAM GOLDENBERG:  There are funny things I maybe was going to say about my competition but I decided probably best not to.

Q.        Fair enough.  So Argo I imagine presented you with a great deal of editing challenges.  Can you talk about working on this movie and what those challenges were?

WILLIAM GOLDENBERG:  The biggest challenge of the movie was we have comedy, we have human drama, we have action, suspense and combining all those different tones and keeping it feeling like it's one consistent movie was the biggest challenge for I think Ben and for Chris Terrio the screenwriter, and for all of us that's what we paid attention to, keeping the movie always in the same bandwidth, always in the same -- you know, being organic to itself.

Q.        Any questions for William?

PRESS:  Congratulations.

WILLIAM GOLDENBERG:  Thank you.

PRESS:  I wonder if you could talk about your hopes for Argo going forward tonight and also at the Oscars coming up whether you hope that the film will romp to victory?

WILLIAM GOLDENBERG:  Yeah, of course I do.  I mean we've been so excited and thrilled about all the other awards it's won so far and mostly we're just excited.  Everybody seems to have really loved the movie and embraced it and people's eyes light up and you know they love it when they tell you this because they feel like you're in the room and they should.  But of course I don't expect anything but my hopes are high and this is nice.

Q.        Michael?

PRESS:  What was it like working with Ben as a relatively novice director?

WILLIAM GOLDENBERG:  I edited his first movie, Gone Baby Gone, and he had so much experience in front of the camera as an actor and he you could tell was always studying the directors and learning and learning, so when he got to direct that movie he already seemed like a seasoned director, more seasoned than some I've worked with who have done a lot of movies.  By the time he got to Argo obviously he'd done The Town and directed himself in that and gotten more and more experience so by the time -- I said Argo, I meant The Town -- by the time he got to Argo he really knew how to tell the story with the camera in a way that he didn't before and I think he would say the same thing.  Most of that came from confidence and he has really become a fine director and he's also a lot of fun to work with so it makes it double the pleasure.

Q.        What do you mean fun to work with?

WILLIAM GOLDENBERG:  He takes it really seriously.  I don't know anybody who works harder than he does.  He has a sense of humour and he knows you have a life and that you can do both, you can enjoy your life and enjoy making movies.

Q.        Congratulations once again to William Goldenberg, winner of best editing.


Watch William Goldenberg's acceptance speech and backstage interview > 


Download this transcript

PDF icon Editing Winner Press Conference Transcript in 2013