Pietro Scalia: Editing Masterclass

Pietro Scalia, the BAFTA-winning editor of films such as Gladiator, Good Will Hunting and JFK has reflected on the process of editing film as he dissected his own work.

Using clips from his films to demonstrate his approach he explored the philosophy of his craft in a special Editing Masterclass event at BAFTA.

“Editing is always about how the psychology of the viewer works. And we can manipulate that. We do it continuously”, he said.

Scalia has worked with an auspicious list of directors including Bernardo Bertolucci, Sam Raimi, Oliver Stone, Gus Van Sant and Ridley Scott, with whom he has developed a long-term working partnership. And over the years he’s become one of the industry’s highest regarded editors with credits ranging from JFK, The Quick and the Dead and Black Hawk Down to American Gangster, Gladiator and Good Will Hunting.

Through showing clips of his own films Scalia demonstrated his art. This included revealing how he resurrected a character based on recycled material after the death of Oliver Reed on the set of Gladiator, how he put together complex action scenes spread over multiple locations for Black Hawk Down, and how he feels the most effective editing tool can be to resist the temptation to make a cut.

Scalia also went on to talk about dealing with multiple formats in the cutting room, the ability of editors to manipulate the thoughts and feelings of an audience and his personal approach to the editing process.