Hollywood’s craft Guilds are always the best indicator of which films, finally, are really in the Oscar race, and the editors guild is no exception. The ACE Eddie Awards boast two categories, dramatic and musical/comedy, and this year they have a a tie, so their top eleven picks show where the Oscar Best Picture race is heading. The final five Oscar Best Editing nominees usually contain the eventual Best Picture winner.
The surprises: Clint Eastwood’s Christmas hit “American Sniper” and thrillers “Gone Girl” and “Nightcrawler” made the cut in drama, along with usual prestige suspects “Boyhood,” “The Imitation Game” and “Whiplash.” (We can assume that SAG, Critics Choice and Golden Globe award nominees Benedict Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal’s chances at landing Best Actor slots are strong, and that Bradley Cooper now has an outside shot.)
Displaying some weakness, then, are blockbuster “Interstellar,” as well as four real-life dramas: Christmas hits “Unbroken” and “Selma,” dark murder mystery “Foxcatcher” (which has failed to take off at the box office or with year-end critics’ groups) and popular Stephen Hawking biopic “The Theory of Everything.” That film and “Selma” are the most likely to persevere into Best Picture Oscar contention, with strong support from the Academy actors branch.
On the musical/comedy side, we can expect Fox Searchlight’s “Birdman” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” to advance to multiple nominations including Best Picture, and popular Christmas hit “Into the Woods” has an outside shot at some Oscar recognition as well.
The editors’ animation trio are expected to land Oscar nominations in that category; left out are “How to Train Your Dragon 2” and “The Tale of Princess Kaguya,” which should advance as well but may not be picks for the win.
“Citizen Four” continues to be a strong documentary contender out of the top 15 on the Oscar shortlist, which did not include “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me.”
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC): TIE!
American Sniper
Joel Cox, ACE & Gary Roach, ACE
Boyhood
Sandra Adair, ACE
Gone Girl
Kirk Baxter, ACE
The Imitation Game
William Goldenberg, ACE
Nightcrawler
John Gilroy, ACE
Whiplash
Tom Cross
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY OR MUSICAL):
Birdman
Douglas Crise & Stephen Mirrione, ACE
Guardians of the Galaxy
Fred Raskin, Hughes Winborne, ACE & Craig Wood, ACE
Into the Woods
Wyatt Smith
Inherent Vice
Leslie Jones, ACE
Grand Budapest Hotel
Barney Pilling
BEST EDITED ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
Big Hero 6
Tim Mertens
The Boxtrolls
Edie Ichioka, ACE
Lego Movie
David Burrows & Chris McKay
BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE):
Citizenfour
Mathilde Bonnefoy
Finding Vivian Maier
Aaron Wickenden
Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
Elisa Bonora
BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (TELEVISION):
Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey: Standing Up in the Milky Way
John Duffy, ACE, Michael O’Halloran, Eric Lea
Pauly Shore Stands Alone
Troy Takaki, ACE & Joey Vigour
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History: Episode 3 / The Fire of Life|
Erik Ewers
BEST EDITED HALF-HOUR SERIES FOR TELEVISION:
Silicon Valley: “Optimal Tip to Tip Efficiency”
Brian Merken & Tim Roche
Veep: “Special Relationship”
Anthony Boys
Transparent: Pilot
Catherine Haight
BEST EDITED ONE-HOUR SERIES FOR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION:
24: “10pm to 11am”
Scott Powell, ACE
Mad Men: “Waterloo”
Christopher Gay
Madam Secretary: “Pilot”
Elena Maganini, ACE & Michael Ornstein, ACE
Sherlock: “His Last Vow”
Yan Miles
The Good Wife: “A Few Words”
Scott Vickrey, ACE
BEST EDITED ONE-HOUR SERIES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION:
True Detective: “Who Goes There”
Affonso Goncalves
True Detective: “The Secret Fate of All Life”
Alex Hall
House of Cards: “Chapter 14”
Byron Smith
BEST EDITED MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE FOR TELEVISION:
Fargo “Buridan’s Ass”
Regis Kimble
Olive Kitteridge: “A Different Road”
Jeffrey M. Werner, ACE
The Normal Heart
Adam Penn
BEST EDITED NON-SCRIPTED SERIES:
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown: “Iran”
Hunter Gross
Deadliest Catch: “Lost At Sea”
Josh Earl, ACE & Johnny Bishop
Vice: “Greenland is Melting & Bonded Labor”
Joe Langford & Nick Carew
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
