John Gilbert

John Gilbert’s versatility as an editor is evident in the characters he's helped create on screen — among them gormless farmers, ageing motorcyclists, twin Danielle Cormacks, and an oddball amnesiac (The Lounge Bar). Long fascinated by how stories are constructed, Gilbert believes that story and character are the backbone of good editing.

Gilbert began his career in the 70s, in documentary and news. His first editing award was for a 1988 TV documentary on aviator Jean Batten. A rise in drama work soon saw him drifting increasingly towards feature films; since then he has won awards for comedy Via Satellite and local hit The World’s Fastest Indian, a BAFTA for Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, and an Oscar nomination for The Fellowship of the Ring. 

Raised in Peter Jackson’s childhood stomping ground of Pukerua Bay, then Wellington, John Gilbert got his first taste of filmmaking during a university holiday. Six months at government filmmakers the National Film Unit reset his flight path, and he never went back to finish a History and Anthropology degree. In the late 70s, he joined TV One as a trainee, doing time in various departments: he soon realised that the editing suite was his favourite. 

Although Gilbert helped out on cutting some of the dramas being made by state TV legends like Tony Isaac, he was spending far more time editing news and current affairs. With the independent film industry taking off, he left TV One in the 80s and later joined Wellington company Mr Chopper, run by ex TVNZ editors Jamie Selkirk and Simon Reece. Gilbert worked on the sound edits for features The Lost Tribe and The Silent One, and got valuable editing experience on everything from documentaries (John A Lee, Miles Turns 21), to corporate work and music videos. By the time he won his first editing award for Jean Batten - The Garbo of the Skies in 1989, drama was starting to dominate his CV. His first feature, Alison Maclean’s twisted drama Crush, was invited to compete at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. 

More dramas followed that decade, mostly for television: Duggan, Cover Story, which went behind the scenes on a current affairs show, award-winning Dean Parker teleplay Share the Dream and mini-series The Chosen — plus little seen Anna Campion feature Loaded (for which Gilbert was nominated for a New Zealand Film Award). In 1999 he made it back to the awards podium for Anthony McCarten movie Via Satellite, after helping craft the illusion that actor Danielle Cormack could be both a champion swimmer, and her dissatisfied twin sister.

By now Gilbert had been converted to the Avid digital editing system. His avid enthusiasm infected director Peter Jackson, and Gilbert was invited to help edit the plethora of digital effects for The Frighteners. The time savings offered by no longer having to do the entire edit on film encouraged Jackson to join the stampede to digital editing. 

Jackson then invited Gilbert to edit King Kong. “But that fell over, and Lord Of The Rings came up instead. He asked me to do that, which was pretty exciting.” The first Rings film saw Gilbert nominated for a BAFTA and an Academy Award, plus at least another six gongs around the globe.

Despite offers to work on some big projects overseas, Gilbert chose to stay in Wellington and try his luck as a producer. Gilbert had worked often with director Mike Smith; now they formed company Big House, where they managed a short film scheme (one of the films they oversaw, Turangawaewae, was invited to Cannes in 2003). The two also developed their own short, Willy Nilly, the tale of two dim farmers getting over their mother. It spawned a hit comedy series which ran three seasons. The pair's other creation was series The Lost Children, in which three Pākehā children and a young Māori slave try to survive in 1860s era Aotearoa. But time as a producer reminded Gilbert that editing was where he belonged.  So did the success of man and motorcycle hit The World’s Fastest Indian.

Gilbert went on to cut locally-shot fantasy Bridge to Terabithia, and two ensemble dramas: Show of Hands  — involving a group united by the car they're holding onto — and Matariki — eight characters united by one tragic moment. 

Since 2010, Gilbert has been editing largely outside of New Zealand. After travelling to England for Roger Donaldson heist film The Bank Job, Gilbert met with Bank Job star Jason Statham. He has gone on to edit further Statham movies, even directing sections of the rooftop climax for 2011 crime movie Blitz. 

The Bank Job aside, many of Gilbert’s foreign gigs flew under the radar, although 2012 biopic Chasing Mavericks won praise for the “magisterial grandeur” of its surfing sequences. Then came Hacksaw Ridge, which saw Gilbert lining up for at least a dozen international editing awards. The Mel Gibson-directed drama follows a conscientious objector into frenetic battles during WWll. Hacksaw began winning positive audience responses before the edit was even complete.

At the 2017 BAFTA awards ceremony, Gilbert was unable to pick up his award for Best Editor — he was doing 13 hour days in Los Angeles cutting The Professor and the Madman, which stars Mel Gibson and Sean Penn. Fortunately he was able to make it to the 2017 Academy Awards to pick up his first Oscar, for Best Editing, in person.

 

Sources include
John Gilbert
'Mike Smith: On directing drama and passing on Russell Crowe' (Video interview with Mike Smith) NZ On Screen website. Director Ian Pryor. Loaded 28 April 2014. Accessed 14 February 2017
Steve Hullfish, 'ART OF THE CUT WITH JOHN GILBERT ON EDITING HACKSAW RIDGE'  (Interview) ProVideo Coalition website. Loaded 3 November 2016. Accessed 14 February 2017
Ryan Lambie, ‘John Gilbert interview: Blitz, Jason Statham, Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson and more‘ (Interview) Den of Geeks website. Loaded 19 May 2011. Accessed 14 February 2017
Drew Taylor, 'Review: 'Chasing Mavericks Drowns Under a Crushing Wave of Moroseness & Melodrama' IndieWire website. Loaded 25 October 2012. Accessed 14 February 2017