Paul Hirsch (film editor)

Paul Hirsch
Born	Paul Frederick Hirsch (1945-11-14) November 14, 1945 (age 79) New York City, U.S.
Education	Columbia University (BA)
Occupation	Film editor
Years active	1970–present
Movement	New Hollywood
Father	Joseph Hirsch
Awards	Academy Award for Best Editing, Saturn Award for Best Editing, ACE Eddie Award for Best Edited Feature Film
Honours	Camerimage Award to an Editor with Unique Visual Sensitivity

Paul Frederick Hirsch (born November 14, 1945) is an American film editor^[1] with over 40 film credits since 1970, best known as one of the premier filmmakers to come out of the New Hollywood movement,^[2] collaborating with directors like Brian De Palma,^[3] George Lucas, George A. Romero, and Herbert Ross. He won an Academy Award and Saturn Award for his work on the original Star Wars, which he shared with Richard Chew and Marcia Lucas.

Life and career

A native of New York City, and son of painter Joseph Hirsch. His father was of German-Jewish descent.^[4] After graduating from Columbia in 1966,^[5] he began to pursue a career in editing. In the late 1960s, while editing trailers in NYC, he was introduced by his brother, Charles, to then unknown filmmaker Brian De Palma. Their collaboration has yielded eleven feature films. ^[6]

In 1978, he won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for his work on Star Wars, along with Richard Chew and Marcia Lucas. He was also the first person to win the Saturn Award for Best Editing twice, first for Star Wars in 1977 and then Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol in 2011.

He has edited over 35 feature films, including The Empire Strikes Back,^[1] Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Mission: Impossible, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Footloose, Carrie, Falling Down, Phantom of the Paradise, Obsession, Blow Out, The Secret of My Success, Steel Magnolias and Ray, for which he received a second Academy Award nomination in 2005 and the American Cinema Editors' award for Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy or Musical). He has also worked with Duncan Jones on Source Code and Warcraft.

Hirsch rarely watches movies other than his own more than once. However, he cites that the musical An American in Paris and the science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey are worthy of repeat viewing.^[7]

Filmography

As film editor

Year	Film	Director	Notes
1970	Hi, Mom!	Brian De Palma
1972	Sisters
1974	Phantom of the Paradise
1976	Carrie
	Obsession
1977	Star Wars	George Lucas	Co-editor with Marcia Lucas & Richard Chew Academy Award for Best Film Editing Saturn Award for Best Editing Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Editing Nominated—ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film
1978	King of the Gypsies	Frank Pierson
	The Fury	Brian De Palma
1980	The Empire Strikes Back	Irvin Kershner
1981	Blow Out	Brian De Palma
1982	Creepshow	George A. Romero	Segment: "The Crate"
1983	The Black Stallion Returns	Robert Dalva
1984	Footloose	Herbert Ross
1986	Ferris Bueller's Day Off	John Hughes
1987	Planes, Trains and Automobiles
	The Secret of My Success	Herbert Ross
1989	Steel Magnolias
1990	Coupe de Ville	Joe Roth
1991	Dutch	Peter Faiman	Co-editor with Adam Bernardi & Rick Shaine
1992	Raising Cain	Brian De Palma	Co-editor with Robert Dalva & Bonnie Koehler
1993	Falling Down	Joel Schumacher
	Wrestling Ernest Hemingway	Randa Haines
1994	I Love Trouble	Charles Shyer	Co-editor with Adam Bernardi & Walter Murch
1996	Mission: Impossible	Brian De Palma	Nominated—Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Editing Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Editing
1998	Hard Rain	Mikael Salomon	Co-edited with Amnon David and Gillian L. Hutshing
	Mighty Joe Young	Ron Underwood
1999	Lake Placid	Steve Miner	Co-edited with Marshall Harvey
2000	Mission to Mars	Brian De Palma
2002	The Adventures of Pluto Nash	Ron Underwood	Co-edited with Alan Heim
2003	The Fighting Temptations	Jonathan Lynn
2004	Ray	Taylor Hackford	ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature film – Comedy or Musical Nominated—Academy Award for Best Film Editing
2006	Date Movie	Aaron Seltzer
	Deck the Halls	John Whitesell
2008	Righteous Kill	Jon Avnet
2010	Love Ranch	Taylor Hackford
2011	Source Code	Duncan Jones
	Dylan Dog: Dead of Night	Kevin Munroe
	Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol	Brad Bird	Saturn Award for Best Editing
2016	Warcraft	Duncan Jones
2017	The Mummy	Alex Kurtzman	Co-editor with Gina Hirsch & Andrew Mondshein

As additional editor

Year	Film	Director	Editor(s)	Notes
1979	Home Movies	Brian De Palma	Corky O'Hara
1986	The Clan of the Cave Bear	Michael Chapman	Wendy Greene Bricmont
2002	Extreme Ops	Christian Duguay	Clive Barrett Sylvain Lebel
2007	Lions for Lambs	Robert Redford	Joe Hutshing
2012	Life of Pi	Ang Lee	Tim Squyres	Uncredited
2013	The Great Gatsby	Baz Luhrmann	Jason Ballantine Jonathan Redmond Matt Villa
	World War Z	Marc Forster	Roger Barton Matt Chessé
2018	The Nutcracker and the Four Realms	Lasse Hallström Joe Johnston	Stuart Levy

References

1. "Paul Hirsch". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22.
2. "Paul Hirsch (Editor) – Star Wars Interviews". www.starwarsinterviews.com. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
3. "Paul Hirsch on 'Blow Out' – CineMontage". CineMontage. 2014-09-01. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
4. Paul Cummings, Oral History Interview with Joseph Hirsh, (Archives of American Art, November 13 & December 2, 1970).
5. ""Oh, Who Owns Paree?"". Columbia College Today. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
6. John Castagno, Jewish Artists: Signatures and Monograms (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), p. 209.
7. "The Movie I've Seen the Most". Slate. 2006.

External links

• Paul Hirsch at IMDb