Thelma Schoonmaker: Three Oscars, Martin Scorsese, and Why She Misses Working on Silence

Thelma Schoonmaker, winner of three Oscars for editing, and long-time creative partner of Martin Scorsese, has a great interview in Crave.

When we edit, I do the first cut, but then after he’s through shooting, we cut everything else together. I mean every single thing. So we talk to each other constantly in the editing room. It’s just a give-and-take that goes on every second we’re in this room. We also talk about all kinds of other things, but it is a constant communication that goes on about the editing. I wish more people could see it, because it’s fascinating, how his mind works. A very high level. He has very high standards. And he’s very tough on himself. And it’s just incredible to be in this room. I wish everybody could see it .

Like Scorsese, she loves to spend time exploring the nature of spirituality. “I loved living in that world. A world of spirituality. Which is something you don’t see much of. And I miss it. I wish I was still working on it, frankly.” Their next film together is “The Irishman,” about aging gangsters. But she thinks they will return to “Silence”-type themes of faith and doubt in the future.