2015 (Production)

2015-05-28 (Production)

English (Original)

Interviewee: Carol Littleton
Interviewer: Edgar Pablos

Professional production

Film editor Carol Littleton is interviewed by Edgar Pablos at the Motion Picture Editors Guild Archives in Hollywood, CA in 2015. This is a co-production with the Editors Guild and the Academy Oral History Projects. Littleton reminisces on growing up in rural Oklahoma and a bucolic lifestyle with her family. She describes moving to Los Angeles and working her way through sound and picture editing jobs. Multiple films are discussed, along with her reflections on editing, filmmaking and her involvement with the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Projects discussed range from LEGACY (1975) to A WALK IN THE WOODS (2015).

Film editor Carol Littleton is interviewed by Edgar Pablos at the Motion Picture Editors Guild Archives in Hollywood, CA on May 28, 2015. She begins with stories of her family and growing up in rural Oklahoma, being influenced by Native American culture, and enjoying an idyllic childhood in the countryside. She remarks on not watching television because they had terrible reception and the fun she and her sisters had at the Saturday matinees. She recalls studying literature and music at Cottey College for Women, and regards a study abroad trip to Paris as an eye-opening experience that led her to editing and the possibilities of work and life on a global scale. She recounts moving to Los Angeles with cinematographer John Bailey, her future husband, and getting into sound and film editing at Gray Advertising and Richard Einfeld Productions. Her first feature film editing job was LEGACY (1975), a project focused on women’s awareness which she secured through an AFI workshop. She describes working with Lee Grant on THE STRONGER (1976) and receiving advice from Hal Ashby while cutting the film. Littleton goes on to discuss working with Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz on FRENCH POSTCARDS (1979) and how they introduced her to director Lawrence Kasdan. This led to a thriving collaboration from BODY HEAT (1981) to DARLING COMPANION (2012). She addresses the importance of a relationship between the director and editor, claiming one of her main criteria in selecting a project is loyalty to a director and the strength of the script. On other collaborations, she speaks of working with Jonathan Demme, Robert Benton and Ken Kwapis. She recalls her excitement working on E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) and how floored she was to receive an Academy Award nomination for editing. She comments on the changes in the industry due to digital tools, remarking that she is happy to have learned on film but does not miss it. On her term as President of the Motion Picture Editors Guild in the late 1980s, Littleton talks about reforms to bring more flexibility and openness into the union. Serving on the Board of Governors for the Academy, she remarks on the importance of the Academy’s influence on filmmaking on an international scale and setting the standard for excellence in film. She makes an effort to hire women on her crew and speaks on her experience as a woman in the industry. On the role of an editor, she sees herself as an interpreter for the director’s vision, referring to advice Lawrence Kasdan shared with her after watching the first cut of BODY HEAT, “Thank God for editing, it makes things shorter.” This is a mantra she keeps in her cutting room and a reminder that an editor’s job is to get a film to really work.

Carol Littleton (born 1948) is a film editor and former president of the Motion Picture Editors Guild who started editing in the mid-1970s. Born in Oklahoma, she moved to Los Angeles in 1970 where her earliest jobs were in sound effects editing. She later shifted to picture editing. Her first feature film editing job was LEGACY (1975). She has frequently collaborated with directors Lawrence Kasdan (BODY HEAT, 1981; THE BIG CHILL, 1983; GRAND CANYON, 1991; WYATT EARP, 1994) and Jonathan Demme (SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA, 1987; BELOVED, 1998), as well as her cinematographer husband, John Bailey (CHINA MOON, 1994). During her term as President of the Motion Picture Editors Guild in 1988, she promoted reforms for more flexibility and balance in the editing environment which affected the industry. She has supported women in film and the inclusion of freelance editors into the union. Littleton was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing for E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982). She was a governor of the Film Editors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1999 to 2002. In 2016, she won a Career Achievement Award from the American Cinema Editors USA.

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