Rick Russell: Short Walk to Success

Despite his achievements, such as editing stunners like Tipping Point and The Chain and founding Final Cut, Rick Russell is a modest man who seems to be constantly surprised at his own success. He tells Simon Wakelin about moving from ads to features and how he never thought he’d get his latest gig, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

All set for a life treading the boards, Rick Russell graduated in drama from Hull University and dabbled in acting and theatre directing before taking a filmmaking course that lured him into editing. His first work in the field was as an assistant at The Film Editors in London, an editing/post company set up by editor Pamela Power in 1976 that was known as a breeding ground for new talent and had an impressive list of commercials directors as clients.

Soon afterwards Russell found himself freelancing as an editor – but work was hard to come by and he was beginning to doubt his chosen career. “Then Tony Kaye gave me my first big break,” says Russell, referring to a Royal Bank of Scotland spot he worked on with Kaye and Saatchi’s Paul Arden. “He said I should cut for a living, gave me another job and suddenly I was up and running.”

44-inch uncertainty

Russell opened Final Cut a while later and his commercials editing career took off. He also began focussing on longer format projects and in 2008 he cut Daniel Barber’s short, The Tonto Woman. “I worked with Daniel on weekends and evenings for a very long time, and we finally got it out there,” says Russell. “It went on to get an Oscar nomination for best live-action short, which was incredible, and that inspired me to hunt down even more film work.”

Malcolm Venville’s 44 Inch Chest came next and, having worked with Venville on commercials, it seemed natural to have him cut the film – but Russell admits it wasn’t a certainty. “Producers want to play safe,” says Russell. “The chance to be editor on 44 Inch Chest was really down to Steve Golin [co-producer and founder of Anonymous Content]. He famously works across commercials and film genres and trusted that I could edit it. He was a big supporter.”

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom was, says Russell, an equally surprising project to secure and saw him reunited with director Justin Chadwick, two of whose films he had edited – Sleeping with The Fishes with Ewan McGregor in 1997 and the short Boy starring Timothy Spall for the 2012 Olympics. “Justin was a young guy who went on to direct serials at the BBC,” says Russell. “I thought it was highly unlikely I’d get picked for Mandela but I ended up getting the gig. Working on a film like this is a huge undertaking. It takes an enormous amount of commitment, energy and involvement. You have to be passionate and really enjoy collaborating with the director.”

Having edited a ridiculous amount of memorable commercials over the years, I ask about working with some of the most talented directors in the business. Firstly, Tom Kuntz, “Tom is so meticulous,” he says, recalling the editing of The Chain for Axe through BBH London. “As an editor you can’t help but admire his work ethic. When everyone is happy with it, he is still going, still honing, still improving the work.” Then there was Nicolai Fuglsig who helmed Tipping Point for Guinness through AMV BBDO. “That was a mammoth job,” remembers Russell, “and Nicolai is like a general with a huge Danish personality. He loves epic work and shoots extraordinary things. He is destined for big things.”

Capturing the essence

Talking of editing stateside compared to London, Russell says it used to be that US agencies would keep directors out of the cutting room, while London directors oversaw their work to the end. Now, things have changed: “I was always working with US agencies with no director involvement, but now agencies realise the director’s value during the edit,” he says. “The UK has also seen agencies become more involved in post, so the two worlds have moved closer together.”

One of his favourite shops to work with is Venables Bell & Partners, for whom he recently cut Audi’s hilarious Release the Hounds, directed by Bryan Buckley. “It’s a fantastic agency that respects directors,” he says. “They understand the craft of getting the director’s vision down in post.”

When asked how he sees the editor’s role, Russell is quick to respond: “I think editing’s principle function is to maximise the potential of the material. You have to get the essence, immerse yourself in the work and uncover its potential.”

Russell sees vibrant times ahead for Final Cut, with editor Ben Harrex recently cutting Springsteen and I, a Ridley Scott-produced documentary about The Boss, while Eric Zumbrunnen and Jeff Buchanan have co-edited the sci-fi feature Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, for director Spike Jonze. “All the editors here aspire to work on different projects with interesting, diverse characters,” says Russell. “That’s exciting for me. I think that really enriches the company as a whole and feeds back into everyone doing the work.”