{"id":163092,"date":"2025-12-12T08:30:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=163092"},"modified":"2025-12-12T09:12:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T14:12:14","slug":"happy-birthday-anne-v-coates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=163092","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019ve never looked at myself as a woman in the business. I\u2019ve just looked at myself as an editor.\u201d &#8212; Anne V. Coates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/810928e707fbc5d1cb8accfdba5a22d3_XL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"918\" height=\"516\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-137197\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/810928e707fbc5d1cb8accfdba5a22d3_XL.jpg 918w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/810928e707fbc5d1cb8accfdba5a22d3_XL-100x56.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/810928e707fbc5d1cb8accfdba5a22d3_XL-200x112.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/810928e707fbc5d1cb8accfdba5a22d3_XL-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/810928e707fbc5d1cb8accfdba5a22d3_XL-400x225.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 918px) 100vw, 918px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s Anne V. Coates&#8217; birthday today. <\/p>\n<p>One of the honors of my career thus far was being asked to write the narration (read by Diane Lane) for the tribute reel played at Anne Coates&#8217; Lifetime Achievement Oscar ceremony in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>From <i>Lawrence of Arabia<\/i> to <i>50 Shades of Grey<\/i> is a hell of a run. (When asked what she thought of 50 SHADES, she said, &#8220;I think it could have been a bit more raunchy.&#8221;) <\/p>\n<p>Anne Coates was responsible for one of the most famous cuts in cinema history &#8211; which mainly came about because they didn&#8217;t have the right technology on site to create the intended dissolve. But when director David Lean and Coates saw the cut, they thought: &#8220;Is there any reason we CAN&#8217;T just leave as is?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/source-2.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"231\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-164064\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\nAnd then, AFTER that famous cut, comes an equally famous dissolve, from the sun rise to the dunes: <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0ccB1KTzr9o\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nDavid Lean, who himself started as an editor, said that Anne Coates was the only editor he worked with where he saw her first pass on a sequence and didn&#8217;t want to change anything because it was how he would have done it.<\/p>\n<p>In my humble opinion, her editing of the romantic sequence in <i>Out of Sight<\/i> is a masterpiece. Sexual tension made manifest. The tension is in the performances for sure, but the cutting helps it land. Because, as you notice, there&#8217;s no sex. But it is as sexy as it gets, due to how they cut, and use flash-forwards to see where the characters are going. There was a lot of discussion between Coates and Soderbergh on putting together this sequence.<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3qxH0R_k3zI\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nWatch this clip here of <i>The Elephant Man<\/i>. Watch for what comes at around the 1:30 mark.<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gADayU4DP9U\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nThere are a couple of things that are so masterful here. We get glimpses of the &#8220;elephant man&#8221; but it is in that excruciatingly slow push-in to Hopkins&#8217; face where the empathy is born. (This is also masterful because Hopkins&#8217; one trembling tear falls just as the camera gets at its closest vantage point. Genius.) Stella Adler always used to say (and it&#8217;s a difficult thought, people resist it): &#8220;Talent is in the choice.&#8221; I think there&#8217;s a lot of truth in it. True talent is revealed in the choices an artist makes. This is an amazing choice. She said repeatedly that so much of her work came from an actor&#8217;s performance. Good actors create a rhythm &#8211; the rhythm is already present. She was known as an actor&#8217;s editor. She didn&#8217;t make unnecessary cuts. She was about the performance. And so here, with Hopkins &#8211; there was not only no need to cut back and forth between the elephant man and Hopkins&#8217; face &#8211; such cutting would ruin what was happening in Hopkins&#8217; performance. <\/p>\n<p>Coates&#8217; work is so legendary and so respected, Scorsese cast her as an editor in THE AVIATOR, briefly seen going through a mountain of film, wearing a teal-green\/silver dress.<\/p>\n<p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/tumblr_lhrtweDEch1qztqsao1_1280.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"574\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-137199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/tumblr_lhrtweDEch1qztqsao1_1280.png 1280w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/tumblr_lhrtweDEch1qztqsao1_1280-100x45.png 100w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/tumblr_lhrtweDEch1qztqsao1_1280-200x90.png 200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/tumblr_lhrtweDEch1qztqsao1_1280-768x344.png 768w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/tumblr_lhrtweDEch1qztqsao1_1280-400x179.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\nAttention must be paid. <\/p>\n<p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/anne-coates.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"242\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-137201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/anne-coates.jpg 242w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/anne-coates-81x100.jpg 81w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/anne-coates-161x200.jpg 161w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 242px) 100vw, 242px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<small><em>Thank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, here&#8217;s a link to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.venmo.com\/u\/Sheila-OMalley-3\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">my Venmo account<\/a>. And I&#8217;ve launched a Substack, <a href=\"https:\/\/sheilaomalley.substack.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sheila Variations 2.0<\/a>, if you&#8217;d like to subscribe.<\/em> <\/small><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/sheilaomalley.substack.com\/embed\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" style=\"border:1px solid #EEE; background:white;\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s Anne V. Coates&#8217; birthday today. One of the honors of my career thus far was being asked to write the narration (read by Diane Lane) for the tribute reel played at Anne Coates&#8217; Lifetime Achievement Oscar ceremony in 2016. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=163092\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,39],"tags":[2645,2208,1159],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=163092"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202254,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163092\/revisions\/202254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=163092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=163092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=163092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}