Australian film editor Lee Smith has won an Oscar for Dunkirk.
The 57-year-old from Sydney won the Best Film Editing Award for Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic film at the 2018 Academy Awards held in Hollywood on Sunday.
“This is the most awesome thing that can happen to a guy like me. Dunkirk was truly the most amazing film and I’m very fortunate to have worked on it,” Smith said as he accepted the award.
As music rose to play him off during his speech, he said his craft should help him with brevity.
“I can’t talk any quicker…I’m an editor, I should be able to do this quickly,” he joked before referencing Matthew McConaughey, who presented his award.
He also thanked his wife Kimberly and their daughter.
Smith’s win is the fourth time in seven years an Australian has won the editing category.
It was his first after two previous nominations – for The Dark Knight in 2009 and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World in 2004.
Fellow Australian Paul Machliss was nominated in the same category for the action film Baby Driver.
Duo Josh Lawson and Derin Seale missed out on the Academy Award for Best Short Film (Live Action) for their comedy The Eleven O’Clock, which was filmed in Sydney.
Lawson wrote and starred in the 13-minute film and Seale directed it. They were considered outsiders for the award.
Margot Robbie was nominated for the coveted Best Actress Award for her striking performance in I, Tonya as controversial US Olympic Ice Skater Tonya Harding.
Below is the full list of winners and nominees: (winners indicated in red)
Best Picture
The Shape of Water
Call Me By Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Actress
Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water
Margot Robbie – I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird
Meryl Streep – The Post
Best Actor
Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour
Timothee Chalamet – Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out
Denzel Washington – Roman J Israel, Esq
Best Supporting Actress
Allison Janney – I, Tonya
Mary J Blige – Mudbound
Lesley Manville – Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf – Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer – The Shape of Water
Best Supporting Actor
Sam Rockwell – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Willem Dafoe – The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins – The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer – All the Money in the World
Best Director
The Shape of Water – Guillermo Del Toro
Dunkirk – Christopher Nolan
Get Out – Jordan Peele
Lady Bird – Greta Gerwig
Phantom Thread – Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Adapted Screenplay
Call Me By Your Name – screenplay by James Ivory
The Disaster Artist – screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H Weber
Logan – screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green; story by James Mangold
Molly’s Game – written for the screen by Aaron Sorkin
Mudbound – screenplay by Virgil Williams and Dee Rees
Best Original Screenplay
Get Out – written by Jordan Peele
The Big Sick – written by Emily V Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani
Lady Bird – written by Greta Gerwig
The Shape of Water – screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor; story by Guillermo del Toro
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – written by Martin McDonagh
Best Foreign Language Film
A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
The Insult (Lebanon)
Loveless (Russia)
On Body and Soul (Hungary)
The Square (Sweden)
Best Original Song
Remember Me – Coco (Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)
Mighty River – Mudbound (Mary J Blige, Raphael Saadiq & Taura Stinson)
The Mystery of Love – Call Me By Your Name (Sufjan Stevens)
Stand Up for Something – Marshall (Common & Diane Warren)
This Is Me – The Greatest Showman (Benji Pasek & Justin Paul)
Best Original Score
The Shape of Water – Alexandre Desplat
Dunkirk – Hans Zimmer
Phantom Thread – Jonny Greenwood
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – John Williams
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Carter Burwell
Best Animated Feature
Coco
The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent
Best Documentary Feature
Icarus
Abacus
Faces Places
Last Men in Aleppo
Strong Island
Best Cinematography
Blade Runner 2049 – Roger Deakins
Darkest Hour – Bruno Delbonnel
Dunkirk – Hoyte van Hoytema
Mudbound – Rachel Morrison
The Shape of Water – Dan Laustsen
Best Costume Design
Phantom Thread – Mark Bridges
Beauty and the Beast – Jacqueline Durran
Darkest Hour – Jacqueline Durran
The Shape of Water – Luis Sequeira
Victoria and Abdul – Consolata Boyle
Best Make-Up and Hairstyling
Darkest Hour – Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski & Lucy Sibbick
Victoria and Abdul – Daniel Phillips & Lou Sheppard
Wonder – Arjen Tuiten
Best Production Design
The Shape of Water – production design by Paul Denham Austerberry; set decoration by Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin
Beauty and the Beast – production design by Sarah Greenwood; set decoration by Katie Spencer
Blade Runner 2049 – production design by Dennis Gassner; set decoration by Alessandra Querzola
Darkest Hour – production design by Sarah Greenwood; set decoration by Katie Spencer
Dunkirk – production design by Nathan Crowley; set decoration by Gary Fettis
Best Visual Effects
Blade Runner 2049 – John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert & Richard R Hoover
Guardian of the Galaxy Vol 2 – Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner & Dan Sudick
Kong: Skull Island – Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza & Mike Meinardus
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan & Chris Corbould
War for the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon & Joel Whist
Best Film Editing
Dunkirk – Lee Smith
Baby Driver – Paul Machliss & Jonathan Amos
I, Tonya – Tatiana S Riegel
The Shape of Water – Sidney Wolinsky
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Jon Gregory
Best Sound Editing
Dunkirk – Richard King and Alex Gibson
Baby Driver – Julian Slater
Blade Runner 2049 – Mark Mangini and Theo Green
The Shape of Water – Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce
Best Sound Mixing
Dunkirk – Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A Rizzo
Baby Driver – Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin and Mary H Ellis
Blade Runner 2049 – Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill and Mac Ruth
The Shape of Water – Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Stuart Wilson
Best Animated Short
Dear Basketball
Garden Party
Lou
Negative Space
Revolting Rhymes
Best Live Action Short
The Silent Child
DeKalb Elementary
The Eleven O’Clock
My Nephew Emmet
Watu Wote/All of Us
Best Documentary Short
Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405
Edith + Eddie
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop
Are you happy with these winners? Let us know by commenting below.
– Written by Rekha Kulen
