Top 10 Directors Who Edit Their Own Films

Editing is where the magic happens. It’s where you shape, explore, experiment – it’s literally where you find and make your film. But it’s also a damn tedious process. Because there are so many choices in editing, filmmakers often hire professional editors to help them craft their films. On rare occasions, directors will assume sole responsibility as the chief editor, thereby fully seeing their film to the bitter end. Below are 10 directors who took on the laborious task of editing their own films themselves. Ranking them seemed fruitless, so they’re presented here alphabetically.

Honorable Mention

David Lean

Edited 1 ½ of his features

David Lean started off as an editor, plugging away in post-production for more than a decade before he directed his first feature. But he deserves to be mentioned here because at the tail end of his career, he had an uncredited edit on his In Which We Serve and earned a Best Editing Oscar nomination for cutting his final film, A Passage to India. Not bad for a man in his seventh decade.

The List

Shane Carruth & David Lynch

Each edited 2 of their features

I’m putting Carruth and Lynch together because they’ve each edited two of their own films, Eraserhead and Inland Empire for Lynch, and Primer and Upstream Color for Carruth (though David Lowery helped Carruth cut Upstream). Two films each, all heavily experimental but deeply personal works of art.

The Coen Brothers

Edited 14 of their features

With the exception of Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, and The Hudsucker Proxy, Joel and Ethan Coen have edited all of their films under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes. “Jaynes” has even been nominated for two Oscars (Fargo and No Country for Old Men). Some people think the Coens lost the No Country editing Oscar (to The Bourne Ultimatum, by far the weakest of all the nominees) because some voters were too pissy that the nomination was under Jaynes’ name.

Alfonso Cuarón

Edited 4 of his features

Cuarón is the only Oscar-winning editor on this list, having won for cutting Gravity with Richard Hicks and David Rubin. He also cut his first feature, Sólo con tu pareja, and helped maintain the ingeniously long takes in Y Tu Mamá También and Children of Men in the editing room.

Steve James

Edited 6 of his documentaries

One of our best living documentarians has cut most of his great films, including the timeless Hoop Dreams, and last year’s well regarded Life Itself. Hoop Dreams itself is an editing milestone. Anyone with a remote interest in the craft needs to watch and study that film.

Takeshi Kitano

Edited 15 of his features

Japanese director Takeshi Kitano has edited (and starred in, and written) many of his own films, most notably his U.S. crossover flick, Brother, and the Palme d’Or-competing Outrage, and its sequel, Beyond Outrage.

Akira Kurosawa

Edited 12 of his features

Kurosawa is the most legendary name on this list, and I love that he cut so many of his most revered films. Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Ran are all inarguable masterpieces. And those are just a third of the films he cut. Astounding.

Robert Rodriguez

Edited 16 of his features, and 1 TV show

I know, I know, Robert Rodriguez’s filmography is spotty at best, but his multi-talented work as a writer/director/producer/cinematographer/musician/editor should not be overlooked, especially by young filmmakers. His Making-Of featurettes and director’s commentaries (in which his editing process is thoroughly discussed) are necessary for anyone interested in filmmaking.

Gus Van Sant

Edited 6 of his features

If you have a bold new vision, why not see every aspect of your film through to the end? That’s what Van Sant did when he cut his more experimental efforts, including Gerry, Elephant, Last Days and Paranoid Park. Certainly no coincidence that I love all of those films.

Steven Soderbergh

Edited 11 of his features, and 2 TV shows

Like the Coen brothers, Soderbergh edits under a pseudonym, Mary Ann Bernard, which is the name of his mother. (He also shoots his own films under his father’s name, Peter Andrews). But unlike the Coens, Soderbergh often hands editing duties over for his more ambitious efforts (Stephen Mirrione, for example, won an Oscar for cutting Traffic). Typically, Soderbergh edits his more experimental films (Kafka, Bubble, The Girlfriend Experience, Magic Mike) himself.

Frederick Wiseman

Edited 36 of his documentaries

I wish more people talked about Frederick Wiseman. The man is 85 years old and has more or less released one documentary a year for nearly 50 years. That’s insane. And the fact that his films are so damn good should certainly help support the case that Wiseman is one of film’s best, most notoriously overlooked filmmakers. Seriously, do yourself a favor and seek a Wiseman doc out (or contribute to his new film). His first film, the shocking Titicut Follies, remains his best, but there is a ton of gold (Primate, Deaf, Blind, Near Death, Domestic Violence, At Berkeley) waiting to be discovered.

A Few More Worth Mentioning

Michelangelo Antonioni – edited 3 of his features

George A. Romero – edited 7 of his features

Kevin Smith – edited 11 of his features


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