‘Dune’s Joe Walker Wins Film Editing Oscar, Wove Together Complex Sci-Fi Epic
28.03.2022 - 02:47
/ deadline.com
Joe Walker has won the Oscar for film editing for Dune — taking one of the eight technical categories that were controversially shifted out of the main telecast. Dune was the frontrunner for the win, which is Walker’s first after two previous nominations, for Arrival (in 2017, also directed by Denis Villeneuve) and 12 Years A Slave (2014).
The Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment saga has ten Oscar noms and was expected to sweep the crafts category, as it is. It has the distinction of being the highest grossing Best Picture nominee by far at over $400 million worldwide and $100 million in North America. Walker, as Deadline’s Pete Hammond noted, had a Herculean job weaving together all the huge elements of Dune, “while also keeping its actors from sinking in the sand.”
Timothée Chalamet stars as Paul Atreides as noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy’s most valuable asset while its scion is troubled by visions of a dark future. The film was adapted from Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel. Dune: Part Two is eyeing a fall shoot.
Walked, the Sicario editor, has called the Academy tone deaf for snubbing his category, backed up by an indignant creative industry. “Without film editing, all my movies would still be in dailies,” Steven Spielberg told Deadline. Villeneuve, James Cameron, Jane Campion and others had urged the Academy to reverse its decision.
Industry players on the red carpet today, including some film editing nominees, spoke out against the move.
The relegated categories — Animated Short Film; Documentary Short Subject; Film Editing; Live Action Short Film; Makeup and Hairstyling; Original Score; Production Design and Sound — were unveiled and pre-taped before the start of the official program