FILM fans will be in seventh heaven later this month when one of the country’s most respected film editors, Terry Rawlings, pops into town.
Terry will be at the Signals Media Centre to talk about his impressive career working with some of the most famous film directors in the world.
He is perhaps most famous for his work with Ridley Scott, editing his first three films which just happened to be The Duellists and two of the most important sci-fi films of all time, Alien and Blade Runner.
Terry says: “I loved working on the Dualists – what a great film. Then of course there was Alien and Blade Runner.
“Ridley was a great director to work with. He is a real visionary and has the most wonderful eye for film.
“Alien and Blade Runner are incredible films, but I have a real fondness for Legend, which I still don’t think has got the credit it deserves. Some of the scenes in that film still take my breath away.”
Despite Terry’s passion for Legend, I strongly suspect many of the questions he will be answering will be about the other two and, in particular, why the studio release of Blade Runner was changed from the original vision Ridley and Terry had for the film.
“We took it over to America and they just didn’t get it,” he says. “They insisted on the commentary, which wasn’t on the cut we took over, and ours had a completely different ending.”
All of which was revealed when the director’s cut version of the film was released a decade later.
“The director’s cut came about in a rather unusual way,” Terry reveals. “There is this pretty famous art house cinema in LA and they wanted to show a number of films that were shot in 70mm.
“Blade Runner was shot in 70mm, so when they asked Fox for a copy, they sent back the original that Ridley and I took over by mistake.
“Of course, when they screened it, you had all these fans who were amazed it was so different and wanting to know more about it.”
Terry started in the industry after leaving National Service at 18.
“I had no idea what I wanted to do,” he admits, “until I started talking to my sister’s boyfriend, who was an editor at Rank, working in their ad services department.
“I asked him how much it paid and he said £9 a week. I thought ‘I wouldn’t mind some of that’!”
After a brief stint at Rank, Terry soon found himself at Shepperton Studios working on his first film, Town on Trial, with John Mills.
“It was on television the other day, which was a bit weird,” he adds.
Eventually, Terry got a job with Associated British Pictures and it was there, working with such directors as Ken Russell and Michael Winner, that he learnt his craft.
Terry says: “It was located in Elstree, which is near where I live now, and it was like a film school for me.
“I joined in 1957 and was there for five years. It was where I had my first feature film with my name on the credits.”
Since then Terry has had a list of top credits to his name including Bond flick Golden Eye, Chariots of Fire, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, as well as Alien, which gained him a Bafta nomination.
“Always the bridesmaid,” he laughs. “But seriously, I’ve been very fortunate to have had such a career and I’m very thankful for it.
“As an editor, I’ve worked with some incredible directors, all of whom have very different ways of working.
“I think my favourite was Joel Schumacher, on Phantom of the Opera.
“I’m not the kind of guy who likes people looking over your shoulder all the time while you’re cutting a film, but Joel was brilliant – he just let me get on with it.
“He basically said ‘you’re the editor, I’ll leave you to cut it and if I like it, we’ll keep it as it is, and if I don’t we’ll go over it again’. That was nice.”
* Terry Rawlings Talk and screening of Alien is at Signals Media Centre, St Runwald Street, Colchester, on May 19. The talk is at 3pm, and film at 5pm. £9 Box office: 01206 560255.
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