The breadth of Tim Squyres’ credits illustrates an engaging and varied career:  "Taking Woodstock, " "Rachel Getting Married," "Syriana," "Gosford Park," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Eat Drink Man Woman," "The Ice Storm," to name but a few.

Tim headed to New York set on directing and cinematography.  Instead, he fell in among editors, and thanks to an NYU friend, began cutting student projects.  Before long, he concluded that editing was an incredible job and has enjoyed a career full of collaborations, honored and esteemed projects, and a dossier that includes an outstanding body of work.

Createasphere: Twenty years ago, you came to New York and starting working with NYU filmmakers. How did you make the transition from working for free, to being a working editor on paying projects?

TIM: I cut a lot of student projects, and worked on everything I could. I started out as an unpaid intern-apprentice on a tiny independent movie where I just showed up, even though I wasn’t being paid. I’d met the editor on another project, and he kept saying “you don’t have to…” but I kept showing up. And then the First Assistant left and I got her job and I ended up sound editing the dialog. That led to being hired as the supervising sound editor for “Anna,” which led to other sound credits and then, picture credits.

Createasphere: How have those early connections carried through your career?

TIM: I had some fortunate meetings early on, such as “Blowback,” whose 1st AD was Ted Hope. I met Ang (Lee) through Ted, and he went on to found Good Machine with James Schamus. Good Machine produced a number of pictures Ang and I were involved with, including “The Ice Storm,” and “Hulk.”

I was picture assistant and supervising sound editor on Nancy Savoca’s “True Love,”, whose editor was John Tintori and I assisted him on John Sayles’ “8 Men Out.” I’ve worked with his wife, the script supervisor Mary Cybulski, on early projects like “Blowback,” and on through The Ice Storm,” “Syriana,” and “Taking Woodstock.” John is now the Chair of the Graduate Film Program at NYU. Absolutely, these early relationships have been important to me.

Createasphere: Was there a moment when you felt that you were on to something significant, something different than what you’d been working on before?

TIM: “Sense and Sensibility.” I got a strong feeling that this was going to be a really good movie, and people were going to pay attention to it. Before that, it seemed like Ang & I were sitting in a room having fun, doing good work, but this just felt different. It seemed like a big step at the time, and it was.

Createasphere: You’ve worked on every one of Ang Lee’s movies with him, with the exception of “Brokeback Mountain.” Your collaboration is long and varied (“Eat Drink Man Woman,” “Hulk,” “The Ice Storm,” “Taking Woodstock.”) Are you always on the same page? Have you always been?

TIM: Our creative sensibilities are similar, and thematically, we are interested in the same things. I have never had to stretch to be interested in an Ang Lee movie. I learned to cut with what he shot, and we have developed our filmmaking skills together. I guess we are in sync, and that has also led to great efficiencies in the way we work.

Createasphere: You edited the compelling “Rachel Getting Married” for director Jonathan Demme, and the film’s emotional complexities are matched by a very intense production style.

TIM: Oddly enough, when I look back on “Rachel Getting Married,” I remember mostly how exhilarating it was. It was fun.

But there were challenges. It was challenging because of the way that it was shot, documentary style. What that meant to me was that what the camera did was very different in every take, which was challenging to match and assemble. Every editor has their own system of how they take hours of dailies and turn that footage into a minute and a half scene. My normal approach wouldn't work for “Rachel…” and I had to adapt. The movie is more like a performance, so I just got in there and cut the scene. Jonathan was very interested in and respectful of the idea that sometimes you do things based on feeling. It was different for me but it worked.

There was a lot of material to manage, as well. We had a 34-day production schedule, and we shot HD, but we shot the equivalent of 500,000 feet of film.

“Rachel Getting Married” was kind of emotionally harrowing, but when I think of it now, I remember that it was exuberant – it was big, and open and fun. Some of that emotionally challenging material, including one of the scenes between the sisters, changed very little from the first assembly. It was a great experience and followed “Lust & Caution,” which was very intense and tightly controlled, so it was fun to go to a rather free, wild project.

Createasphere: Do you have any advice about collaborating with directors?

TIM: As an editor, you don’t get to impose your own style on the footage. Your job is to make it work the best that it can.

Createasphere: The editor is part of a team, and a movie is a multi-layered, complicated affair. You interact with many parts of the production and post process, from cinematography through visual effects.

TIM: Once a movie gets started, it’s like an ocean liner, and it’s just not going to turn around. It’s my job to make sure that what we see in the dailies is working, but you also have to be careful and sensitive to the production. When there is something that isn’t working you just have to work it through with the director, DP or department head. But, be aware that this is a tricky area.

The visual effects team and the cutting room are closely bound and you end up being very involved in the visual effects process. As an editor, you are a de facto vfx supervisor, approving each shot and communicating with vendors, artists and supervisors continually. During “Hulk”, our offices were across from ILM. I was there every morning from October – April, at least 5 days a week for at least an hour and sometimes much more. You always work very closely with the VFX people.

Createasphere: What might you tell young, aspiring editors about skills they need, not job-hunting skills, but rather a point of view?

TIM: The editor cannot be an auteur. The editor is a collaborator. You are often collaborating with a real auteur, but that’s not the editor’s role.

Do not be confrontational, you have to work with people in very emotional situations, so you need to be able to calmly work through those situations. So don’t dig in your heels until you have to, and even then you should probably dig them in a lot later than you think! ??In fiction, you deal with characters who are dealing with emotional situations. That means that you are involved directly with the character’s emotions and feelings. Don’t be afraid of that. I prepared for some of the work on “Sense & Sensibility” by looking at my own life. I had young children at home, and opening up to the feelings that children bring to the surface helped me be open to cutting emotional material.

In other words, have an emotional life. Believe in and feel your feelings. Then, you can open up to the emotional content of the footage that you’re dealing with.

Createasphere: Thank you Tim.