Friday night saw the premiere of the highly-anticipates Spike Jonze Beastie Boys documentary on Apple tv+. The film premieres on the heels of the 26th anniversary of the release of Beastie Boys’ number one charting 1994 album, Ill Communication, and reunites surviving members, Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz, with director Jonze over 25 years after he directed the music video, Sabotage.
With the help of curated images and clips overseen by Jonze and his production team, the film offers a revealing, witty and emotional telling of the true story about how Diamond (Mike D), Horovitz (Ad-Rock) and their late, great band mate Adam Yauch, aka MCA, first came together as young punks in New York; and, went on to form one of the most groundbreaking and influential groups in rap and rock history.
Creative editorial and post-production company Final Cut saw its editors Zoe Schack and Jeff Buchanan edit the project, the latter being a long-time collaborator of the director. Buchanan edited Jonze’s 2018 Apple ad ‘Welcome Home’ and co-edited Jonze’s 2013 feature film, Her with Eric Zumbrunnen.
An editor since 2003, Buchanan joined the team at Final Cut in 2009 and moved to their LA office in 2013. He has garnered many accolades for his work, including an Emmy, AICP awards, an MTV Music Video award, and numerous film festival recognitions. He has also frequently collaborated with Michel Gondry and worked with high-profile artists such as Kanye West and Arcade Fire.
Additionally, he took on the challenge of editing legendary footage of Aretha Franklin for the documentary Amazing Grace, filmed by the great Sydney Pollack in 1972 and released last year.
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Zoe Schack has edited commercials for Audi, Infiniti, Doritos, and Dollar Shave Club, as well as multiple music videos. Schack has worked with some of the best commercial and film directors in the world including Dougal Wilson, Ava DuVernay, Michel Gondry, Craig Gillespie, Jonze, and Steve Ayson.
She interned with renowned filmmaker Albert Maysles and went on to produce the Bicycle Film Festival in Portland, Oregon. She edited the short documentary Dosa Hunt which was featured in many prominent film festivals.
Schack says, “A massive part of the job was going through decades worth of archival footage and photos. We kept finding gems that were so good we knew they had to make it in somehow. Finding something that makes you laugh or cry, and talking to Spike about how great a clip is was very rewarding.”
Buchanan continued: “And for us to then be able to take that footage from 1986, or that photo that was shot in 1992, and work it into the film in a way that helped support the story, or give insight into Mike, Adam, and Yauch’s relationship – that was the most gratifying part of the entire editing process”.
Watch the ‘Beastie Boys Story‘ now.
SOURCE: Final Cut
