In George Miller’s supercharged dystopian action epic Tom Hardy takes over Road Warrior duties from Mel Gibson but the most brilliant idea may have been pairing him with Charlize Theron’s fierce Imperator Furiosa. The two lone warriors form what is surely the most fearsome man/woman team to ever tear up a desert road. Even more remarkable is that behind the film is another “power couple”: That of Miller and his editor – and wife – Margaret Sixel.
“I didn’t hesitate in accepting the offer to edit Mad Max: Fury Road, because it was an action film and I’m a woman”, clarifies Margaret Sixel, “I hesitated because George would be filming on another continent for eight months. We have two boys, one of whom was applying for college, and I know that editing is a 24/7 job. I had to consider what it would take. But once I figured it out, I was determined to finish.”
Mad Max: Fury Road is a visual feast, shot in the deserts of Namibia, Africa. It is essentially a chase movie. Tom Hardy is an excellent replacement of Mel Gibson, the originator of the titular character. As Imperator Furiosa, Charlize Theron is a one-armed warrior, with shorn hair, whose golden beauty matches the stark vistas, her lithe grit calling to mind Clint Eastwood in his Spaghetti Westerns. She owns her action and fight sequences. Stunts are jaw dropping and clip by at video game pacing. Linking the lavish visuals, are nods to real life issues on a geopolitical scale: Suicide missions for a cause, water scarcity, crop failure, and women fighting to be respected and throw off the yoke of a male oppressor. It works and comes together seamlessly. “There’s a zeitgeist out there that resonates, of women healing the world.” Notes Miller. “That men and women have to find accommodation. It’s not a war. It’s a mutual regard
that allows success. I’m still coming to understand what we’ve done. It’s like a massive Rubik’s Cube.”
Other than life challenges, like getting up at 4:30 in the morning to make sure her children were taken care of by the time she turned up for a full day of work at 8:30, the lack of dialogue made editing this film additionally tough. “Dialogue is how scenes are structured” explains Sixel, “If it’s mainly action with subtext, the options are endless. It was a relief to get to the scenes with dialogue. I’d cut them in a day.”
The Australian Film School educated, South African editor headed up an editorial team, 25% of which were women. Gender is not an issue when editing, although Miller insists that he wanted Margaret’s unique approach, because, “If a guy did it, it would look like every other action movie.” While action is considered a male domain, female editors have long been leaving their imprint. Dede Allen’s edits are responsible for the famous shootout in Bonnie and Clyde, and Anne V. Coates edited the classic Lawrence of Arabia. Women make up 20% of the Motion Picture Editors Guild they are behind both Indies and blockbusters and films of every genre. Thelma Schoonmaker edits Scorsese’s work, and Mary Jo Markey and Maryann Brandon, have been editing JJ Abrams’ features since 2006, including Mission: Impossible and the upcoming Star Wars.
“While George likes to think it’s a positive, I don’t feel very female about it.” Says Sixel. “The skill set required is that you’ve got to want it. You’ve got to like sitting in front of a computer. You’ve got to be into cutting. You’ve got to be highly organized. And you’ve got to be obsessive.” To put that in perspective Mad Max 2 had 1,200 cuts, Mad Max: Fury Road has over 2,700. “I haven’t gone out for almost three years,” laughs Margaret. No surprise there. There were 480 hours of footage that would run for three weeks if played uninterrupted from the 135 camera shoot. She had to create two hours of movie. “She’s got a low boredom threshold.” Adds Miller, dryly. “And she is a big problem solver.”
Sixel elaborates on how it comes together: “You assemble the footage so you can follow the action, rather than make it good. If you need a picture of Charlize looking out of the window, you make your choice of what you think works, but then you add all the options that could replace it. When the director looks at it, he has all the options at his fingers tips. George is forensic about it. He mines each frame.”
Working with her spouse was not an issue. “We understand each other’s sensibilities. 98% of the time we agree on the choice of a shot. That’s important because when you are not in sync there are a lot of opinions in an editing room and you can really go off in the wrong direction.” While accommodation is an important ingredient in editing Margaret recognizes there is value in her vision. “You always address changes. You can’t be defensive about them. But, there are times when you have to say, ‘I don’t mind not being liked. You can’t loose your integrity, because it shows in the final product.’”
Margaret Gardiner