Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Editor Maryann Brandon Discusses Crafting the Galaxy Far, Far Away

Some audiences might think that the most important elements of a film are its writer, director, and cast, without realizing just how integral a component its editor is when it comes to cutting through the clutter to deliver a cohesive and engaging adventure. Maryann Brandon is such an editor, having most recently worked with J.J. Abrams to offer audiences Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the final chapter in the 40-year journey of the Skywalker Saga. More than just putting the various scenes in order, Brandon worked with Abrams to help tell the most engaging story as possible with the utmost efficiency, requiring the pair to make difficult decisions about what scenes should stay and what scenes could be cut.

Speaking to the strength of Brandon’s skills, The Rise of Skywalker is only the latest partnership between she and Abrams, having first collaborated on his TV series and then continuing with all of Abrams’ films, including Super 8, his Star Trek films, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

ComicBook.com recently caught up with Brandon to discuss working with Abrams, her approach to the Star Wars saga, and the process of bringing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to life.

Image courtesy of Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

Abrams Collaborations

ComicBook.com: You’ve worked with J.J. on all of his films and even on his early TV series, was there a specific moment when you two realized how well you worked together and discovered you were on such similar filmmaking wavelengths?

Maryann Brandon: I started working for him on an Alias, and I don’t know if you watched that show, but it was such an action-packed, emotionally driven show that it presented so many huge challenges that we just really bonded on style and how to figure it out. I think we both have similar sensibilities. It was pretty immediate that we jelled and we were of like minds and were both willing to experiment a lot to try to figure out cool, fun ways to tell a story and fun ways to shortcut things.

So I guess the short answer is I think it was pretty immediate we realized we were pretty similar that way.

When news first emerged that he would be directing the first Star Wars sequel, was it a given that you would be working on it? Did you know ahead of time that editing the Star Wars film was a possibility?

Well, we were actually finishing up Star Trek Into Darkness at the time. He said to me, “You’re going to read a lot of stuff in the press that I’m doing Star Wars. I’m just telling you I’m not doing it.” And I was like, “Oh, that’s a shame, because you’re a big Star Wars fan and here we are doing Star Trek, and that’s a dream.”

He was like, “Yeah, it’s too much.” Or he didn’t really say why.

Funnily enough, I interviewed on a Marvel film at the time. I interviewed for Guardians of the Galaxy, and they offered it to me. I met James Gunn and we hit it off, and I was about to take Guardians. Actually, I did take Guardians of the Galaxy. I verbally said, “Sure, I’ll do it.” Then the next week or so J.J. came into my room and he said, “Okay, in 45 minutes The Hollywood Reporter is going to report that I’m doing Star Wars, which I am. So we’re doing it.” I was like, “Oh sh-t. I just said I’d do Guardians.”

It was sort of a no-brainer. He was like, “You have to do Star Wars.” I just have to work with him. I had to go back to Marvel and be like, “You know how I just said, ‘Yes?’” And luckily, Guardians wasn’t starting for like five months. It was hard. I love both those films, but obviously I was going to do Star Wars for him. He was like … it wasn’t even a choice.

And at least it was another branch of Disney, it’s not like you said you were leaving to go edit Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. They were probably still happy to have you working with them.

Right. No, they were. It was just one of those funny … there’s always the times you have nothing and then you have too much.

Honoring the Originals

With Star Wars: The Force Awakens being the first sequel in the series since 1983 and being the first film that wasn’t directed by George Lucas, how did you approach crafting that film while keeping the spirit of the original films alive?

Quite honestly, I didn’t really even think of that. I’ve been asked that question before, and I don’t think about the editing style. For me, it works the other way. It’s how somebody shoots a film that dictates to me how I feel the style of the editing should be. So, yes, we kept the wipes because they’re fun and they say Star Wars and there’s a lot of the language of Star Wars is very particular to Star Wars. You don’t say “universe,” you say “galaxy.” But J.J. has his own style and he shot that film a certain way, and the scenes were cut as best they could given the footage I got. The wipes came in very handy. I was very happy to use them, but, aside from that, there wasn’t much.

It’s more in the shooting. Sometimes J.J. would get a shot where he’d do this long lens zoom in, which is like the famous shot [from Star Wars: A New Hope] where the droids are walking over the sand hill or whatever, and in the photography, I think they paid a little more attention to stuff like that, but not so much in the editing. I just wanted to make the film fun and move it along where it should and slow it down where it should and be emotional where it needed to be.

So J.J. did the heavy lifting of honoring the originals and you used your skills to hone that feeling to the best of your ability.

Absolutely. J.J., I will say, is a master shot maker. He’s just got an incredible eye for designing shots. I’ve learned so much from him about that kind of thing, so I can recognize a good shot when I see it and when not to cut it up.

Crafting Carrie Fisher’s Closure

One of the biggest questions fans had ahead of The Rise of Skywalker was how the film would handle Carrie Fisher’s passing and potential absence from the film. With the film using unseen The Force Awakens footage and with you being so familiar with that film and the available footage, were you involved in the early stages of developing the story?

A bit, yeah. I think mostly it was in the writing. I think mostly [Abrsms] had access to all that footage and he knew the scenes as well as I did. He and Chris Terrio, the other writer, pretty much figured out how the lines we had of Carrie on camera and the performance that we had from Carrie from [The Force Awakens] was going to work, so he didn’t really need me. I come in earlier and I read the script and I have notes and I have reactions, and he often listens to me or listens to my reactions. Then after the fact, I sometimes change the performance or we came up with a better idea for what piece of Carrie to use. But they worked out a lot of that in the writing.

And it sounds like the final film didn’t use all of the footage available to you, so there is still footage audiences haven’t seen of Carrie?

Oh yeah. We were really careful. If it wasn’t working 100%, if anyone of us was like, “No, I don’t buy it,” we took it out, because it wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth pulling people out of the movie and it wasn’t worth it to not show Carrie giving her the best of what she gave us.

We pulled stuff out, but nothing that affected the story, and we put stuff in that enhanced the story. So, like any kind of editing, even in animation where you’re literally drawing the shots as you go, you end up losing stuff because you realize you don’t need everything.

Biggest Challenges

What would you say were either the most fun or most challenging sequences for you to edit?

Well, I would say the end battle up top, including the end battle underneath that Rey and Ben were having with Palpatine, was the most difficult to cut because so much of it is CGI and you’re trying to imagine shots as you’re trying to put this together, and you start with cards that say, “This happens, that happens,” and not all of it is in the frame and you’re trying to figure out the timing of it.

I would say, conversely, it was the most fun because there’s so many emotions flying back and forth, and the performances are so much fun, and there’s just a treasure chest of great elements to figure out where they go. So I’d say the whole end battle would be both of those things.

You mentioned that you are there to help realize J.J.’s vision, but do you develop a personal attachment to certain shots or sequences that were especially difficult for you to cut?

Oh, every cut I make is personal. It’s not arbitrary, I have a reason. I see it a certain way, he sees it a certain way, other people, producers, see it a certain way. My co-editors saw it. We come together and work it out and talk about it. Ultimately, obviously, it’s up to J.J. how he wants it to be, but he’s very open-minded to a lot to see what you’ve come up with and why.

I change things all the time, but when I first put them together, I have a reason, and then I have a reason to change it, and I have a reason to stick to that. That’s the value of showing the film to people because you can feel or hear about when it’s working or when it’s not working or when it starts to lag or drag or when people don’t understand something, and is it important to understand at that particular moment or not?

It’s complicated. There’s a lot of opinions and a lot of emotions, and sure, I would say J.J., myself, we’re very passionate about our opinions. We’re very passionate, we stick our feet in the mud, and then we lift our feet out of the mud. That’s why it’s exhausting.

Future Projects

J.J. has seemingly made it quite clear that he’s done with the franchise, but would you consider returning, or was the motivating factor of doing two Star Wars films the opportunity to collaborate with him more than the franchise?

I will never say I’m not interested in anything because it all depends on the script, and the people involved, and what my position would be, and who I’d be working with. I did Venom before I did Star Wars, and I was like, “I’m not coming back to them,” and then I’m thinking, “I don’t know, maybe I would.” Distance, and once I get some rest, of course … I’m always interested in the world of Star Wars. It’s fascinating.

I love science fiction. I might not even call this science fiction, I’d call it “science fiction adventure Saturday morning matinee.” It’s my favorite kind of film. There’s nothing better. So I’d be crazy to say, “No, I’m not interested.” I’m interested in all films, I really am. The only films I’ve never really done are documentaries, and I think, probably depending on the subject, I’d be interested in that. I would never close the door on anything, and I don’t think J.J. would either.

And now that Star Wars: The Mandalorian enlisted documentarian Werner Herzog, you might have your connection already.

Exactly. I mean, I learned long ago never say no, outright no. Never say you’re never going to do it. You’d be surprised what becomes appealing.

Are there other collaborators you’d love to work with in the future or franchises you’d love to get involved with?

That’s a good question. I’ve worked with so many great people, I don’t know if it can get better than working with J.J., and I’ve been really lucky to have worked with him all these years. Who knows what we’ll do next? Who knows what he’ll do next? So it’d be weird not to work with him. I’ve cut every one of his features, so it’d be so strange for me not to work with him again, but you never know.

I love working with Kathy Kennedy and the people at Lucasfilm, Michelle Rejwan. I know them so well, I’d love to do a project with them. If it were in the Star Wars world, that would make me happy. Possibly look into maybe getting on as director or something like that. Who knows? I know I love those people and I love the way their minds work. I feel like when you put in so much time with people and you have a shorthand with them, it seems awfully sad to let it go. And that’s what happens when you’re freelance, you’re so close with these people every day and you know how they think and what makes them laugh and you joke around, and then they’re like your family, and then you don’t see them again. It’s weird.

It’s hard. It’s heartbreaking, we have such intimate relationships. Those are the people I’d like to collaborate with. That’s not to say I couldn’t meet someone else I’d love to collaborate with or fall in love with, but I’m a pretty loyal person, so these are my people now. I’m sure I’ll meet more people along the way.

*****

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is in theaters now.