Thelma Schoonmaker

Schoonmaker in 2010

Thelma Colbert Schoonmaker (born January 3, 1940) is an American film editor who has worked with director Martin Scorsese on all of his films since Raging Bull (1980).

Quotes

• You get to contribute so significantly in the editing room because you shape the movie and the performances," she says. "You help the director bring all the hard work of those who made the film to fruition. You give their work rhythm and pace and sometimes adjust the structure to make the film work – to make it start to flow up there on the screen. And then it's very rewarding after a year's work to see people react to what you've done in the theater.
  • Nguyen, Lan N. (March 15, 2005). "The Last Temptation of Thelma". iVillage Entertainment. 

• Editing is a lot about patience and discipline and just banging away at something, turning off the machine and going home at night because you're frustrated and depressed, and then coming back in the morning to try again.
  • Debruge, Peter (July 30, 2007). "Oscar-winning editor arrives with 'Departed'". Variety. 

• Ah, but they aren't violent until I've edited them.
  • When asked how it was that such a nice lady could edit Scorsese's violent gangster pictures. During lecture to students at Canterbury Christ Church University, November 25, 2009

• I think Marty's use of violence is very valid. He never uses it gratuitously, he always makes a very strong point….if you're going to show violence and it's done with conviction the way Marty does it then it is correct.
  • Sangster, Jim (2002). Scorsese. Virgin Film. 
  • Kowalski, Eileen (November 14, 2001). "Tina Hirsch". Variety. 

• When you're a film-maker you become addicted, your family suffers, your friends suffer, to say nothing of what's going on on the set. It's an incredible way to show the impulse to view. Directors are constantly looking.
  • From an interview, as cited in "My husband was the real victim of Peeping Tom", The Sunday Times (21 January 2024).
  • The main subject of the article is the restoration and re-release of the Michael Powell film Peeping Tom (1960). Schoonmaker was married to Powell for the last six years of his life.