ACE Eddie Nominations: Spotlight is Snubbed and Why It’s a BIG Deal
The ACE Eddie nominations for best edited feature films, documentary and animated features were announced with more than a few shocks and surprises. Oscar favorite Spotlight was snubbed in the Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) category in favor of a group of very action-heavy fare. This is a pretty serious blow to the journalism drama, which should have been an easy pick here. Can we revel in one thing though? Of the nominees that make up the five-film dramatic category, three are women.
In nine of the past 12 years, the winner of the ACE Eddie for best edited dramatic feature has gone on to win the Oscar in film editing. In 2003, that Oscar was awarded to the winner of the Eddie for best edited feature, comedy or musical (Chicago).
The winners of the ACE Eddies will be announced on January 29th.
Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic):
Mad Max: Fury Road
Margaret Sixel
The Martian
Pietro Scalia, ACE
The Revenant
Stephen Mirrione, ACE
Sicario
Joe Walker, ACE
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Maryann Brandon, ACE and Mary Jo Markey, ACE
Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy):
Ant-Man
Dan Lebental, ACE and Colby Parker, Jr., ACE
The Big Short
Hank Corwin, ACE
Joy
Jay Cassidy, ACE, Alan Baumgarten, ACE,
Christopher Tellefsen, ACE and Tom Cross, ACE
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
David Trachtenberg
Trainwreck
William Kerr, ACE and Paul Zucker
It’s been a surprising start to the guilds and industry awards today’s ACE announcement underlines that. There is zero crossover between the ACE dramatic nominees and the Screen Actors Guild Cast nominees. Only The Big Short, which was nominated in the Comedy category here, shows up. New frontrunner? Or are we looking back at Mad Max or The Martian to break genre borders and be a new leader going in? But then, neither of them managed a single SAG nod. Unless we’re going to see the weakest frontrunner in decades limp over the finish line, we’re going to see something dramatic happen. In the last 15 years no Best Picture winner has missed an ACE nomination. The film to be looking at right now is Sicario. It hitting here is a big deal unless its guild run plays out like Nightcrawler last year.
Let’s look at the crossover between the ACE Eddie (Dramatic) and the Directors Guild (DGA):
2014: 5/5
2013: 5/5
2012: 5/5
2011: 5/5 (including David Fincher for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
2010: 5/5
2009: 3/5 (Inglorious Basterds and Precious both missed ACE)
2008: 5/5
2007: 4/5
2006: 5/5
Starting to look pretty bad for Spotlight‘s Thomas McCarthy and very, very good for everyone else. 2009 was an anomalous year, for sure, and something to keep an eye on. Only two DGA winners have ever missed an ACE nomination; Steven Spielberg for The Color Purple and James L. Brooks for Terms of Endearment. The latter went on to win Best Picture.
[divider style=”solid” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]
Best Edited Animated Feature Film:
Anomalisa
Garret Elkins
Inside Out
Kevin Nolting, ACE
The Good Dinosaur
Stephen Schaffer, ACE
Best Edited Documentary (Feature):
Amy
Chris King
Cobain: Montage of Heck
Joe Beshenkovsky and Brett Morgen
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Andy Grieve
He Named Me Malala
Greg Finton, ACE, Brian Johnson and Brad Fuller
The Wrecking Crew
Claire Scanlon
Best Edited Documentary (Television):
Keith Richards: Under the Influence
Joshua L. Pearson
The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst “Chapter 1”
Richard Hankin, ACE, Zac Stuart-Pontier, Caitlyn Greene, Shelby Siegel
The Seventies: The United State vs. Nixon
Chris A. Peterson, ACE
Best Edited Half-Hour Series for Television:
Inside Amy Schumer: “12 Angry Men”
Nick Paley
Silicon Valley: “Two Days of the Condor”
Brian Merken, ACE
Veep: “Election Night”
Gary Dollner
Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television:
Better Call Saul: “Five-O”
Kelley Dixon, ACE
Better Call Saul: “Uno”
Skip Macdonald, ACE
Fargo: “Did You Do This? No, You Did It!”
Skip Macdonald, ACE and Curtis Thurber
The Good Wife: “Restrain”
Scott Vickrey, ACE
Mad Men: “Person to Person”
Tom Wilson
Best Edited One-Hour Series for Non-Commercial Television:
Game of Thrones: “The Dance of Dragons”
Katie Weiland
Game of Thrones: “Hardhome”
Tim Porter
Homeland: “The Tradition of Hospitality”
Harvey Rosenstock, ACE
House of Cards: “Chapter 39”
Lisa Bromwell, ACE
The Knick: “Wonderful Surprises”
Mary Ann Bernard
Best Edited Longform (Miniseries or Motion Picture) for Television:
Bessie
Brian A. Kates, ACE
Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors
Maysie Hoy, ACE
Orange is the New Black: “Trust No Bitch” (90 minute episode)
William Turro
Best Edited Non-Scripted Series:
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown: “Bay Area”
Hunter Gross, ACE
Deadliest Catch: “Zero Hour”
Josh Earl, ACE and Ben Bulatao
Whale Wars: “The Darkest Hour”
Eric Driscoll, Nik Jamgocyan, Chris Kirkpatrick, David Michael Maurer, ACE, Greg McDonald, Marcus Miller and Alexandria Scott
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
- 2025 BAFTA Longlist Predictions: Expect Big Numbers for ‘The Brutalist,’ ‘Emilia Pérez,’ ‘Kneecap’ and More - December 26, 2024
- 2024 North Texas Film Critics Association (NTFCA) Nominations - December 24, 2024
- 2024 Online Association of Female Film Critics (OAFFC) Winners: ‘The Substance” Dominates - December 23, 2024
2025 BAFTA Longlist Predictions: Expect Big Numbers for ‘The Brutalist,’ ‘Emilia Pérez,’ ‘Kneecap’ and More 
‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Review: It’s Big Bucks, All Whammies in Failed Follow Up to One of TV’s Best First Seasons [C-] 
2024 North Texas Film Critics Association (NTFCA) Nominations 
Director Watch Podcast Ep. 78 – ‘The Holiday’ (Nancy Meyers, 2006)
”Of the five films that make up the dramatic nominees, three are women.”
I know what you mean, but as worded, the ”three” refers to the ”five films,” not the editors. A better way to say that: Of the five films that make up the dramatic nominees, TWO are edited by women. Or: Of the six editors up for the dramatic nominees, three are women.
Good catch, edited. Thanks, Wayman.