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.

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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