Interview: Brian A. Kates, Emmy-nominated editor for ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’
Since graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Brian A. Kates has edited many acclaimed films, with 14 films selected to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and 5 films in Cannes.
He has been honored with an Emmy Award for his work on Taking Chance, and an Emmy nomination for editing the pilot episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. He also won two ACE Eddie Awards for his work on Bessie and Lackawanna Blues, in addition to two other Eddie Award nominations.
His collaborators have included Andrew Dominik (Killing Them Softly), Dee Rees (Bessie), Joseph Cedar (Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer), Michael Cuesta (Kill the Messenger), Tamara Jenkins (Private Life and The Savages), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Jack Goes Boating), John Cameron Mitchell (How to Talk to Girls at Parties and Shortbus), Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer and The Butler), Nicole Kassell (The Woodsman), George C. Wolfe (Lackawanna Blues and Nights in Rodanthe), Moisés Kaufman (The Laramie Project), Ross Katz (Taking Chance), John Krokidas (Kill Your Darlings), and Jeremiah Zagar (We the Animals).
In addition to his work in fiction, he was Jonathan Caouette’s co-editor on the groundbreaking documentary Tarnation.
His television work has included collaborations with Alfonso Cuarón (Believe), Bill Condon (The Big C), David Simon and Eric Overmeyer (Treme), and Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).
He is currently finishing his third collaboration with John Cameron Mitchell, a 10-episode original audio musical, featuring the music of Bryan Weller and Mr. Mitchell, and a cast including Glenn Close, Patti LuPone, Cynthia Erivo, Ben Foster, Nakhane, Bridget Everett, Justin Vivian Bond, and Laurie Anderson, entitled Homunculus.
I had the pleasure of chatting with Brian this week about his Emmy nomination for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, his summer camp background that got him into film and his collaborations with Lee Daniels and John Cameron Mitchell.
By the end it turns a bit into an impromptu gushing about his work on NBC’s Kings and a promo for his new film We the Animals, which is in theaters now. GO SEE IT.
You can see Brian’s work next in the upcoming Tamara Jenkins film Private Life, which will world premiere at the New York Film Festival next month.
There also might be a bit of tea spilled on an upcoming sequel to a gay classic.
Brian A. Kates is nominated for Outstanding Single Camera Picture-Editing for a Comedy Series for the pilot episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
The Emmy voting period ends August 27th at 10pm PST.
The Creative Arts Emmys will be a two-night affair on Saturday, September 8th and Sunday, September 9th.
The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards will be Monday, September 17th.
This interview runs just shy of 37m with music.
Opening: “A Wonderful Day Like Today” from The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd (Original 1965 Broadway Cast)
Closing: “Girls Talk” by Dave Edmonds
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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.
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