By Randi Altman
Consulate editor Holle Singer spends her time working on spots, music videos and feature films. Most recently she edited the Tim Sutton-directed feature film Taurus, which stars Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) as a fictionalized version of himself. It pulls back the curtain on fame and tells the honest story of how fame and fortune can be both a blessing and a curse. It also takes a look at addiction while following a troubled musician looking for inspiration to record a final song.
Holle Singer (Credit: Shane Sigler)
The film, which also stars Megan Fox, Ruby Rose and Maddie Hasson, premiered at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival and then screened at Tribeca in New York.
We recently reached out to Singer to talk about her process on the film.
How early did you get involved in Taurus?
I was brought in when the film was in the middle of shooting. Boaz Yakin, whom I had just done an edit for, recommended my name to Taurus director Tim Sutton. I read the script, Tim and I “met” over the phone, and I was in.
I was able to screen and put together a rough assembly while they were shooting, so by the time they wrapped, there was something for Tim to see and respond to (something over three hours long, but that’s another story!).
Were you on-set? Near set?
The film was shot in 2021 in the middle of COVID, so I could not be on-set while editing. The footage was synced, transcoded and organized in Los Angeles by the lovely assistant editor, Mikayla Theone Khramov. Everything was loaded onto a removable drive and sent to me in New York City.
I love the idea of being able to work on-set. Having an editor on-set while shooting makes sense to see what’s working and what’s missing while you still have the opportunity to fill in any gaps.
What direction were you given by the director for the edit/pace?
I was fortunate to work with a director who knew what he wanted and captured it. There were many long, atmospheric, beautifully constructed shots — that’s part of Tim’s style. It’s a tool that he’s really mastered. The direction was in the footage. I didn’t want to cut.
The first thing I did after reading the script was watch some of Tim’s work to get a sense of his world. After seeing his films Dark Night and Pavilion, I immediately wanted in.
There is an almost meditative quality to the experience. Many of Tim’s films do not have a traditional structure that I’m familiar with and are very different from the world I come from, which deals with music videos and commercial work. I love his use of very long, slow shots — holding and allowing the viewer to have an experience rather than cutting to create one.
Did the director do a lot of takes? Did you have a lot of footage to work with?
There was a lot of beautiful footage captured by the very talented DP, John Brawley (ACS). He provided a wide range of styles and textures — including carefully blocked, roving Steadicam shots and footage from multiple cameras (including iPhone) — on both scripted and verité scenes. Coming from the world of commercials, where you might have eight hours of material for a 30-second spot, the shooting ratio was quite manageable.
On average, there were three to five takes for each scripted scene as well as verité of live performances, interviews, studio moments and driving in the streets of LA captured documentary-style. That blurring of the lines between fact and fiction is very powerful. We are no longer capturing an actor; we are capturing a man in his life and all the dynamics that push on him.
It is pretty raw and dark. Can you talk about editing to ramp up these emotions?
Addiction is a dark subject. It wasn’t a matter of ramping up emotions but trying to capture the real experience and struggle of an addict. I wanted the editing to be invisible. Sitting uncomfortably in that raw, dark space has a ramping effect. A lot of dialogue was stripped away in the editing room. As a viewer, I feel much more when I’m allowed to watch and experience something — making discoveries and connections rather than being told what to think.
Editing is a matter of putting one thing next to another. Meaning comes from context. I suppose one example of an edit that had a powerful effect would be the cut from [a child shooting a gun] in a family home to screams revealing the roar of a crowd as Colson walks toward the stage. It created an interesting juxtaposition.
Was there a particular scene that was hard for you to crack? Can you talk about working through it?
There’s a saying that a poem is never finished; it’s abandoned. The same is true for film scenes.
There were scenes that were hard to crack. Some were never cracked and entirely dropped. Entire storylines were eliminated because they were a distraction from other, more important things. Some scenes fit together and moved powerfully exactly the way we hoped.
The fight scene between Mae (Fox) and Cole (Baker) in the studio booth underwent many transformations. It was originally envisioned as a one-take in total silence as Cole’s assistant and producer watch the couple argue from behind the glass. There were many versions — longer, shorter, with and without sound. We settled on adding ad-libbed dialogue from our watchers to create a feeling that this happens all the time. They drop into silence as things escalate, enhancing the voyeuristic quality.
Can you provide an example of a note or two that you got from the director?
Tim gave me one note that I found very interesting, and it has changed the way I approach cutting an edit. We were working on the opening scene, where Cole is seated at the piano. The shot was over five minutes long when we started. While watching, I remember wanting to cut at many points. When we discussed the idea, Tim agreed that the viewer would be waiting for a cut or a change. But he liked the idea of keeping the scene going so long that you forget you’re watching a film. You’re living with the character. Now I find it interesting to consider how long I can hold on to a shot rather than how fast I can cut out.
What NLE did you use for the edit? Did any tool within it particularly come in handy?
I cut Taurus using Adobe Premiere Pro 2021, which I set up in my living/dining room. Tim and I both live in Brooklyn, so he would come over, and we’d work together. It was my first work-at-home situation with a client.
I suppose my biggest “tool” was not in my NLE system but, rather, my Apple TV, which allowed us to mirror my desktop so Tim could hang out on the couch. It worked for us and gave us a wee bit of physical space.
Did you have an assistant editor on this one? How did you work with them?
I worked closely with our post consultant and editor, Ben Shearn — or at least as close as two people could work on opposite coasts. It was a very post-COVID-world situation, as Ben was in Los Angeles while I worked with the director in Brooklyn. We each had matching removable drives. Our workflow was entirely remote, using Dropbox to transport the project and footage. I shared a few scenes to have Ben play with sound design, which he did beautifully.
Finally, do you have a favorite scene from the film?
My favorite scene is actually a sequence of scenes that took place before, during and after Cole’s Apple studio interview. It’s an emotional roller coaster that moves from comedy to drama to tenderness to an actual interview captured with numerous cameras. It was a pleasure to cut and weave those scenes together.
That sequence hinges on the fight between Cole and his assistant, played by the fantastic actress Maddie Hasson. It’s one of the few scenes in this film that has a lot of edits. The power comes from seeing people’s reactions. It’s a scene that captures real people in situations they don’t know how to handle, lashing out at the people they’re closest to. I think that’s a relatable human experience, and that’s what creating a movie is really about.
