Editor Joe Walker has had a career for many years editing films and finding rhythm of films that resist easy categorization. He began his career as a sound editor at the BBC and trained as a classical composer has gone on to becoming a go-to collaborator for two very different filmmakers, Steve McQueen and Denis Villeneuve. Steve McQueen is known for editing Hunger, Shame, and 12 Years a Slave while Villeneuve is known for Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and the Dune films. Walker has been Oscar-nominated for his work on 12 Years a Slave and Arrival and has finally won the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Film Editing in 2022 for Dune.
Walker has been in discussion with The Hollywood Reporter at the TorunCamerimage film festival about completing Dune: Part Three, his collaborations with Villeneuve and McQueen and his next gig, which is going to be on Villeneuve’s upcoming James Bond film. Walker has stated that they had finished cutting back in the summer and that there is another two or three months of dubbing, writing the music and finishing the visual effects which is a “big part of the process.” He has also stated during his talks with The Hollywood Reporter that the film is designed for IMAX but it has to be compatible with the other format and that they both have to work. They are working on different framings on set and mastering both aspect ratios so there will be different screens where people can see it in IMAX and the 2.20 version that most people will see.
Other conversations that Walker had discussed with The Hollywood Reporter was talks about the approach of Dune: Part Three being different from the first two films, as well as how much of the Dune university was created digitally and how much is being seen that is actually built and filmed. There was also discussion of the pacing of the new film, as Denis has a tendency toward more contemplative filmmaking as well as his relationship with Denis as they’ve work on multiple films together, as well as his background in music and how it affects the way Walker approaches editing. There was also conversations about sound as well as approaching sound that makes it hard to reproduce with AI, and eventual talks about working with Steve McQueen.
There was also discussion with Walker about working with McQueen. There was discussion about Walker first working with McQueen on Hunger as well as their future works together and how Hunger made the collaboration work. There were also continued talks about working with McQueen and the approaches he made on other films. There were also conversations about Walker working with Denis on James Bond. They also discussed with Walker about him and Denis working on James Bond and how they will approach the classic movie. More details about the conversations with Walker and The Hollywood Reporter can be found here:
