Ross Lincoln is a Deadline contributor.
The 63rd annual ACE Eddie Awards, hosted by actor/comedian David Cross, is underway at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The American Cinema Editors event honors the best in film, television, and documentary editing in nine categories. During the ceremony, four time Oscar- and ACE-nominated Richard Marks, A.C.E. (Broadcast News, As Good As It Gets) and Emmy-nominated Larry Silk, A.C.E. (Pumping Iron, American Dream) will be honored with lifetime career achievement awards for their work, while Steven Spielberg will be presented with the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year award.
Among tonight’s nominees from film, Spielberg’s Lincoln, fellow Best Picture hopefuls Argo, Zero Dark Thirty and Life Of Pi, and Skyfall are nominated for Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic). Lincoln editor and ACE nominee Michael Kahn spoke with Deadline earlier tonight. “When you’re honored by your peers you feel good about it, because they know what I do”, Kahn said. Kahn received the ACE Editors Lifetime Career Achievement Award in 2011. He has been nominated for the Oscar 8 times and all three of his wins came from Spielberg films (Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Schindler’s List, and Saving Private Ryan). Kahn also will compete for the Best Editing Oscar next week. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Les Misérables, Moonrise Kingdom, Silver Linings Playbook and Ted are nominated for Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy or Musical), while Brave, Wreck-It-Ralph, Rise Of The Guardians and Frankenweenie are up for Best Edited Animated Feature Film. TV nominees include episodes from Girls, Modern Family and Nurse Jackie for Best Edited Half-Hour Series. Breaking Bad, Nashville, Mad Men, and Smash have noms for Best Edited One-Hour Series for Non-Commercial TV.
The annual ACE Eddies are voted on by 700+ members of the organization. Since the ACE membership boasts a very high crossover within its membership of Motion Picture Academy members, it is considered a very accurate bellwether for the eventual Oscar outcome.
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The show kicked off with a montage featuring some of the nominated films’ most iconic scenes, along with a list of the editors who worked on them.
While the room clearly loved all the nominees, audience favorites did seem to be revealed early on. Breaking Bad‘is a clear fav among ACE membership: during the show’s opening run down of categories and nominees, the show’s nominations were met with cheers and applause. Similar applause greeted the editors of Homeland, but Silver Linings Playbook appeared to be the biggest favorite, with shouts and cheers clearly outshining the other noms.
Related: 63rd ACE Awards Nominations
Deadline’s Jen Yamato contributed to this story.
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