‘Poker Face’ editor Bob Ducsay: ‘Our job is to honor the screenplay and the vision of the director’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
One of the challenges of being director Rian Johnson’s go-to editor is that you can wind up having to juggle multiple projects at once. Such was the case for Bob Ducsay (pronounced Doo-say), who was tasked with starting editing work on the new Peacock comedy-mystery series “Poker Face” at the same time be was finishing the same job on Johnson’s feature “Glass Onion.” “It was obviously challenging for the whole team to take on this project while finishing the feature, but at the same time it was a blast to do,” Ducsay stresses. “Rian is very adept at dealing with a lot of things at the same time.” And so, his editor needs to be adept as well, something Ducsay has learned from working with “Poker Face” creator Johnson on “Knives Out,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Glass Onion” and now “Poker Face,” which stars Natasha Lyonne as a woman who can tell someone is guilty (or not) of murder just by looking at their face – hence, the title. Ducsay spoke to Gold Derby as part of our “Meet the Experts” editors roundtable. Watch our exclusive video interview above.
“Poker Face” is done in the 1970s style of mysteries like “Columbo” in which we see the murder and the perpetrator before the detective (or someone playing detective) enters the equation – making it less a “whodunnit” and a “howcatchem.” In terms of the differences in editing a show like that vs. say a conventional procedural, Ducsay notes, “The (script) does a lot of the heavy lifting up front, as does the casting, but the truth is that you need to keep the audience engaged – in this case until Natasha, as her character Charlie, appears, because in our show she isn’t in the first act of the episode.
More from GoldDerby
SEE‘Poker Face’: Which 19 comedy guest acting contenders are entered for 2023 Emmys? [Exclusive]
“I really think my job (as an editor), no matter what the material, is to honor the screenplay/teleplay and the vision of the director. So much of what we do is really based on the script and also the material that’s presented in the dailies. At the same time, you really have to find ways to elevate everything that you do. I think one of the things that are particularly difficult with murder mysteries, or these sorts of genres, is that what you’re telling the audience at a particular time is actually very, very critical where it shows up. Sometimes that involves eliminating material that in the script you thought would be very useful for the audience to know, but actually in the end (winds) up tipping the audience off. That’s something you have to be extremely cognizant of when you’re cutting a show like ‘Poker Face’.”
The episode that Ducsay submitted for Emmy consideration is the 9th of 10 and carries the colorful title “Escape from Shit Mountain” (a play on the 1975 Disney flick “Escape from Witch Mountain”). It’s a highly-stylized piece of business with especially dark undertones, directed by Johnson guest starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu. He called the experience of editing it “fantastic” and noted that in fact “Shit Mountain” was the first episode “Poker Face” photographed for the season, which he believes “created some complexities.”
Complexities?
SEEWatch Rian Johnson’s ‘Glass Onion’ with director’s commentary on Netflix
“Yes, because Rian and Natasha needed to understand the (evolution_ of the character right at the outset without the benefit of having shot the pilot episode first. And I think it’s editorially challenging in the same way, in that we’re trying to figure out the tone and exactly how the show works. Obviously, we were well aware that this was far and away the darkest episode, and a little bit of an outlier as well, but we just sort of went with faith that this would all with with the rest of the series.” The episode has elements of “The Shining” and “Psycho” and “Friday the 13th” baked in – not accidentally – and Ducsay’s editing is especially precise in terms of pacing and style. There is also a lot of time without music, “and I think it gives it a very stark, isolated feeling.”
In Episode 9, and throughout the series, the thing that’s foremost in Ducsay’s mind is making sure he’s put himself in the position of the audience. “It’s about making sure you understand exactly what they’re getting out of it, so you don’t give something away that’s going to put them ahead of where you want them to be,” he concludes.
All episodes of “Poker Face” are available to stream on Peacock.
PREDICT the 2023 Emmy nominees through July 12
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
Best of GoldDerby
Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
