Jill Bilcock – Dancing the Invisible directs the spotlight on a profession that is often forgotten, and a woman who has materialized directors’ visions for decades.

Text: Caroline Widenheim
Photo: Ola Kjelbye

Few editors have made such a noticeable impression on the film world like the Australian Jill Bilcock. She has contributed to the groundbreaking style in the director Baz Luhrmann’s films, from his debut film Strictly Ballroom (1992) to Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Moulin Rouge! (2001), for which Bilcock was nominated for an Oscar.

In the three films, Bilcock’s skillful craft and refined narrative style is combined with Luhrmann’s explosive aesthetics. From the beginning, Jill Bilcock was part of the Australian film industry that emerged in the 70’s. She came into film editing through advertising, and became through the production company Film House one of Australia’s most requested commercial editors. When her colleagues and previous uni friends started to approach the world of the feature film, they wanted Bilcock to edit their films. The first feature film production she worked on was Fred Schepisis’ Ett skrik i mörkret (1988) with Meryl Streep in the main role.

– Back then I was basically unknown in the film industry. That someone without a more solid CV would get such an assignment would never happen today, says Jill Bilcock.

The film was the starting point of a career that, without Baz Luhrmann’s productions, includes  Muriel’s wedding (1994), Elizabeth (1998) and Road to Perdition (2002).

Similar to other editors, she is still unknown outside industry circles. At least she was when the Swedish director Axel Grigor met her at a seminar for film editors in Melbourne.

– She started to tell stories from her life – that she had been an extra in Indian film in the 70’s, lived in the mountains in Kasmir just before the war broke out, worked on all these films… It was like she had had nine lives. I understood directly that it would be an interesting film. About her as a person, and about what an editor actually can do. Many don’t know, since the editor always disappears behind the director. It is a pity, because editing is about being able to tell a story, says Axel Grigor.

After the seminar in Melbourne, a long campaign to convince Jill Bilcock to participate in a documentary about her life continued for many years. The result finally became Jill Bilcock – Dancing the Invisible. The film chronologically follows her long career, and also let many of the directors she has worked for talk about what she has ment to them.

When you hear Jill Bilcock talk about her work, it becomes evident that a film editor can not be hungry for attention. When a film reaches the audience, it is the director and the actors who are in the spotlight. Next in line is probably the cinematographer, but the rest of the team is rarely seen.

– The bond between a director and editor is very strong, says Jill Bilcock. But it tends to disappear as soon as the film is finished and they are sent up to the podium.

Have you ever felt… 

– That I want to throw them down from there?

Maybe! Do you ever get enough credit for your work? 

– I think that I have been lucky in that regard. I have worked on films where the editing have been hard to overlook, like Romeo + Juliet. Then my work is seen. If I only had made films like Road to Perdition, which is very well edited without the editing directly stands out, no one would probably have known who I was.

How early in the process are you involved in a film? 

– With Baz films, I have been very involved already from the idea stage. But usually I get involved in the first reading of the manuscript, together with actors and the rest of the team. Then, I am involved during the production stage to ensure that we get material that works. Sometimes I can see a certain scene that needs to be redone, or some lines that should be moved to a different scene to support the narrative. But preferably, I am not there on the actual set.

Why not? 

– I do not want to be affected by the knowledge that a scene has been particularly expensive or difficult to make. I can not be to emotionally involved when I make decisions about what should be removed. Rather, I want to let myself be absorbed by the vision of the team – an amazing decor, light setting or acting contribution. Then, I do not need to know how difficult it actually was to arrange light in the scene, or that someone worked with food poisoning that day.

What is necessary for you to demand a scene to be re-made? 

– Sometimes it can be a character that needs a more apparent development. It has to be a clear beginning and end, when the audience is on the emotional journey. Sometimes the scenes that has been recorded are not good enough. When I worked on How to Make an American Quilt (1995) the first scene was supposed to be set outdoors. But when it blew terribly that day, and when no one performed well. It finally had to be made indoors. It is really not a big deal, but in that case it was Steven Spielberg who produced the film, and his wife had been in the first outdoor scene. So the big conflict was who should tell Steven that his wife had been edited out.

Jill Bilcock – Dancing the Invisible is screened on several occasions at the festival.  Read more