Chris Tellefsen’s New York Story
Seasoned editor looks back on the lessons learned from Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan
By Chris Tellefsen
URL: http://www.moviemaker.com/editing/article/chris_tellefsen_editor_lessons_20071119/
In 1988, early in my career, I received a feature script that excited and intrigued me. It was an odd, timeless story about New York debutantes and their escorts which offered a surprising take on the human condition, examining the virtually unexplored phenomenon of downward mobility among the upper class. It asked if privilege could be a curse to ambition and success by telling a story about people with whom we are rarely put in a position to genuinely empathize. This world was alien to me outside of the George Cukor films of Philip Barry plays like Holiday and The Philadelphia Story. The fascinating script for Metropolitan was entirely different.