CASE STUDY: COUP 53
WALTER MURCH
A Hollywood legend, Walter Murch made his name with his work on ‘70s classics Apocalypse Now, The Godfather and American Graffiti in the role of editor and sound designer. He has been nominated for nine Oscars and won three: for Sound on Apocalypse Now and an unprecedented Oscar double, for Sound Mixing and Editing, with The English Patient in 1996 (the first digital Editing Oscar). In 1975 he also landed a double BAFTA - Sound Track and Editing - for The Conversation. While being renowned for his work
on scripted productions and having worked closely with director Francis Ford Coppola on several films, he’s also worked on documentary features. Immediately before Coup 53, he edited Particle Fever, about the search for the Higgs Boson. Murch’s celebrated book on the
craft of film-editing In the Blink of an Eye takes a dive into the aesthetics and practical concerns of cutting film. With a keen interest in technology,
Murch introduced Hollywood to the idea of editing films on the non-linear Mac based program Final Cut Pro, rather than the Avid. Having started his work as an editor cutting with traditional film, he’s kept ahead of the curve and helped to develop Adobe Premiere Pro during the making of Coup 53.
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televisual.com Summer 2023 Walter Murch in London SECRETS IN THE EDIT
IRANIAN DIRECTOR TAGHI AMIRANI AND CO-WRITER AND EDITOR WALTER MURCH COLLABORATED ON REVELATORY FEATURE DOC COUP 53 WITH ASSOCIATE EDITOR EVELYN FRANKS BFE. A FOLLOW-UP FILM, CHARTING CONTROVERSY IN DOCUMENTARY CIRCLES, IS CLOSE TO COMPLETION.
Controversial feature documentary Coup 53, which revealed how the CIA and MI6 changed the history of Iran, is back in the headlines. With this summer marking 70 years since the 1953 coup that deposed democratically elected prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh, a follow-up film will look at the legal tussle that took place around the documentary itself. The original film was received
to resounding acclaim, from both press and revered filmmakers, including Oliver Stone. Werner
Herzog and Michael Moore. Director Mike Leigh described it as “a masterpiece of humanity, thoroughness and consummate film craft.” The coda is called Coup 53.1, Texts Lies and Audiotape. The original feature, released in
2019, is still screening to full houses, with the film’s Iranian director Taghi Amirani and co-writer and editor Walter Murch sharing the story behind its creation. They describe it as “an intricate Persian carpet, tightly woven and neatly structured.” When Amirani first met Murch, in
New York in 2012, he was still at the very early stages of development, pulling together threads of the story and looking for funding. Amirani was a huge fan of Murch.
He vividly remembers the first time he saw the opening sequence of Apocalypse Now in 1979, where Murch was both sound designer and editor. When they met again, Murch was
working on the documentary Particle Fever, about the search for the Higgs
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