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http://www.movieline.com/2009/11/movieline-and-hamiltons-behind-the-camera-awards.php

The Movieline/Hamilton Behind the Camera Awards: A Night for Appreciation

FTA



There was an overwhelming feeling of genuine appreciation, admiration and unfettered sentimentality in that room, and none more so than by Christoph Waltz's presentation of the Behind the Camera Lifetime Achievement to editor Sally Menke, who has edited all of Quentin Tarantino's films. After a moving videotaped message from the director in which he described just how much of a collaboration between director and editor the filmmaking process really is, the Austrian actor took the stage. (To give you a sense of the mutual love fest going on, earlier in the evening, Super Producer of the Year winner Lawrence Bender had described how Waltz had single-handedle saved Inglourious Basterds, by being able to tackle Tarantino's trilingual part not just ably, but brilliantly.)

When it came Waltz's turn to speak, he told a simple story: Trusting his Austrian instincts, he timed his performance in 3/4, or waltz, time: "One two three, one two three." He never told anyone. When he saw the final cut, he realized that Menke had edited the scene in question in 3/4 time. He welled up as he explained how their unspoken symbiosis meant that he had truly felt "understood."

When I asked Kruger last night what she could tell me about the film, she said, "Not that much! I mean, it's Liam Neeson starring, and I play an illegal immigrant from Serbia to Germany. It'll be a cool part. Another accent to master!"

Kruger was much more effusive when discussing the relationship between Quentin Tarantino and producer Lawrence Bender, who was honored last night. "I have to be honest with you, I've never witnessed quite such a fusion and faith between a producer and a director," she said. "It's one of those old school relationships - like O. Selznick and Hitchcock, for example - where they just rely on each other."

Kruger's happy to have had the opportunity to work with them, and she told me the film has given her career some new juice. "I think Quentin certainly pushed me in certain directions and made me explore things that I wasn't sure I was capable of. I think [with] the next movie, I will be even more into trying new things."