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Editor – Randy Trager, ACE
NIMONA editor, Randy Trager, ACE makes a return trip to The Rough Cut to share the inside story of how his latest film went from dead on the cutting room floor to live and loud on Netflix. Beginning its development life under the banner of Blue Sky studios and its parent company 21st Century Fox, NIMONA and the rest of the Blue Sky team were moved under Disney during their acquisition of Fox. The film’s rocky development road seemingly ended in April 2021 when Disney shuttered Blue Sky. With her relentless, never-say-die attitude, NIMONA found new life again with Annapurna Pictures and Netflix.
NIMONA tells the tale of Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), a knight in a futuristic medieval world, who is framed for a crime he didn’t commit. The only one who can help him prove his innocence? Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), a mischievous teen with a taste for mayhem – who also happens to be a shapeshifting creature Ballister has been trained to destroy. But with the entire kingdom out to get him, Nimona’s the best (and technically the only) sidekick Ballister can hope for. And as the lines between heroes, villains, and monsters start to blur, the two of them set out to wreak serious havoc – for Ballister to clear his name once and for all, and for Nimona to…just wreak serious havoc.
RANDY TRAGER, ACE
Randy began his editorial journey as an assistant editor on features such as NURSE BETTY (2000), WHAT WOMEN WANT (2000) and MEN IN BLACK II (2002). He then made the move to working in feature animation as an assistant on ROBOTS (2005) until he got bumped up to the editor’s chair on RIO (2011), THE PEANUTS MOVIE (2015) and SPIES IN DISGUISE (2019)
Editing Nimona
In our discussion with NIMONA editor Randy Trager ACE, we talk about:
- How to pack and unpack an animated feature
- Keeping the tone light while keeping it real
- The virtual future of animation studios
- Voice over and over and over again
- Breaking the law with needle drops
The Credits
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