In Mt Zion (2013), singer Stan Walker made his acting debut alongside Temuera Morrison as a young musician who dreams of his band playing support for Bob Marley in his 1979 Auckland concert.
Director Tearepa Kahu shot the film in Pukekohe, with Paul Maxwell on editing duties.
From drunk sound designers and Sherlock Holmes stand-ins to coffee paintings and premiers, the life and legends of veteran NZ film editor Paul Maxwell is the basis for a rip-roaring cinematic experience.
Maxwell’s latest film, A Mistake, which “may or may not” be his last in thecutting room, sees him reunite with good friend and collaborator Christine Jeffs. Mitchell Hageman catches up with him ahead of the premier in his adopted hometown and reflects on over 50 years of him “never working a day” in his life.
When Paul Maxwell first started editing films, it took three days to be able to try something new with a scene. Now it takes about three minutes.
“We worked with bits of film that we would snip up and stick together. Making changes was quite complicated,” he recalled.
“As soon as computers came along, the whole game changed. You could try 100 different things in a day whereas before if you wanted to try something different, you had to wait three days to get new prints.”
Plenty has changed during his over 50-year career, but never his unwavering love for the craft and its people.
Now a Napier resident, Maxwell could be considered one of the New Zealand film editing scene’s best and brightest, working on films like Sione’s Wedding, The Tattooist, and Mt Zionto name a few.
“I’ve never worked a day in my life. It’s a hobby as much as anything.”
Originally from the UK by way of Sydney for a few years, he discovered Aotearoa after doing promotional work for our national airline.
While Sydney was “cutthroat” with a fair bit of “backstabbing” happening within the editing community, it was also where Maxwell got his start as a sound designer in a rather unconventional way.
“There was a moment in Sydney when I was an assistant sound designer on a British TV series. The sound designer would turn up every morning and, after half an hour, say he was going to buy a newspaper.
“He’d come back with a bottle of vodka, and then after another half an hour say he wasn’t feeling too good and go home. That’s how I started doing sound design.”
Napier-based editor and NZ film legend Paul Maxwell with pictures of his father (left) and a coffee painting by director Welby Ings. Photo / Mitchell Hageman
Filmmaking was in Maxwell’s blood from a young age. His father, a director based mainly in Britain, worked most of his career on TV series.
“One time, he was directing something, and the small part of Sherlock Holmes didn’t turn up, so he took it on himself.”
With dreams of eventually becoming a cinematographer in New Zealand, Maxwell’s first Kiwi job ended up being in sound design for one of the most prolific films of the 80s, Geoff Murphy’s Utu.
“I went to the premier of that. There were a bunch of us, and someone said if a bomb goes off in here, we’d lose three-quarters of New Zealand’s editing staff.
“It gave us a lot of scope to do new things in sound.”
At one point in his career, Maxwell joined a company’s editing department as an apprentice, with hopes to eventually move into cinematography.
“After a few days, I thought, nah, I love this. I’m staying here.
“What I love about the NZ Film industry is that everyone is very supportive of each other. There’s a real comradery because If I need help with something, I can easily ring someone up.”
His latest project, A Mistake, sees him team up again with good friend and collaborator, local director Christine Jeffs, who also has a co-editing credit at Maxwell’s request. There was “no hesitation” about the pair teaming up again.
“I cut her first film, Rain (2001), with her, which was actually the first full-length feature I edited. We worked together a lot on TV commercials.
“She trusted me, and I loved working with her.”
Maxwell described the new film as detailing a “personal and professional fallout from an error during emergency surgery.” It stars Hollywood heavyweight Elizabeth Banks as surgeon Beth Taylor and is based on a book by Carl Shuker.
“I’m there to help the director find the best out of the material available, and in some cases, help write a new scene or re-shoot something to improve the project,” Maxwell said.
“No matter who it is, I always learn something.”
Maxwell said computers and non-linear editing have changed the game when it came to workflow, having experienced significant changes in the editing suite over the years.
“It doesn’t make it quicker, but it gives you more scope,” he said.
“When you’re shooting on film, there’s a lot of rehearsal times and only two or three takes. Nowadays, they shoot everything and do about 20 takes from several different angles, so the choice becomes huge.”
His years of experience have also given him the opportunity to work with many first-time directors and those with whom he connected deeply.
“To me, it’s not so much about the project but the people I work with. Every project I’ve worked on, I’ve loved doing it.”
“When you’re young, you take anything, but once you get experience, you can start to work with people you like, which I’ve managed to do most of the time.”
“Instead of doing a storyboard or writing shots about notes, he did what he called mood paintings for every scene and he did them using coffee.”
Maxwell dislikes using the word “retirement”, so he hasn’t decided if A Mistake would be his final project.
“It might. There are plenty of good young editors in this country now who are probably more technically proficient,” he said.
And advice for those up-and-comers was simple.
“Connect with people. Do stuff for free if you have to; go and make coffee on set or anything you can do to meet people.”
“If you turn up on time, you’re doing well. It’s about being persistent without being annoying.”
Mitchell Hageman joined Hawke’s Bay Today in January 2023. From his Napier base, he writes regularly on social issues, arts and culture, and the community. He has a particular love for stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
