ABSTRACT
The moment an actor sits in front of an editing screen and carefully watches what is going on, and in particular which take is preferred to another one, is the moment her screen acting improves. The British actor Ian McKellen noted that he was puzzled why everyone except him seemed to be whispering their lines when he was acting in the filmed version of Trevor Nunn's stage production of Macbeth. He went into the editing room and then realized that they were all doing screen performances, and he was still doing his successful stage performance, which came across as just shouting. The authors noted McKellen's more recent whispered performance as Gandalf in the film The Lord of the Rings, as it showed how well he has learned his lesson. The editor is not there to be fair or to give each actor an equal opportunity on-screen; the editor is there to make the best possible drama.
