# Pietro Scalia

Pietro Scalia (born March 17, 1960) is an Italian-American film editor. He won the Best Film Editing award at the 64th Academy Awards for his work on the film JFK, sharing the award with Joe Hutshing, and at the 74th Academy Awards for Black Hawk Down.

## Early life and education

He was born in Catania, Sicily, and later emigrated to Aarau, Switzerland as a child with his parents. There, he attended Swiss-German schools until high school. After graduation, he decided to move to the United States to pursue his college education. He spent two years at the University at Albany, The State University of New York, after which he was accepted as an undergraduate at UCLA. The Swiss government's scholarship helped him through five years of UCLA and in 1985 he earned his Master of Fine Arts from the UCLA Film School.

## Career

After his MFA, a couple of short films, a screenplay, two video documentaries, and a 16 mm thesis film, he returned to Europe to pursue his desire to become a film director. Shortly afterward, he returned to the United States on a work visa to pursue his career in Hollywood as a film editor. He began as an editor on Andrei Konchalovsky's Shy People. Later, he received an assistant editor position working with Oliver Stone. However, it was not easy to get the job. Scalia admired Oliver Stone's work, especially Salvador, so he decided he wanted to work with that director. He got a contact through the sister of one of the assistant editors. Scalia worked on such films as Wall Street (1987) and Talk Radio (1988). He later continued as an associate editor on Born on the Fourth of July and as an additional editor on The Doors.
After five years of working with Oliver Stone, Scalia was finally asked to fully edit a film. It was JFK, for which Scalia and his co-editor, Joe Hutshing, were honored with an Academy Award for Film Editing. Craig McKay was nominated the same year for editing The Silence of the Lambs. Scalia edited a sequel to the movie, Hannibal ten years later. He also received a BAFTA Award and A.C.E. Award for his work.
Pietro Scalia worked with Bernardo Bertolucci on Little Buddha (1993) and Stealing Beauty (1996), as well as with Sam Raimi on The Quick and the Dead (1995). He earned two more Academy Award nominations: first in 1997 for Good Will Hunting and second in 2000 for Gladiator, and a second Academy Award for director Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. He also edited G.I. Jane and a pilot episode of a TV series American Gothic in late 1990s.
In the recent years, Scalia edited such movies as Levity (2003) directed by Ed Solomon, a documentary entitled Ashes and Snow, The Great Raid directed by John Dahl, and Memoirs of a Geisha, one of the most publicized movies of 2005, directed by Rob Marshall. Scalia also worked on Hannibal Rising, a movie that tells a story of a teenaged Hannibal and his young sister Mischa Lecter after their parents are killed in World War II. It was directed by Peter Webber and released in 2007. He has a long lasting relationship with Ridley Scott working on movies such as American Gangster in 2007, Body of Lies in 2008 and Robin Hood in 2010. Most recently he worked with director Ridley Scott on The Martian, released in October 2015. In May 2017, Scalia replaced editor Chris Dickens on the film Solo: A Star Wars Story, which was released in May 2018.

## Personal life

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Teresa Sparks and two children, Julian and Maia Scalia.

## Filmography

Editor :
| Year | Film | Director | Notes |
| 1990 | Megaville | Peter Lehner | |
| 1991 | JFK | Oliver Stone | Fifth collaboration with Oliver Stone |
| 1992 | Jackpot | Mario Orfini | |
| 1993 | Little Buddha | Bernardo Bertolucci | First collaboration with Bernardo Bertolucci |
| 1995 | The Quick and the Dead | Sam Raimi | |
| 1996 | Stealing Beauty | Bernardo Bertolucci | Second collaboration with Bernardo Bertolucci |
| 1997 | G.I. Jane | Ridley Scott | First collaboration with Ridley Scott |
| 1997 | Good Will Hunting | Gus Van Sant | First collaboration with Gus Van Sant |
| 1998 | The Big Hit | Che-Kirk Wong | |
| 1998 | Playing by Heart | Willard Carroll | |
| 2000 | Gladiator | Ridley Scott | Second collaboration with Ridley Scott |
| 2001 | Hannibal | Ridley Scott | Third collaboration with Ridley Scott |
| 2001 | Black Hawk Down | Ridley Scott | Fourth collaboration with Ridley Scott |
| 2003 | Levity | Ed Solomon | |
| 2003 | Masked and Anonymous | Larry Charles | |
| 2005 | The Great Raid | John Dahl | |
| 2005 | Memoirs of a Geisha | Rob Marshall | |
| 2007 | Hannibal Rising | Peter Webber | |
| 2007 | American Gangster | Ridley Scott | Fifth collaboration with Ridley Scott |
| 2008 | Body of Lies | Ridley Scott | Sixth collaboration with Ridley Scott |
| 2010 | Kick-Ass | Matthew Vaughn | |
| 2010 | Robin Hood | Ridley Scott | Seventh collaboration with Ridley Scott |
| 2012 | Prometheus | Ridley Scott | Eighth collaboration with Ridley Scott |
| 2012 | The Amazing Spider-Man | Marc Webb | First collaboration with Marc Webb |
| 2013 | The Counselor | Ridley Scott | Ninth collaboration with Ridley Scott |
| 2014 | The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | Marc Webb | Second collaboration with Marc Webb |
| 2015 | Child 44 | Daniel Espinosa | First collaboration with Daniel Espinosa |
| 2015 | The Sea of Trees | Gus Van Sant | Third collaboration with Gus Van Sant |
| 2015 | The Martian | Ridley Scott | Tenth collaboration with Ridley Scott |
| 2016 | 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi | Michael Bay | First collaboration with Michael Bay |
| 2017 | Alien: Covenant | Ridley Scott | Eleventh collaboration with Ridley Scott |
| 2018 | Solo: A Star Wars Story | Ron Howard | |
| 2022 | Ambulance | Michael Bay | Second collaboration with Michael Bay |
| 2022 | Morbius | Daniel Espinosa | Second collaboration with Daniel Espinosa |
| 2022 | The Gray Man | Russo brothers | |
| 2023 | Ferrari | Michael Mann | |
Editorial department :
| Year | Film | Director | Role | Notes |
| 1987 | Shy People | Andrei Konchalovsky | First assistant editor | |
| 1987 | Wall Street | Oliver Stone | Assistant editor | First collaboration with Oliver Stone |
| 1988 | Cameron's Closet | Armand Mastroianni | Assistant editor | |
| 1988 | Haunted Summer | Ivan Passer | Assistant editor | |
| 1988 | Talk Radio | Oliver Stone | Assistant editor | Second collaboration with Oliver Stone |
| 1989 | Born on the Fourth of July | Oliver Stone | Associate editor | Third collaboration with Oliver Stone |
| 1991 | The Doors | Oliver Stone | Additional editor | Fourth collaboration with Oliver Stone |
| 1995 | White Man's Burden | Desmond Nakano | Consulting editor | |
Actor :
| Year | Film | Director | Role |
| 2004 | Incident at Loch Ness | Zak Penn | Party Guest |
Camera and electrical department :
| Year | Film | Director | Role |
| 1985 | Over the Summer | Teresa Sparks | Assistant cameraman |
Music department :
| Year | Film | Director | Role | Notes |
| 2001 | Hannibal | Ridley Scott | Music producer | Uncredited |
| 2013 | The Counselor | Ridley Scott | Music supervisor | |
Producer :
| Year | Film | Director | Credit |
| 2003 | Masked and Anonymous | Larry Charles | Executive producer |
| 2015 | The Sea of Trees | Gus Van Sant | Co-producer |
| 2022 | Morbius | Daniel Espinosa | Associate producer |
Sound department :
| Year | Film | Director | Role |
| 1985 | Over the Summer | Teresa Sparks | Sound editor |
Thanks :
| Year | Film | Director | Role | Notes |
| 2005 | The Matador | Richard Shepard | The producers would like to thank | |
| 2007 | Battle in Seattle | Stuart Townsend | The producers would like to thank | |
| 2008 | The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor | Rob Cohen | Special thanks | |
| 2010 | Repo Men | Miguel Sapochnik | Special thanks | First collaboration with Miguel Sapochnik |
| 2011 | The Adjustment Bureau | George Nolfi | Thanks | |
| 2012 | Quartet | Dustin Hoffman | With thanks to | |
| 2012 | Promised Land | Gus Van Sant | Special thanks | Second collaboration with Gus Van Sant |
| 2013 | Elysium | Neill Blomkamp | Thanks | |
| 2016 | Grimsby | Louis Leterrier | Special thanks | |
| 2016 | Gold | Stephen Gaghan | Special thanks | |
| 2021 | Firebird | Peeter Rebane | Special thanks | |
| 2021 | Finch | Miguel Sapochnik | The filmmakers gratefully thank | Second collaboration with Miguel Sapochnik |

### Documentaries

Editor :
| Year | Film | Director |
| 2005 | Ashes and Snow | Gregory Colbert |
| 2007 | The 11th Hour | Leila ConnersNadia Conners |
| 2009 | 40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy | Robert Lemelson |
Editorial department :
| Year | Film | Role |
| 2007 | Breaking the Ice | Supervising editor |
Thanks :
| Year | Film | Director | Role |
| 2010 | Stairway from Hell | Christian Bunz | Special thanks |

### Shorts

Editor :
| Year | Film | Director |
| 2012 | Ghost Recon: Alpha | François AlauxHervé de Crécy |
Thanks :
| Year | Film | Director | Role |
| 2006 | The Showdown | Antony SestitoFulvio Sestito | Special thanks |
| 2012 | Broken | Alessandra Pasquino | Thanks |

### TV series

Editor :
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1995 | American Gothic | 1 episode |
Thanks :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2002 | AFP: American Fighter Pilot | Special thanks | 2 episodes |

## Awards and accolades
### Oscars and Oscar nominations

* 1992 – JFK (won w/ co-editor, Joe Hutshing)
* 1998 – Good Will Hunting (nominated)
* 2001 – Gladiator (nominated)
* 2002 – Black Hawk Down (won)

### Other

* 2023 — Vision Award, Locarno Film Festival.
* 2001 — Best Editing (Gladiator), BAFTA.
* 1993 — Best Editing, BAFTA.