# Peter Honess

Peter Honess (born 1946) is an English film editor with more than thirty film credits dating from 1973. Honess received the 1997 BAFTA Award for Best Editing for his work on L.A. Confidential.

## Biography

Honess was educated at Queen's College, Taunton from 1956-1963. He then became an apprentice editor at the United Kingdom branch of MGM, where his father was working. He moved to the United States in 1971, where he received his first editing credit for It's Alive! (1974), a cult horror film about a couple that become parents of a monster baby. When Honess returned to the United Kingdom, he was again employed as an assistant editor. In all, Honess spent fifteen years as an assistant. Honess acknowledges the mentoring by British editors Tony Gibbs (Tom Jones) and Thelma Connell (Alfie), "Thelma was quite an extraordinary woman. I was absorbed by how she edited. She cut very, very fast. That was also true of Tony. He'd cut the film in his head at dailies." After a ten-year hiatus, Honess was hired to edit the films Memed, My Hawk (1984) and Champion (1984), and thereafter he has worked regularly as an editor.
Honess's recent filmography includes Rob Roy (1995), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Next Best Thing (2000), The Fast and the Furious (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Troy (2004), Aeon Flux (2005), Poseidon (2006), The Golden Compass (2007), I Love You, Beth Cooper (2008), Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2009), Burlesque (Cher's performance - 2010), Romeo & Juliet (2012), and Words and Pictures (2013).

## Awards

Honess was nominated for an ACE Eddie Award for documentary editing for Following the Tundra Wolf (1974). In addition to its BAFTA Award for Best Editing, L. A. Confidential was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing, an ACE Eddie Award, and the Satellite Award. The film was also included in a 2012 listing of the 75 best edited films of all time compiled by the Motion Picture Editors Guild based on a survey of its members. Honess has been elected to membership in the American Cinema Editors.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 1973 | Hell Up in Harlem | Larry Cohen | Co-edited with Franco Guerri |
| 1974 | It's Alive | Larry Cohen | |
| 1979 | Yesterday's Hero | Neil Leifer | Assistant editor |
| 1980 | The Dogs of War | John Irvin | Assistant editor |
| 1981 | Ragtime | Miloš Forman | Assistant editor |
| 1983 | The Hunger | Tony Scott | Assistant editor |
| 1984 | Champions | John Irvin | |
| 1984 | Memed, My Hawk | Peter Ustinov | |
| 1984 | Electric Dreams | Steve Barron | |
| 1985 | Plenty | Fred Schepisi | |
| 1986 | Highlander | Russell Mulcahy | |
| 1987 | The Believers | John Schlesinger | |
| 1988 | Madame Sousatzka | John Schlesinger | |
| 1989 | Next of Kin | John Irvin | |
| 1990 | The Russia House | Fred Schepisi | |
| 1991 | Ricochet | Russell Mulcahy | |
| 1992 | Mr. Baseball | Fred Schepisi | |
| 1993 | The Real McCoy | Russell Mulcahy | |
| 1993 | Six Degrees of Separation | Fred Schepisi | |
| 1994 | The Shadow | Russell Mulcahy | Co-edited with Beth Jochem Besterveld |
| 1995 | Rob Roy | Michael Caton-Jones | |
| 1996 | Eye for an Eye | John Schlesinger | |
| 1997 | L.A. Confidential | Curtis Hanson | BAFTA Award for Best Editing Nominated — Academy Award for Best Film Editing Nominated — ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Film Editing |
| 1998 | Mercury Rising | Harold Becker | |
| 2000 | The Next Best Thing | John Schlesinger | |
| 2000 | Disney's The Kid | Jon Turteltaub | Co-edited with David Rennie |
| 2001 | The Fast and the Furious | Rob Cohen | |
| 2001 | Domestic Disturbance | Harold Becker | |
| 2002 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Chris Columbus | |
| 2004 | Troy | Wolfgang Petersen | |
| 2005 | Æon Flux | Karyn Kusama | Co-edited with Plummy Tucker |
| 2006 | Poseidon | Wolfgang Petersen | |
| 2007 | The Golden Compass | Chris Weitz | Co-edited with Anne V. Coates and Kevin Tent |
| 2009 | I Love You, Beth Cooper | Chris Columbus | |
| 2010 | Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief | Chris Columbus | |
| 2013 | Words and Pictures | Fred Schepisi | |
| 2013 | Romeo & Juliet | Carlo Carlei | |