You may not recognize his name, but you know his work. William Goldenberg is an Oscar-winning film editor known for beloved titles such as Gone Baby Gone, The Imitation Game, Coyote Ugly and more. His work on the Amazon original Air – a look at Nike’s real-life gamble of a partnership with a then up-and-coming Michael Jordan – is garnering acclaim from fans and critics alike. Oscars Central’s Cassie Hager talked with William about what makes Air a cinematic slam dunk – and how he nearly missed out on his dream career more than 30 years ago.

Cassie Hager: I’m so excited to talk to you today. You have had such an amazing career. Can you tell me how you got started in editing?
William Goldenberg: Sure. I was originally going to school to be a doctor, at my father’s request, and I hated it.  I happened to be at Temple University, which had a great film school. There, I fell in love with editing and then I moved to L.A. to try and be an editor. Through a series of lucky breaks and hard work I managed to become Michael Kahn’s assistant. He is Steven Spielberg’s editor. Ultimately, he taught me everything there was to know about editing and he stood behind me and was in my corner.

Cassie Hager: So, did your dad ever come around and say, “ok, I guess you made the right choice?”
William Goldenberg: Yeah, he did. You hear all these stories like, “oh, my dad disowned me,” but he was actually pretty supportive. I think he was excited about the movies I was working on, and the people I was working with and who he got to meet.

Cassie Hager: You’ve worked with Ben Affleck for a while now, and I think he is so underrated as a director. Talk to me about working with him. Is there a difference between working with a director versus a director/actor hybrid?
William Goldenberg: It’s interesting, because the first movie I worked with him in was Gone Baby Gone. He didn’t act in that. His brother Casey was the lead. I don’t want to speak for Ben, but I think originally, he wanted to direct, but he also wanted to get himself better parts. And I think he has done that. See, no one directs Ben better than Ben. In my opinion, he’s the best when he is directing himself. He told me he got a lot of advice from other actor/directors about how to approach it, and the pitfalls and things to look out for.

I have found that Ben is very objective about looking at his own performance. He will literally talk to the screen and say, “why are you doing that?” at himself, as the actor. He said at the beginning it was more difficult to separate himself between actor and director. But after a while, he got used to it. He can look at his own performance in the cutting room and be clear and objective about it. It’s quite stunning. The idea of having the headspace for that shows you how brilliant he is, and I do agree that he is underrated. I have seen him over the last 17 years get better and better, and with Air, I think he did a brilliant job. He makes it look effortless, but it’s a tremendous amount of hard work.

Cassie Hager: Air is such a fun movie. It’s really a feel-good film. For a movie based around Michael Jordan, we never actually see the actor’s face who plays Michael. Why did you choose to do that?
William Goldenberg: It was like that in the screenplay, and I think the main reason Ben had, is that Michael is the most famous athlete in the world. His face is so recognizable, and the movie isn’t about that. It’s about his family, his mom, and Sonny pursuing his dream unrelentingly in the hope of doing something special. I think Ben and Alex (Convery), the writer, thought showing his face was only going to detract. And I think it gives a sort of mystery to the film and adds something special.

Cassie Hager: There’s a big boardroom meeting scene that features real-life footage of Michael. How many hours of clips did you go through? I can’t even imagine.
William Goldenberg: The number is hard to calculate. There is so much material on YouTube and the internet in general of Michael. We went through literally hundreds of hours of video about his life. We would constantly, even right up until the end of the edit, find new material to put in. It was a lot of fun, but it was daunting, because it’s a bottomless pit of video. The original intention of that scene was to play way more of Matt’s dialogue underneath images of Michael, so Matt’s dialogue was almost like a voiceover. I cut the scene this way, and it worked pretty well. But Matt was so good, we decided we wanted to be in the room with him. The audience is Michael in this moment, and Matt, as Sonny, is pitching to us. It seemed way more interesting than the scene just being a Michael Jordan highlight reel.

Cassie Hager: I have to say, I am so jealous of anyone who gets to work with Jason Bateman. He is just the best. I always say when Hollywood needs to cast a dad who is in over his head, Jason comes running. He’s so good at emoting and giving emotional monologues. His emotions are just written all over his face.
William Goldenberg: Yeah, what a dream cast for an editor from top to bottom. And my wife would agree with you, by the way. She’s a big Jason fan. All the actors brought something of themselves to the part, whether by adding things to the dialogue or improvising. In the scene where Jason is talking about his family and his daughter, it’s my job to find the performance that transcends movie making so it feels like you’re watching a real moment. And there are so many people who can relate to what he is saying. I know my dad could have. I just look for performances that make me feel how I want the audience to feel.

Cassie Hager: I have one more quick question for you. You have an Oscar for Argo. Where do you keep your Oscar?
William Goldenberg: *laughs* It’s in my family room, on the shelf. My friend has like, five Emmy awards, and they are right across his mantel. I’m like, “no, I’m not doing that.”  It’s in a place where you can see it a little.  Whenever I just happen to look at it, I’m like, “wow… I actually have one of those. Isn’t that cool?” It never goes away, how thrilled I am to have been honored that way.

Air is available to watch on Prime Video.
You can read our review of Air here.