“The world needs more people like Walter Murch out there making films,” said Linda DeLibero, Hopkins’ Director of Film and Media Studies, introducing the man of the hour. Though his reputation precedes him, DeLibero provided Hodson’s few hundred guests with a brief history of Murch’s many accomplishments and connection to the university as follows:
Upon realizing that Hopkins offered no Oceanography program, Murch transferred his academic focus to philosophy, languages and English. The liberal arts student studied abroad in France, completed his degree requirements and graduated from Hopkins in 1965. Two weeks later, Murch married Aggie (also present at the March 24 event) and headed to California by motorcycle without looking back.
Once situated on the west coast, Murch enrolled in the University of Southern California’s (USC) film school, where he befriended future Hollywood powerhouses George Lucus and Hal Barwood, among others. Following two years of intensive practice at USC, Murch, Lucas and others headed north to join forces in San Francisco. It was here Murch began editing Francis Ford Coppola’s 1964 production The Rain People. He subsequently worked on major motion pictures like The Godfather, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now and most recently, Particle Fever.
During his time at the Hodson podium, Murch made clear that passions ranging from poetry to particle theory can successfully combine forces in a number of outlets, building upon one another and utilizing the same skillset in opposite ways.
An enormously curious man, Murch constantly hungers for informative texts. Not only is he riveted by particles and scientific theory, but Murch is also engrossed by Italian fiction. The link between these seemingly opposite arenas materialized while Murch was working on The Unbearable Lightness of Being in France.
Editing in Lyon, Murch picked up a Hubert Reeves novel on the universe’s post-Big Bang supercooling. Reeves happened to reference a segment by Italian author and retired war correspondent, Curzio Malaparte. The disturbing and vivid piece, originating from Malaparte’s story Kaputt, captivated Murch to no end, and soon enough Murch was set on translating his purely Italian works to English.
Though he’d never embarked on an Italian textual translation, Murch surprisingly found himself feeling right at home in the process. In both film and languages, Murch explained, he was dealing with symbolic representation. Whether portraying a storyline on film or finding the equivalent English words, Murch was forced to make calls about literal versus metaphorical translations.
The task requires him to consider the subsequent compensation following each decision, for often times no perfect translation exists. Just as the English language does not have an equivalent for every Italian word, so too are films unable to portray every scene exactly from their respective plots.
Thus Murch began the daunting task of translating Malaparte’s poetic prose. To make matters even more trying, however, Malaparte composed without breaks, leaving pages with entire blocks of unending story. Difficult enough to read, let alone convert to English, Murch began breaking up the text into lines and stanzas. Before long, Malaparte’s blocks of writing took the shape of poems and Murch continued his pursuit using this form.
Again, his editorial experience greatly benefited this endeavor. In the same way that Murch must end movie scenes at the correct moment, so too did he have to segment the verses. Murch did not follow rules of syllable count, periods and commas. He sought powerful images that linger in one’s memory as the story progresses — “there must be a sticking power.”
Following the hour-long lecture, students were eager to pick Murch’s brain regarding his personal habits, emotional hindsight and editorial details. The speaker shared that he keeps a journal, reads before bed and enjoys embarking on projects for his own sake (the Malaparte translation began as a personal challenge and was later picked up by publishers like The London Review).
In regards to editing, Murch relies a great deal on serendipity, takes meticulously detailed notes and arranges color-coded scene cards. He compared the process to churning butter. “You just have to keep churning and churning to rid of the fat, until clumps of butter appear and can be melted down into one butter block.” He naturally uses trial and error with transitions and trusts his own instinct.
Looking back on finished projects, Murch has no regrets on his editorial decisions. He at one point had the opportunity to remaster a scene from The Rain People, but couldn’t identify any fixable “bruises.” He felt confident about his choices from 30 years prior.
Murch’s first feature documentary, Particle Fever, is currently playing at the Charles Theater. His novel In the Blink of an Eye and Malaparte translation, The Bird that Swallowed its Cage, are in distribution and available for readers. The science fiction film Tomorrowland starring George Clooney is currently underway and will hit theaters May 2015. Judging by his track record, it seems the best has yet to come for this Hopkins graduate.
