The Color Purple

Editor - Jon Poll

THE COLOR PURPLE editor Jon Poll was sure they had the wrong guy when his agent told him they were interested in having him come aboard as the editor.  He even joked they should probably call WHIPLASH and LA LA LAND editor, Tom Cross ACE.  While musicals were not necessarily a big part of Jon's background coming into the project, no one who sees THE COLOR PURPLE would ever question his prowess for interweaving a powerful narrative with incredible music.

THE COLOR PURPLE is a story of love and resilience, based on the novel and the Broadway musical of the same name.  It is a decades-spanning tale of one woman's journey to independence. Torn apart from her sister and her children, Celie faces many hardships in life, including an abusive husband.  With support from a sultry singer named Shug Avery, as well as her stand-her-ground stepdaughter, Celie ultimately finds extraordinary strength in the unbreakable bonds of a new kind of sisterhood.

Jon Poll

Jon has cut a wide array of films, from such acclaimed features as Bombshell, The Greatest Showman and 2022’s Father of the Bride, to box office hits like Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Goldmember, Meet the Parents and its sequel, and Scary Movie 3.  Poll made his feature directorial debut with the comedy drama Charlie Bartlett.

Poll and director Jay Roach are frequent collaborators on many projects.  In addition to the Austin Powers sequels, Poll co-produced, edited and directed second unit on Meet the Fockers, executive produced and edited The Campaign, executive produced, edited and directed the title sequence for Dinner for Schmucks, and edited Mystery, Alaska.  Poll also executive produced Judd Apatow’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin. His editing credits include the films Forever Young and Death to Smoochy.  Poll directed, edited and co-produced on the HBO series The Brink as well.

A graduate of USC’s Cinema school with a degree in film production, Poll resides in Los Angeles with Julia, his charming and lovely wife of 400 years.

Editing THE COLOR PURPLE

In our discussion with THE COLOR PURPLE editor Jon Poll, we talk about:

• The reason to remake a movie
• Paging Tom Cross
• Making a musical vs a drama with music
• Watching the movie before making a single cut
• Getting real dancers to do the dance foley

The Credits

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