OUR George Mavropsaridis introduced him to us as a “Renaissance man”: editor, musician, director, writer, philosopher, and more. Not that about Walter Mertz, who chatted with him at the (filled) Astor Hotel on Wednesday afternoon as part of the Rolex Arts Festival, needs a special introduction. His nine nominations and three Oscars speak for him, but above all his catalytic participation in some of the greatest films in history: The Godfather trilogy, Revelation Now!, The English Patient. For the latter, he also achieved a unique “double” by winning gold statuettes for both picture editing and sound editing.

After all, the way Mavropsaridis, himself an accomplished editor (“Fang”, “Lobster”, “Benevolent”), addressed his interlocutor, testified not only to gratitude, but also to admiration. “Walter has edited literally every medium in the history of cinema, from the movie to the most complex modern platforms,” he said, before challenging him to define his art. “First of all, I like that in Greek the word “art” also refers to technical professions (“craft”). From an artistic point of view, editing is a strange combination of orchestra conducting, cooking and… surgery, with rhythm playing a dominant role in all of them,” he replied, adding that he always works standing up, “because it’s good.” for good health.”

Indeed, despite his 80s, he seems to be in great shape, much as he was sixty years ago when he first passed through Greece at the end of a long motorcycle journey. All these years have been marked by great achievements. In 1973, he convinced the prolific George Lucas to place some of his “American Graffiti” music under dialogue, thus creating the sound equivalent of a photographic background for the first time. A few years later, he became the first artist to earn the title of “sound designer”, designing the entire sound architecture of Apocalypse Now!, including the points from which it reaches the viewer.

However, most of the stories he tells are taken from The Godfather. In 1971, Francis Ford Coppola and the rest of his film crew, barely thirty, created one of the greatest films of all time. However, in the iconic scene where Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) executes Sollozzo and McCluskey in the restaurant, it was decided not to use any music at all – to increase its significance – and this created gaping problems. Then Mertz, who grew up near this area of ​​the Bronx, came up with the idea to add the occasional sound of an elevated railroad to the scene. The squeal and rumble of the train even synchronized with the gunshots, creating an effect that made the whole thing even more dramatic and, of course, unforgettable.