Elliott Eisman (‘Mr. Monk’s Last Case’) on editing a ‘really visceral and really kinetic’ version of the iconic ‘Here’s What Happened’ sequence [Exclusive Video Interview]
“There is a little bit of interesting symmetry when it comes to the ‘Monk’ show,” confesses Elliott Eisman, the editor of “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie.” Though he had never worked on the original series when it ran from 2002 to 2009, as a student in film school “one of our most arduous and major assignments was that we were given the footage from a ‘Monk’ episode… to make something out of.” The editor calls that task “such a thrill at the time” because he was working with “professional footage” that “cost millions of dollars.” He calls it “universal karma” and “very humbling” that all those years later he received a call to edit the reunion movie. Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Eisman worked closely with director Randy Zisk on the project, who was behind the camera for 35 of the original “Monk” episodes, including the two-part series finale. The two had previously collaborated on a network series, so it felt “really satisfying and really thrilling” to work reunite for “Mr. Monk’s Last Case.” The director is an expert on the original show and gave the editor “a crash course and a real education” on all things “Monk.” The most important piece of information he received, he says, was that “we’re not the cool show, we’re not the sexy show. Monk is not a cool guy… What is so endearing and lovable about Monk is that he’s not the cool guy, he’s not the slick David Fincher detective.”
WATCH our exclusive video interview with Randy Zisk, ‘Mr. Monk’s Last Case’
Fans of the original “Monk” series know well that ever episode concludes with a black-and-white flashback sequence revealing how the crime was committed, known as the “Here’s What Happened.” Eisman says that the “Here’s What Happened” in the “Monk” movie “was one of my most favorite things to put together” and that he “didn’t want to disappoint” fans who were anticipating it. The editor says that the flashback footage he has “was really visceral and really kinetic,” so all he had to do was “whittle it down, make it more fun, more focused, more efficient” and ensure “good pace and good pulse,” especially as it intercuts between that footage and Monk (Tony Shalhoub) and the antagonist Rick Eden (James Purefoy) jostling in a tiny space shuttle cockpit. He also knew he “wanted the final thing to be this great bungee shot that Randy had,” which they put in slow motion.
Even though “Monk” always focuses on homicide, the show and film are comedies at heart; Shalhoub won three Emmy Awards for Comedy Lead Actor, after all. One of the funniest scenes in “Mr. Monk’s Last Case” shows Randy Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) demonstrating his theory about how a murder of a bungee jumper could have occurred if the bridge height had been lowered hydraulically, which he recreates using a Lego set. Eisman shares that director Zisk “covered the hell out of” the “incredulous” reactions of the other characters, so his biggest question to himself was, “How do I choose? My goodness, everyone here is just doing A+ comedy work.” He had many shots of the actors’ reactions and says he tried to “hold as long as long as [he] could before they broke” character in fits of laughter. “That scene in particular was such great fun,” reflects the editor.
SEE ‘Mr. Monk’s Last Case’: The return of beloved detective Adrian Monk has commanding Emmy Awards lead
As with all “Monk” episodes, “Mr. Monk’s Last Case” isn’t without sentiment, either, especially as the film involves Monk contemplating suicide and talking with his late wife Trudy (Melora Hardin), who attempts to persuade him against it. Though the scenes in which Monk sees Trudy, but other characters do not, were not technically challenging, Eisman says there were “long philosophical discussions about how to use Trudy” because the team – Shalhoub, Zisk, writer Andy Breckman and others – are “very protective of the character, the show, the expectations.” The editor shares that “one of the most difficult scenes that took the most time and the most care to get right was the scene in the psychiatrist’s office” as “Monk is seeing Trudy on the couch across from him.” Calling Shalhoub an “absolutely monster of an actor,” the editor found himself “getting a little bit choked up” because of the “heartbreaking” discussion occurring between husband, his late wife and his emotional therapist Dr. Bell (Hector Elizondo).
Eisman’s first exposure to “Monk” was editing a chase sequence in film school, so it is only fitting that he had to edit another chase sequence in the film as Eden tries to track down Monk, who has absconded with the billionaire’s laptop that might contain crucial evidence into the murder of Trudy’s daughter’s fiancé (Austin Scott). The editor says chases are “tricky sequences to try to get the balance right,” and “Mr. Monk’s Last Case” proved a unique instance of this because “in the middle of a chase scene,” Monk has an OCD compulsion to make sure all the tennis lights on one of Eden’s courts are all pointing the same direction. In his cut of the sequence, he thus had to “try to keep Rick alive and Monk in a panic still trying to satisfy this OCD craving,” noting that this and other similar scenes “are a tough thing to crack.”
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