"In the editing room, 20 percent of the time you're using stuff from before the actor knew the camera was rolling or you're taking a line from somewhere else and putting it in his mouth"
About this Quote
The intent here is to demystify. Scott is pointing at the hidden labor that manufactures naturalism, and he does it with the casual specificity of someone who’s watched the trick work from both sides of the camera. “Before the actor knew” is the tell: the most valuable material can be unguarded, pre-performance, when ego and technique haven’t snapped into place. It’s an endorsement of vulnerability, but also a reminder that vulnerability can be extracted.
The subtext is a quiet power struggle. Actors sell presence; editors and directors shape meaning. By talking about putting a line “in his mouth,” Scott frames post-production as a kind of ventriloquism. Even when it’s technically seamless (ADR, cutaways, reaction shots), it raises a thorny question about authorship: whose performance is it when rhythm, intention, even wording can be rearranged after the fact?
Contextually, it lands in an era where audiences are increasingly aware of manipulation - not just in film, but in reality TV, social clips, and AI-assisted polish. Scott’s point isn’t that cinema is fake. It’s that cinema is made, and the making has consequences for trust, credit, and the fragile dignity of being seen.
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Scott, Campbell. (2026, January 17). In the editing room, 20 percent of the time you're using stuff from before the actor knew the camera was rolling or you're taking a line from somewhere else and putting it in his mouth. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-the-editing-room-20-percent-of-the-time-youre-45444/
Chicago Style
Scott, Campbell. "In the editing room, 20 percent of the time you're using stuff from before the actor knew the camera was rolling or you're taking a line from somewhere else and putting it in his mouth." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-the-editing-room-20-percent-of-the-time-youre-45444/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"In the editing room, 20 percent of the time you're using stuff from before the actor knew the camera was rolling or you're taking a line from somewhere else and putting it in his mouth." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-the-editing-room-20-percent-of-the-time-youre-45444/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
