Alumnus Wins Oscar for ‘Ford v Ferrari’

Film editor Michael McCusker ’88 won an Academy Award for his work on Ford v Ferrari.

McCusker received at least 16 nominations for the film that also netted him six regional award season wins. He previously won a BAFTA award for the film, and was nominated by the Hollywood Critics Association, Latino Entertainment Journalist Association, and Online Film Critics Society awards. McCusker shared with his co-editor Andrew Buckland awards for the film from the Hollywood Film Awards, and film critic societies in Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

Ford v Ferrari stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale, and is directed by McCusker’s longtime collaborator James Mangold. The film is about two men’s dreams of building a Ford race car that can go up against Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966. The film was also nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, as well as Best Adapted Screenplay.

McCusker spoke about the process of editing the film on the red carpet before the show:

McCusker previously was nominated for a film editing Oscar for his work on the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.

Ben Zauzmer, author of Oscarmetrics, also shared a random fact about McCusker’s win.

.@FordvFerrari is the 8th film to have a team of 2+ editors (Andrew Buckland & Michael McCusker) beat a slate of one-editor competitors. Others:
-Lost Horizon ‘37
-Body and Soul ‘47
-High Noon ‘52
-Ben-Hur ‘59
-Born on the Fourth of July ‘89
-Titanic ‘97
-The Social Network ‘10

— Ben Zauzmer (@BensOscarMath) February 10, 2020