Jill Bilcock, ACE, ASE
Born 1948
Jill Bilcock, ACE, ASE is an Australian film editor who has edited several films by Baz Luhrmann, including Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge, which all received BAFTA nominations. Moulin Rouge also received an Oscar nomination and won an Eddie. She edited Jocelyn Moorhouse’s How to Make an American Quilt and The Dressmaker, which received nominations for Best Editing from AACTA and FCCA. Bilcock has also edited for directors Lizzie Borden, Monika Treut, Clara Law and Ana Maria Magalhães (for their segments of Erotique), for Sam Mendes and many others.
“It’s a weird thing to say but I don’t look at films for the editing, unless it’s bad. [Laughs]. I see many Australian films and one which really sticks out in terms of editing would be Sweet Country. It’s excellent. I don’t really go for things like Mad Max: Fury Road even though it’s done really, really well and you can see the labour in it. I prefer smaller films. A well edited film is a film that works. I can see the skill in a lot of movies but I’m just not that interested in the way a film is edited. [Laughs]. It has to be emotional, it has to arrive to a conclusion and it has to tell a good story. I don’t go for all that invisible bullshit. Sometimes it’s correct and other times it isn’t. It’s just got to deliver stylistically according to the director. Baz was a madman so I’d give him a mad edit!” [Laughs].
— “Interview: Jill Bilcock” by Matthew Eeles. The full interview can be found in the Appendix.
