Interview with Award-Winning Editor Michelle Tesoro About ‘Maestro’ and Editing Iconic Characters

Film and television picture editor Michelle Tesoro’s work in both feature films and limited series, share one thing in common - these projects encompass big, iconic characters.

Michelle Tesoro was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Tesoro’s versatile slate of work includes winning the 2021 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for The Queen’s Gambit, editing Ava Duvernay’s When They See Us and Netflix's Emmy-nominated series Godless, directed by Scott Frank, Sean Penn's Flag Day and Focus Features' biography of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg On The Basis of Sex directed by Mimi Leder.

We discussed her most recent film Maestro, a biographical drama directed, co-written and starring Bradley Cooper as cultural and musical icon Leonard Bernstein; the film focuses on Bernstein’s lifelong relationship with actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan).

KOUGUELL: You previously edited projects centering on iconic figures, including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (On the Basis of Sex) and the wrongly convicted Central Park Five in the Ava DuVernay series When They See Us. Now in Maestro, Leonard Bernstein, another iconic and real life person is portrayed. With this film and in your previous work, did you find a particular level of responsibility depicting these people and/or is there a different approach you take, as opposed to a fictional project?

TESORO: Fact or fiction I always feel a responsibility to the story, the characters, and the vision of the director. I’ve been very lucky to be able to tell these stories, and to be a part of these people’s continuing stories.

KOUGUELL: Tell me about your collaboration with Bradley Cooper.

TESORO: We worked together through every cut, hand-in-hand. We would work very fast, getting through the entire run of the film once a day. We'd watch a longplay on PIX that night and discuss what we wanted to try the next morning. Then we'd go through the entire film again, making it a little better every day. Together we were the A-Team.

KOUGUELL: How did you and Bradley Cooper discover the editing rhythm in the film?

TESORO: Bradley and I are both very musical, and editing is very musical. We were just open to the film telling us what it wanted and we cut with our gut.

KOUGUELL: When cutting the film, did you stick close to the screenplay?

TESORO: We stuck with what Bradley shot.

KOUGUELL: I understand you created a 30-minute “proof of concept video” of Maestro based on camera tests before principal photography commenced. Please discuss this further. For example: Why did you do this and how did this evolve?

TESORO: When I met Bradley, he asked me to put together some camera and makeup test footage he shot for fun. It was a vehicle to explore some creative and technical concepts he was developing in the film – like shooting in black and white, and color, different aspect ratios, different make-up time periods, and looks. He was still working on the script with Josh Singer, so I worked out some ideas from their working draft. After a month and a half of working on this proof-of-concept together, he asked me if I could do the film.

KOUGUELL: What elements made this experience editing Maestro unique for you?

TESORO: What was unique about editing Maestro was working early in the pre-production process on the proof-of-concept. I’m usually brought on a week before principal photography, and maybe I get a chance to read and weigh in on the script. It was great to have so much time to learn about the subject matter, to see the script evolve, and internalize Bernstein’s music.

KOUGUELL: The film integrates actual footage of Leonard Bernstein and other characters so seamlessly. Tell me more about this process.

TESORO: I think the only shot of the real Leonard Bernstein is the very last shot over the main credits! We fooled you! I think that is more Kazu Hiro and Bradley’s magic than the editing!

KOUGUELL: How long was the editing process?

TESORO: From the first day of principal photography through final lock, fourteen months.

KOUGUELL: Were you cutting as they were shooting?

TESORO: Yes.

KOUGUELL: You’ve worked editing both feature films and series. Do you take the same approach; are there any differences for you?

TESORO: I take the same approach to editing both features and series.

KOUGUELL: Your advice for aspiring film editors?

TESORO: I’m unsure how AI will affect our craft, but my hope is that editors will continue to be looked to for unique creative artistic contributions.

Maestro is currently in Theaters and will be released on Netflix on December 20, 2023.