David M. Richardson^[1][2] is a Hong Kong film editor. Known for his frequent collaborations with director Johnnie To and as a co-founder of To's Milkyway Image, Richardson has received 14 Hong Kong Film Award nominations, and won Best Editing twice for the Milkyway-produced Trivisa (2016) and Mad Fate (2023) in the 36th and 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards.

Biography

Richardson was born in the United Kingdom.^[3] His father was also a film editor who began his apprenticeship in London in the 1940s.^[4] Richardson described film editing as his "family business" and often visited his father's studio to watch him work when he was a child.^[5] Richardson later moved to Vancouver, Canada, where he worked as a film editor in North America.^[3] He sent a demo reel to Hong Kong director Ringo Lam's production team for the film Replicant.^[3] Richardson said that he "wasn't that great a fan of Hong Kong cinema" and chose to join the project mainly because the film was being shot in Vancouver.^[3] Lam subsequently brought him on board, marking the beginning of Richardson's film-editing career in Hong Kong cinema.^[3]

Richardson worked with Johnnie To on the 2001 film Fulltime Killer.^[6] During production, To and his partner Wai Ka-fai were simultaneously shooting Love on a Diet, and because Richardson completed the editing without requiring To's intervention, To was "happy" with his work, beginning a long-term collaboration between the two.^[3][4] Richardson later co-founded Milkyway Image with To and Wai,^[7] and became the company's chief editor.^[5] He collaborated with To on films including Breaking News,^[8] Throw Down,^[9] Yesterday Once More,^[10] Exiled,^[11] Linger,^[12] and Sparrow^[13] and also worked on the Milkyway productions Eye in the Sky and Triangle.^[14][15] He won the Golden Horse Award for Best Film Editing for Breaking News and the Asian Film Award for Best Editor for Eye in the Sky.^[16][3] He later worked on the Disney-produced film Trail of the Panda, about pandas in Sichuan.^[17] The production was affected by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and Richardson was brought on board to provide "a different way to edit".^[17] He also served as a co-producer on Paul McGuigan's American film Push, which was shot in Hong Kong.^[3]

Richardson continued collaborating with To on Vengeance,^[18] Don't Go Breaking My Heart,^[19] Life Without Principle,^[20] Romancing in Thin Air,^[21] Drug War,^[22] and Blind Detective,^[23] as well as on the Milkyway productions Accident and Motorway.^[24][25] In 2013, he worked on Juno Mak's horror film Rigor Mortis,^[26] followed by editing and sound design work on To's 2015 film Office,^[27] for which he received nominations for the Golden Horse Award for Best Sound Effects and the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Sound Design.^[28][29] He later won both the Golden Horse Award and the Hong Kong Film Award for the Milkyway-produced film Trivisa.^[30][31] He continued to work on Milkyway productions including Three,^[32] Septet: The Story of Hong Kong,^[33] Limbo,^[34] and Mad Fate,^[35] winning another Hong Kong Film Award for Best Editing for Mad Fate.^[36]

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• David Richardson at IMDb