Niven Howie

Niven Howie—yeah, the guy’s got some serious editing chops. Born and bred in London, he pretty much dominated the UK scene before jumping over to the States in the early 2000s. The man was slicing and dicing more than 400 high-profile commercials and music videos, including Sting’s Grammy-winning “Ten Summoners’ Tales.” He’s got a shelf full of awards from MTV and the ad world, too. Not exactly small potatoes. He’s also worked with Julien Temple, which is kind of a big deal if you’re into music docs and edgy cinema. Together they put out “Bullet” (with Mickey Rourke and Tupac—what?!), plus a stack of genre-defining documentaries: “The Filth and The Fury,” “Glastonbury” (nominated at Sundance, no less), and “Joe Strummer: The Truth is Unwritten.” Not exactly your run-of-the-mill projects. And don’t forget Howie’s fingerprints are all over some classic Brit films and TV: “The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy,” “Pandaemonium,” “The Hole,” and even a David Bailey project, “Model’s Close Up.” But honestly, it was “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” in ’98 that really catapulted him—landed him a BAFTA nod and caught Hollywood’s wandering eye. Once stateside, Niven dove into iconic stuff—think Zack Snyder’s “Dawn of the Dead,” a bunch of “Resident Evil” flicks, “Death Race,” and “Step Up: All In.” He’s got Emmy and BAFTA noms scattered through his career, with recent work editing Netflix’s “Shadow and Bone.” The guy never really slows down. Hollywood’s lucky he made the trip.