Gary Kanew is a renowned movie trailer maker who has worked on trailers for many major films over nearly three decades. He has a keen eye for compelling imagery and an ability to select music that enhances trailers. Directors and producers praise his talents and say he has had great influence on the modern trailer style. Kanew worked at his brother's trailer company in his early career and later founded his own successful boutique company in New York City.

1. A distinctive
Striking
a
eye and ear for
powerful trailers
have made
Gary Kanew
Chord
an influential force
in movie marketing
By S.V. McKim
“The Matrix Reloaded”
I
n a sense, the career of trailer maker Gary Kanew has been one of believe what incredible instincts he has when it comes to editing
being heard but not seen — not that his work is anything less than footage together. I used to anticipate the arrival of Gary’s first cut of
a visual feast. A keen eye for arresting trailer imagery and an inspired a trailer the way I would a new album from one of my favorite music
ability to find the right music or narration to accompany those images groups: I couldn’t wait to unwrap it and experience it.”
have helped Kanew build an impressive canon of work for some of Kanew grew up in Bethpage, Long Island, N.Y., and attended
Hollywood’s biggest filmmakers, stretching back nearly three decades. college in Ithaca, N.Y. During summer breaks, he began to work at
And he managed to accomplish all of that while never working Utopia Prods., a trailer boutique run by his brother Jeff, and he
in Los Angeles. acquired a taste for movie marketing.
Gary Kanew, this year’s recipient of The Hollywood Reporter Key “I’m one of the few people who said when they were a teenager,
Art Awards’ Lifetime Achievement honor, boasts a career résumé that ‘I’m going to do trailers,’” Kanew says with a laugh. Working at
reads like a greatest-hits of American cinema during Utopia, he adds, “was basic training. I learned the craft
the past three decades, including work on such films there under my brother’s tutelage.” Kanew considers
as 1978’s “Coming Home,” 1979’s “Apocalypse his brother’s company a pioneer in modern trailer work;
Now,” 1980’s “Raging Bull,” 1984’s “The Natural,” the firm’s credits included 1967’s “The Graduate” and
1988’s “Rain Man,” 1990’s “GoodFellas” and all 1977’s “Annie Hall.”
three “Matrix” films. Kanew’s later trailer work would become known for
His reputation among peers, personally and pro- its use of music, a craft perhaps first honed at Utopia,
fessionally, is equally impressive. where he was assigned to work on radio spots. “That
“Gary, in my opinion, influenced a lot of young was the beginning of FM radio,” he says. “I got a sense
editors today,” says Joel Wayne, executive vp creative of how to tell a story and make an intriguing piece just
advertising at Warner Bros. Pictures, who has with the use of sound.”
enjoyed a long working relationship with Kanew In those days, the movie marketing business was
dating to 1983’s “Risky Business” and including the centered in New York, where the studio marketing
“Matrix” films. “If Andrew Kuehn was smart copy units and a handful of independent shops were locat-
and smart storywriting, (then) Gary, I think, was ed. Later, as more boutiques opened, the business
music and picture and montage-cutting. He uses sound and dialogue drifted to the West Coast — but Kanew would remain in New York
much differently than a lot of people do. (Gary’s trailers are) really throughout his career, a decision that sometimes would make his
very dramatic and, technically, beautifully cut. His sense of ear, work difficult but otherwise left him alone with the work in ways
I think, is the best of anyone that’s ever worked in the business.” that benefitted the trailers he produced.
Says producer Joel Silver, who has worked with Kanew on many In 1977, Jeff Kanew began to transition to the role of filmmaker
projects, including the first two “Die Hard” films, the first three (his directorial credits include 1984’s “Revenge of the Nerds”) and
“Lethal Weapon” films and all three “Matrix” installments: “I love shuttered Utopia. Gary struck out on his own, forming Kanew
working with him. He’s the best at what he does. When we did Manger Deutch with Utopia editor Billy Manger and former United
(1982’s) ‘48HRS.,’ I like to think he crafted the kind of trailer that Artists marketing executive Howard Deutch. The company would
is now de rigueur, particularly in the action-film business, where you grow to include about a dozen people housed in a converted
set up characters, have a great action center and kind of have a midtown Manhattan firehouse, adhering to Kanew’s vision of keep-
joke at the end. He invented that style, which most action trailers ing the firm small and focused.
have been since then. On (1999’s) ‘The Matrix,’ he kind of changed “I never had many groups of producers or editing teams that would
it all again still. Every time we work together, it’s always something go off and do their own thing,” Kanew says. “It always came through
I’m proud of.” one set of creative people. I never wanted to become a factory.”
Adds Universal Pictures vice chairman Marc Shmuger, who has Says Giaronomo Prods. co-owner Giacomo Vieste, who started at
worked with Kanew during stints at Columbia Pictures (including KMD as an editor: “He was very passionate about the work, very
1992’s “Dracula”) and Universal: “He has been one of the key influ- involved, (and) we would talk endlessly about what it was we were
encers of the modern style of trailers that we see today. You can’t going to do and what the goals were to achieve in the piece.”
PHOTO: Eric Charbonneau/BERLINER STUDIOS/BEIMAGES
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