Singaporean gets two Oscar nods for First Man work

Sound editor Ai-Ling Lee picked up Oscar nominations for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing for the Neil Armstrong biopic First Man.
Sound editor Ai-Ling Lee picked up Oscar nominations for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing for the Neil Armstrong biopic First Man.

Singaporean sound editor Ai-Ling Lee earned two nods at the Oscar nominations announced on Tuesday night Singapore time.

The 39-year-old, with Mildred Iatrou, picked up her second Oscar nod for Sound Editing for First Man. With Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano and Mary H. Ellis, she also got her second nod for Sound Mixing for the same film, giving her four Oscar nominations to date.

In an e-mail interview, Lee says that "it is an honour to be nominated by my peers in the Academy for First Man and to be in such good company with the other nominees".

"I owe my nominations to our exceptional sound team and to (director) Damien Chazelle, whose brilliant film provided the opportunity for sound to help create the immersive and perilous world of Neil Armstrong's journey to the moon and back."

The drama stars Canadian actor Ryan Gosling as American astronaut Armstrong and English actress Claire Foy as his wife.

With American film-maker Chazelle, Lee was part of the team that helped the musical La La Land (2016) land 14 nominations, winning six.

In contrast, First Man on Tuesday night scored four nods, all in the technical areas of Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Production Design.

Its lack of Oscar acclaim, compared with the laurels showered on La La Land, is nothing to be upset about, Lee says.

"Damien Chazelle made a very immersive and intimate story about Neil Armstrong. We are very proud of the film we made," adds the sound editor, who moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and knocked on doors to land a job in sound production.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 24, 2019, with the headline Singaporean gets two Oscar nods for First Man work. Subscribe