Kirk Baxter

Kirk Baxter (born 1972) is an Australian film editor. He has worked with director David Fincher and editor Angus Wall several times, winning Academy Awards for The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Early life Baxter grew up on Sydney's Northern Beaches and attended Pittwater High School. The company had a range of departments in both production and post-production, allowing Baxter to see how directors, cinematographers, editors, focus pullers, grips and gaffers operated. Baxter quickly fell in love with the editorial process and dropped out of school to pursue a career.

Career Due to a scarcity of work in the Australian film industry, Baxter focused primarily on editing commercials. Preferring both the lifestyle and wages, Baxter decided to emigrate to the US after six years in London. Baxter then worked with Wall as an "additional editor" on David Fincher's film Zodiac. When Wall began to prepare to edit The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, he proposed to Fincher that Baxter be the co-editor.

Baxter and Wall were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, the BAFTA Award for Best Editing, and the American Cinema Editors Eddie Award for their work on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. For their work on The Social Network, Baxter and Wall won an Oscar and a BAFTA in 2011. The following year, they won a second Oscar for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Baxter refutes that Fincher does "a thousand takes", saying "it is not the same angle getting repeated a thousand times, it is coverage. So there is always somewhere to be in the scene...It’s the volume of angles that really differentiates how information is presented in David’s work." Baxter said they chose the software "to bring all the After Effects closer. Shots could be stabilized, have split screens done perfectly, all the editing within scenes of inside monitors. There’s VFX in every couple of shots... It’s about speed and working with the most up to date material immediately. It’s creating the best sort of utopia for a village.”

Baxter also has editorial credits for Fincher's TV Series Mindhunter, House of Cards and Love, Death and Robots. In 2023, Baxter edited Dumb Money, his first non-Fincher feature film.

Approach to editing

Typically, Baxter joins the production early, starting to cut after the second or third day of shooting. He starts by treating each scene as a sole entity, a unit he will extensively fine cut even before the whole film is assembled.

When working with Fincher, Baxter will initially cut and align dailies as they are positioned in a scene, allowing quick changes between takes and camera angle for every line of dialogue or action. The method allows Fincher to quickly review Baxter's choices for coverage and understand why he has chosen one angle over another for each moment.

Baxter prefers not to visit the set, having stated that his workload and a desire to be at a distance from the shooting process keep him away. The separation helps to keep Baxter's eyes fresh and prevents his editorial choices being biased by what he experiences on set.

When asked if he was a "tech head", Baxter replied that he has "no curiosity in the technology at all. It just allows me to do my work efficiently."

Filmography (as editor) Year Film Director Notes 2008 The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonDavid Fincher Nominated—Academy Award for Best Film EditingNominated—American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Feature Film – DramaticNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Editing 2010 The Social Network Academy Award for Best Film EditingAmerican Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Feature Film – DramaticBAFTA Award for Best EditingNominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Film EditingNominated—Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best EditingNominated—Satellite Award for Best Editing 2011 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Academy Award for Best Film EditingCritics' Choice Movie Award for Best EditingNominated—American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic 2014 Gone Girl Nominated—American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Feature Film – DramaticNominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best EditingNominated—Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best EditingNominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best EditingNominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best EditingNominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best EditingNominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Editing 2020 Mank Nominated—American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Feature Film – DramaticNominated—Greater Western New York Film Critics Association Award for Best EditingNominated—Satellite Award for Best Editing 2023 The Killer Dumb Money Craig Gillespie 2025 A House of Dynamite Kathryn Bigelow Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best EditingNominated—Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Editing 2026 The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth David Fincher

Television Year Title Notes 2013 House of Cards 2 Episodes (Chapter 1 & 2) 2017-19 Mindhunter 8 Episodes 2022 Love, Death and Robots 1 Episode (S3 E2)Won - American Cinema Editors Awards 2023 for Best Edited Animated Series 2022 Mike 2 Episodes