David M. Richardson 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. His father was also a film editor who began his apprenticeship in London in the 1940s. Richardson described film editing as his "family business" and often visited his father's studio to watch him work when he was a child. Richardson later moved to Vancouver, Canada, where he worked as a film editor in North America. He sent a demo reel to Hong Kong director Ringo Lam's production team for the film Replicant. 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. Lam subsequently brought him on board, marking the beginning of Richardson's film-editing career in Hong Kong cinema.
Richardson worked with Johnnie To on the 2001 film Fulltime Killer. 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. Richardson later co-founded Milkyway Image with To and Wai, and became the company's chief editor. He collaborated with To on films including Breaking News, Throw Down, Yesterday Once More, Exiled, Linger, and Sparrow and also worked on the Milkyway productions Eye in the Sky and Triangle. 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. He later worked on the Disney-produced film Trail of the Panda, about pandas in Sichuan. The production was affected by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and Richardson was brought on board to provide "a different way to edit". He also served as a co-producer on Paul McGuigan's American film Push, which was shot in Hong Kong.
Richardson continued collaborating with To on Vengeance, Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Life Without Principle, Romancing in Thin Air, Drug War, and Blind Detective, as well as on the Milkyway productions Accident and Motorway. In 2013, he worked on Juno Mak's horror film Rigor Mortis, followed by editing and sound design work on To's 2015 film Office, for which he received nominations for the Golden Horse Award for Best Sound Effects and the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Sound Design. He later won both the Golden Horse Award and the Hong Kong Film Award for the Milkyway-produced film Trivisa. He continued to work on Milkyway productions including Three, Septet: The Story of Hong Kong, Limbo, and Mad Fate, winning another Hong Kong Film Award for Best Editing for Mad Fate.
Filmography As editor Year Title Notes 2000 Sanctimony 2001 Replicant Fulltime Killer Blackwoods 2002 Heart of America Try Seventeen 2003 House of the Dead 2004 Breaking News Throw Down Yesterday Once More 2005 BloodRayne 2006 Exiled 2007 Eye in the Sky In the Name of the King Triangle 2008 Linger Sparrow Trail of the Panda 2009 Vengeance Accident 2010 Frankie & Alice 2011 Don't Go Breaking My Heart Life Without Principle 2012 Romancing in Thin Air Motorway Drug War 2013 Blind Detective Rigor Mortis 2014 Iceman Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2 2015 SPL II: A Time for Consequences Wild City Office 2016 Trivisa Three Operation Mekong Sky on Fire 2019 2020 Septet: The Story of Hong Kong 2021 Limbo Anita 2022 Detective vs Sleuths 2023 Mad Fate 2026 Cold War 1994
As co-producer Year Title Notes 2009 Push
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 2002 21st Hong Kong Film Awards Best Editing Fulltime Killer 2004 41st Golden Horse Awards Best Film EditingBreaking News 2005 24th Hong Kong Film Awards Best Editing 2006 43rd Golden Horse Awards Best Film EditingExiled 2007 26th Hong Kong Film Awards Best Editing 44th Golden Horse Awards Best Film EditingEye in the Sky 2008 2nd Asian Film Awards Best Editor 27th Hong Kong Film AwardsBest Editing 2009 28th Hong Kong Film Awards Sparrow 2010 29th Hong Kong Film Awards Accident 2012 31st Hong Kong Film AwardsLife Without Principle 49th Golden Horse Awards Best Film Editing 2013 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards Best Editing Motorway 50th Golden Horse Awards Best Film EditingDrug War 7th Asian Film AwardsBest Editor 2014 8th Asian Film Awards Rigor Mortis 2015 52nd Golden Horse Awards Best Sound EffectsOffice 201635th Hong Kong Film Awards Best Sound Design Best Editing SPL II: A Time for Consequences 53rd Golden Horse Awards Best Film EditingTrivisa 201736th Hong Kong Film AwardsBest Editing Operation Mekong 2022 40th Hong Kong Film Awards Best EditingLimbo 59th Golden Horse Awards Best Film Editing 2023 41st Hong Kong Film AwardsBest Editing Detective vs Sleuths 2024 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards Mad Fate
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