42 Grams
Directed by Jack Newell
Documentary Feature | TRT: 1hr 20min
Summer 2017
My role: Editor
Available on Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu and Microsoft Movies & TV.
They say a human soul weighs 21 grams. So it doubles when a couple gives their restaurant everything they’ve got.
Director Jack Newell filmed a chef and his wife for two-and-a-half years while they opened their first restaurant. I edited his 40 hours of footage midway through, which we shaped into an 80 minute documentary.
The process was an intense dive into the intimate details of a couple as they reached for culinary celebrity and greatness. It was a great relief to eventually screen our working cuts to about 10 small groups of Chicagoans. When Jack and I met after each screening, my resolve as an editor was strengthened after noting each opinion, then asking, “but what movie do we want to make?”
For journalistic reasons, I did not meet either Jake or Alexa until after locking the edit. But after delivering, I had the chance to dine at the restaurant with Jack and interact in a few Q&As, which were always entertaining. Our conversations were surreal, and it was nice to reflect on the film with its subjects.
42 Grams is an intimate portrait of how chef Jake Bickelhaupt evolved from running an illegal restaurant out of his home to being a culinary celebrity in less than a year and the toll it takes on his personal life.
Trailer [Edited by KO Creative]: