Up until “Inglorious Basterds,” and stretching all the way back to the first feature of his career, “Reservoir Dogs,” ever-present alongside Quentin Tarantino was his editor Sally Menke. She was twice nominated by the Academy for her work with QT (and three times by BAFTA), but sadly Menke passed away in 2010 at the age of 56. Fred Raskin (a former assistant editor under Menke on “Kill Bill” and the editor of the last three “Fast & Furious” films) took over editing duties on “Django Unchained,” and Menke's must have been some tough shoes to fill.
Tarantino has spoken about the emotional experience of working on 'Django' without Sally by his side, and recently told The Huffington Post that during the entire editing process on his latest there was a sign put up that read “WWSD” – What Would Sally Do? Well now comes another insight into one of the key relationships that arguably helped define the visual style of one of the world’s most unique filmmakers, with a couple of videos surfacing that show how Tarantino would keep Menke’s spirits high during the often laborious editing process.
As you can see in the videos below, Tarantino liked to throw a number of shout-outs to Menke during the filming process by simply turning to the camera and quipping “Hello, Sally!” The clips are from "Inglorious Basterds" and “Death Proof,” and show that Tarantino was also able to get his cast members in on the gag. It's easy to imagine her face lighting up in the editing bay as the hellos pop up at the most unlikely moments. The videos still offer a great insight into the working relationship of two great collaborators, and now serve as a touching tribute to a great cinematic talent. Watch below. [Movies]