Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick and took the marquee film prize at the Cinema Audio Society’s 59th annual CAS Awards, which were handed out Saturday night at the Intercontinental Downtown Los Angeles.
The race for the CAS’ marquee Motion Picture: Live Action statuette saw the sound-mixing teams behind the two top-grossing films of 2022 — Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water — against All Quiet on the Western Front, Elvis and The Batman. All five also are up for the Best Sound Oscar.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio continued its string of awards-season wins by taking the CAS Award for Animated Motion Picture. The first film award of the night, for Documentary, went to the sound team behind Neon’s David Bowie pic Moonage Daydream.
The TV prizes went to Only Murders in the Building (half-hour), the now-wrapped AMC drama Better Call Saul (one hour), Disney+ drama Obi–Wan Kenobi and Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive.
Alejandro González Iñárritu received the Filmmaker of the Year Award for Bardo, and the 2023 CAS Career Achievement Award was presented to five-time Oscar-nominated production sound mixer Peter J. Devlin.
Guillermo del Toro, José Antonio García and Jon Taylor presented the honor to González Iñárritu, who trumpted the crucial work of sound mixers in his acceptance speech. “There is a reason why cinema is called an audio-visual medium,” he said. “Audio is first, before visuals. Sound hits our bodies sensorially. Without intellectualization, we are just hit primally and it strikes our imagination and it’s boundless and it’s first.”
Devlin, whose credits include Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Star Trek: Picard, gave a heartfelt acceptance speech about the importance of sound. “Because ours is, quite simply, the most collaborative, creative endeavor anywhere,” he said. “It doesn’t simply take a village; it takes a whole city to create a film or TV show.” Filmmaker Patty Jenkins and supervising dialogue editor Teri E. Dorman presented the award.
Here are all the winners at the 2023 CAS Awards:
MOTION PICTURES – LIVE ACTION
Top Gun: Maverick
Production Mixer: Mark Weingarten
Re-Recording Mixer: Chris Burdon
Re-Recording Mixer: Mark Taylor
Scoring Mixer: Al Clay
Scoring Mixer: Stephen Lipson
Foley Mixer: Blake Collins
TELEVISION SERIES – HALF HOUR
Only Murders in the Building S2:E5 The Tell
Production Mixer: Joseph White Jr.
Re-Recording Mixer: Penny Harold
Re-Recording Mixer: Andrew Garrett Lange
Scoring Mixer: Alan Demoss
ADR Mixer: Chris Navarro
Foley Mixer: Erika Koski
MOTION PICTURES — ANIMATED
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Original Dialogue Mixer: Carlos Sotolongo
Re-Recording Mixer: Jon Taylor
Re-Recording Mixer: Frank Montaño
Scoring Mixer: Peter Cobbin
Scoring Mixer: Kirsty Whalley
Foley Mixer: Tavish Grade
TELEVISION SERIES – ONE HOUR
Better Call Saul S6:E13 Saul Gone
Production Mixer: Phillip W. Palmer
Re-Recording Mixer: Larry Benjamin
Re-Recording Mixer: Kevin Valentine
ADR Mixer: Chris Navarro
Foley Mixer: Stacey Michaels
TELEVISION NON-FICTION, VARIETY or MUSIC – SERIES or SPECIALS
Formula 1: Drive to Survive S4:E9 Gloves Are Off
Re-Recording Mixer: Nick Fry
Re-Recording Mixer: Steve Speed
MOTION PICTURES — DOCUMENTARY
Moonage Daydream
Re-Recording Mixer: Paul Massey
Re-Recording Mixer: David Giammarco
ADR Mixer: Jens Rosenlund Petersen
NON-THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES OR LIMITED SERIES
Obi-Wan Kenobi E6 Part 1
Production Mixer: Julian Howarth
Re-Recording Mixer: Bonnie Wild
Re-Recording Mixer: Danielle Dupre
Re-Recording Mixer: Scott R. Lewis
ADR Mixer: Doc Kane
Foley Mixer: Jason Butler
STUDENT RECOGNITION AWARD FINALISTS
Timo Nelson