Composer and film editor John Ottman received his first Academy Award nomination this year for editing the hit film Bohemian Rhapsody. As Ottman picked up his awards season suit, he talked about being reluctantly thrust into the spotlight.

“For composers, and I'm assuming for editors, the last thing in the world you want to do is dress up. We hate dressing up,” joked Ottman. 

Ottman hit the ground running in 1995 as editor and composer of The Usual Suspects, and since then he's worked on everything from blockbuster X Men movies to smaller cult favorites like Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

Ottman says that almost no one knows a film better than its editor.

“You see all the scotch tape and things held together, and it's hard to forget those things as you're watching the film,” he said.

Far from the “glamour” of Hollywood, the film editor is usually locked away in a windowless room, pouring over hundreds of hours of film footage. 

“On Bo-Rhap, they'd set the lunch here. I'd eat. I might get up a couple of times to go to the bathroom, and then before you know, it's 10:00 p.m.,” said Ottman as he twitched jokingly, “It makes you who you are later in life.”

Bohemian Rhapsody marks the first time he has received an Academy Award nomination for his work. As we walked through the 20^thCentury Fox backlot, he reflected on the tricky nature of wearing two hats in Hollywood, composer and editor. 

“Composers think I'm that editor who scores films once in a while,” he said. “Or the editors think I'm the composer who edits films once in a while. It's nice for one of the camps to recognize my work.”

While he said it is an honor to be nominated, he admitted the art of film editing is a difficult thing to judge. 

“You have no idea what cards that film editor was dealt,” said Ottman. “You have no idea the journey from A to Z that happened on that movie, so it's almost an impossible task to judge film editing.”

And then of course, we get around to that eternal question of who he'll be bringing to the ceremony as his date.

“I'm bringing my mom,” he said. “It's her lifelong dream. I warned her, 'Look it's only a one in five chance.' The nomination's good enough, until you lose and then it sucks.”