Meet the University of Tennessee grad who worked on 'Avatar: The Way of Water'

When "Avatar" came out in December 2009, Ben Murphy travelled from his hometown of Cleveland, Tennessee, to see the film in IMAX 3D at the Regal Pinnacle 18 in Knoxville.

More than seven years later, he joined the production of what would become "Avatar: The Way of Water."

"If you were to tell me at the time, 'You'd be working on the next one of these things,' I don't know if I would have believed you," Murphy told Knox News.

With a love for filmmaking since his childhood, Murphy moved to Knoxville to attend the University of Tennessee partially because the journalism program had video production courses. In his sophomore year, the cinema studies major was formed and he dual majored in both fields, graduating in 2015.

After graduation, he worked on a couple animated films before joining the production of the "Avatar" sequels near its beginning in September of 2017. He started as an assistant editor, recently accepting a promotion as first assistant editor.

With the film's recent release, Knox News sat down with Murphy to discuss his career, his work on the "Avatar" sequels and his relationship with Tennessee. At the moment, the film has currently grossed over $1.7 billion at the global box office.

This Q&A has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What was it about the University of Tennessee that made you decide to go there?

Murphy: Firstly, I had family who went to UT, so there's a family lineage there. And it was in-state, it wasn't super far away from where I grew up, but it was also far enough that I was like getting a new experience.

I've always loved Knoxville. I visited here when I was in Cleveland and getting to be here, it's such a homey city. It's like a big enough city that there's so much stuff to do. It's also small enough that you can feel like you can get to know everyone. And I came here because I knew it would open the doors for me and I could find who I wanted to be here because I think at the time of going to school, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do … but I knew I wanted to do something in the media, entertainment arts.

Knox News: You also lucked out in the sense that the cinema studies major was birthed during your time at UT.

Murphy: Again that wasn't advertised to me. It just happened! And I was like, "Yes! OK, great."

What was it about video production and filmmaking that interested you?

Murphy: My parents bought me the Lego Steven Spielberg movie-making set and when I was a young kid, I got to try that and I filmed this stuff with my friends and my action figures. I would make movies and get to edit. That was my first experience with (filmmaking).

Then when my brothers were in high school and I was in middle school, they were taking the video production classes at my high school. They got an editing program and we put it on our home computer and they were working on it and then I would tinker around with it, too.

I grew up in the age where cameras and everything were so readily available to consumers, and getting those just to go out and shoot something, and getting to see other filmmakers on YouTube who were my age or just a little bit older and getting to see them and see the things that they did and then for me going like, "Oh, I want to do that, too."

Did you feel prepared, moving from Cleveland eventually to Los Angeles?

Murphy: Well for me, it was steps along the way. Like Cleveland to Knoxville was like, "Oh, that was a big step," because it's moving to a bigger city, but it wasn't massive because it was all within Tennessee.

I do think a bigger leap was going from Knoxville … to Los Angeles, which is one of the biggest cities in the world and it takes hours to traverse across the whole city.

In terms of living, a big help for me moving out there was moving with my brother, so I had someone to lean on and talk to and be with. We went in together going up every step of the way moving to Los Angeles, so that was a huge help for me.

I went in with this internship with the American Cinema Editor (ACE) internship when I moved out there, knowing I was going to be interviewed for it, and then learning that that was more of a community of younger people who are going through the same thing that I was going through, and I think that helped, and a lot of the people I met in the internship program are still my friends today.

Did you feel prepared to start working after college?

Murphy: I had done a lot of stuff on my own here, but it was all student films, working on independent film projects, and going into Hollywood I think is a very big daunting thing, especially for people not anywhere near big motion picture stuff. I think the biggest thing for me is that I was just encouraged and I was very fortunate to have a lot of support.

For me, it was getting into the internship. That was just such a huge step forward for me, and just getting to know that from that point, it was like, "OK, here are the things that you will need to know to be prepared from that."

I just found my confidence here in Knoxville, of like this is the confidence of knowing that this is what I want to do and pursuing that.

You've been credited on a couple films before "Avatar." What can you tell me about that?

Murphy: I did the internship program for a few months and we got to sit in on different TV, movie, reality productions … to learn about what Hollywood post-production is, and what different jobs do. But it was really a boot camp for becoming an assistant editor in Los Angeles to then one day in your career become an editor.

I more or less honed in on getting exactly what I needed to get done to … become union-eligible, because … a majority of the jobs in Los Angeles on big studio films are union films, Motion Picture Editors (Guild), or IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) work. You have to become union-eligible in order to get a union job.

While I was at a networking event at Disneyland of all places, … I got offered the job just by talking to one of the editors who was there - Jon Venzon - and he was saying … that they were looking for a young person to be their fresh assistant editor on "The Lego Batman Movie." Literally, the day my paperwork cleared was the day that they needed to know whether or not I could take the job. That was a stressful couple of days leading up to that. And I was incredibly very fortunate for all that to line up and that was also a big step in my career.

Knox News: You also did some uncredited work at the Warner Animation Group, right?

Murphy: Yes, I worked on "Smallfoot," and then a lot of the team from "The Lego Batman Movie" hopped over to "The Lego Ninjago Movie" and I helped out a good few days there.

How did that lead to your recent work on "Avatar: The Way of Water"?

Murphy: While I was at Warner Brothers, … two people I met at the internship program … told me that they were looking for an assistant editor on the "Avatar" films, and it was a no-brainer for me to apply for something I was incredibly interested in, just the prospect of getting to work on such a huge project. I sent in my resume to both people separately, and my resume twice landed on their desk, and I was just very fortunate again to get that opportunity because they were like, "Oh, wow, you appeared on our desk twice!"

What was your experience like working on the film?

Murphy: For the past five-plus years, I've been working on the "Avatar" sequels. It has been the experience of a lifetime. It's been so nuts to work on something longer than I was at college for and for it to now be done, it's fantastic.

These are the people who I work with day in and day out, and you become friends with these people who you spend 10 plus hours with every day, five days, sometimes six, seven days a week. I got to live and work in another country - New Zealand - which was something I had never thought I was going to do in my life. I got to meet and work with so many talented people, and just became friends with these people across the globe. I've made so many good, lifelong friends on this project.

And that's just like the communal aspect of it, not even the professional, working challenging stuff, which is its own thing. The work is hard and it pushes you and challenges you, and I think it's really grown my confidence in my career and who I am as a person and as a filmmaker. It's pushed me creatively. It's pushed me technically, my technical skill set.

Sometimes tragedy can happen. One of our editors passed away earlier this year - David Brenner - and … things like that can happen where you can feel love and loss over a long period of time with these people you work with. It becomes part of who you are when you work on a project for so long because of the people you're with.

You're also working on "Avatar 3," right? What can you tell me about that?

Murphy: We filmed both "Avatar" two and three with the actors - and a little bit of four - all at the same time.

So we've shot all those and we got to do all those at the same time. So now, we're getting into like finessing the edit, and beginning our work on the visual effects for movie three right now.

We are full steam ahead now working on "Avatar 3."

How does the work you've done on these films compare to your previous work?

Murphy: On the "Avatar" projects, it's been such a cool experience for me personally and professionally because I got to see such a huge, massive, technological and complex project through from more or less the beginning to the end of it.

The whole way, I got to learn every step of this process and got to work with our performance capture dailies to our virtual dailies, and then our live action production … then getting to finish and work on the movie cutting it down, getting to work with James Cameron and the editors, seeing all the visual effects come in, to then delivering the movie and finishing the movie. Seeing such a complex project from start to finish, that to me has been such a treat.

Do you plan to work on any of the future "Avatar" sequels?

Murphy: I tend to personally take things one at a time, and I've just been recently given this promotion to first assistant editor … and I'm always looking to push myself and this is a further way to push myself. And as I have such intimate knowledge with movie three, I want to stay through and see that to the finish line.

As of right now, they've only listed out the schedule plans for "Avatar 3." I think it would just have to be with whatever those plans are and I'd have to consider them when they come, but I mean absolutely if it's the right fit for my life.

Outside of "Avatar", what do you plan on doing next?

Murphy: I do enjoy producing films and also directing stuff, but for my full-time career, being an editor is a goal of mine to eventually, hopefully get within the next 10 years or so.

I've really liked having the steady work and getting to focus on other things in life. I have friends that I like seeing, my brother lives in Los Angeles with me and getting to spend time with him and family, and then just doing stuff outside of work, too, like I've started learning how to fly an airplane …. There's just other life aspects that also fascinate me. While my career is focused on filmmaking and editing, there are other things I want to try to get out of life, and then travel and see the world.

Having been in the industry for seven years now, how do you reflect on your career so far?

Murphy: I've just been so incredibly fortunate, and I'm very grateful to have had the career that I've had for seven years. It's not that long, and I've just been very fortunate to be where I am and get to do what I do. And I owe so much of it to the love and support and the people who've helped me get here from my earliest days in Cleveland to when I was here in Knoxville, to the friends and family that support me now while I'm out in Los Angeles. I feel very blessed and very fortunate and very grateful for all the opportunities I've been given.

Do you think Tennessee and Knoxville shaped you into who you are?

Murphy: Absolutely, especially my personality and the way I view the world and see the world. The way I was raised by my parents and my family and my friends in Cleveland, Tennessee, to how I grew up here in Knoxville, to the friends I've made here and lived with, to the mentors and professors I had, all of that shaped me into who I am today and who I continue to be to this day. I have such fond memories and I still stay in contact with so many people here. I would not be where I am today without the support I've gotten from my time in Tennessee.

Would you say you're a Vol for life?

Murphy: Yes, absolutely. I was rooting along Tennessee football all year. When we we beat Alabama, I've never been happier in my life. It was an absolute thrill to watch that. My mom was actually visiting me and my brother in Los Angeles and we all got to watch the game together. If there were fireworks available in Los Angeles, we would have been shooting fireworks.

Keenan Thomas reports for the Knox News business growth and development coverage team. You can reach him by email at keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks at knoxnew.com/subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: 'Avatar: The Way of Water': A University of Tennessee graduate's role