HEWITT, Texas (KXXV) — With the Oscars around the corner, 25 News wanted to share a special Central Texas connection to that big night in Hollywood.
Meet Becky Sullivan — a supervising sound editor who’s worked on some pretty big Hollywood films including being hired by Angelina Jolie for The 2014 movie Unbroken.
Unbroken is a World War 2 action film that Angelina Jolie directed herself.
"She just called me out of the blue one day and said, 'Have you heard of a book called Unbroken' and I said 'Yes, I’ve actually read it', and she said 'Well, I think that’s going to be our next project'," Sullivan said.
"She hired me right there and because I already knew the book, I knew what we were up against as far as the vast sound job that would be needed for that film.”
Becky would later be nominated for an Oscar for best sound editing.
She called this the highlight of her career and a dream come true, but she didn’t get the win.
“I wasn’t expecting to win but to get the nomination and have your peers vote you in — that’s the coolest thing," Sullivan said.
Among being able to keep props, costumes and set pieces from Unbroken, the film also meant something more to her because her father was a navy man in World War 2 and aside from that, film and theater have deep roots in her family.
Some of those family members moved to the greater Waco area with her a few years ago from California during the pandemic because they "wanted a change."
"My youngest daughter got a great job teaching theater and it’s been really fun — the stress level is very low and I can always work from here," Sullivan said.
While Becky wasn't able to reveal any future projects, she did say that after working on around 200 films over a 39 year career including such projects as Fifty Shades of Grey, The Avengers and Field of Dreams and working with big names like Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt — Becky pretty much sets her own path, picking and choosing what she wants to do next.
It’s her love for film that has gotten her this far in the industry and at the time of her Oscar nomination — she says — she was the fifth woman to ever be nominated for best sound editing.
A trailblazing career not ending anytime soon.
The Oscars air on KXXV, Sunday March 2 at 6 p.m.
