Kevin Costner Honored with 2025 Motion Picture Sound Editors’ Filmmaker Award”

The Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) will present the Filmmaker Award to the actor and filmmaker Kevin Costner, who has won an Academy Award for his work in the film industry. Additionally, the organisation will present the Career Achievement Award to Greg Hedgepath, who is in charge of sound editing.

During the 72nd Annual Golden Reel Awards Gala, which will take place on February 23 at the Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, both awards will be handed to the winners.

Every year, the MPSE Filmmaker Award is given out to filmmakers who have demonstrated exceptional talent. In accordance with the organization’s statement, “It is bestowed upon an individual whose career has demonstrated a great appreciation and understanding of the impact of sound editing.” A person whose career has made a major influence on the sound community via excellent work, service, or leadership is the recipient of the MPSE Career Achievement Award. This distinction is offered to the individual.
Throughout his remarkable career, Kevin Costner has been able to engage audiences with his strong narrative, as stated by David Barber, President of the MPSE. The use of sound as a key component of his cinematic storytelling has touched our emotions and engrossed audiences in the worlds he has created over the course of several decades. His films range from epic Westerns to sad tragedies or anything in between. The Horizon story, which is his most recent big endeavour, makes it very evident that he has a strong passion for music. He has made significant contributions to the art of storytelling through sound in film and television, and we are ecstatic to be able to present him with the Filmmaker Award in recognition of his significant efforts.

Hollywood has been the setting for Costner’s profession for a very long time. He made his debut in the ensemble drama The Big Chill, and since then, he has accumulated an outstanding filmography of roles in a variety of films. John F. Kennedy, Silverado, No Way Out, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, The Bodyguard, and Wyatt Earp are just few of the films that he has been in over his career. Man of Steel, which was released in 2013, featured him in the role of Jonathan Kent, Superman’s father. Naturally, Costner also recently starred in the television series Yellowstone, which was created by Taylor Sheridan and for which he left the show in the fifth season.

He began his career as a director with the film Dances with Wolves, which was released in 1990. He would go on to direct Open Range, which was a critical and commercial success in 2003. At the moment, Costner is occupied with the Horizon: An American Saga film series, which he is directing, co-writing, producing, and starring in. Additionally, he is performing in these films. When he is not working on films, Kevin Costner is touring the country with his band, Modern West, where he sings lead vocals and plays lead guitar. He can be seen performing at locations all over the country. Tales from Yellowstone is the name of their most recent album, which was introduced to the public in the year 2020.
Hedgepath is a supervising sound editor who has worked in the field of sound for television and film for twenty years. He has a long and successful career in the field. The Golden Reel Award has been bestowed upon him on two separate occasions. Some of the most notable moments in his career include his work as a sound designer on the storms in Twister (1996) and the enormous bug-like aliens in Starship Troopers (1997). The Incredible Hulk (2008), Footloose (2011), Selma (2014), Straight Outta Compton (2015), Queen & Slim (2019), and Coming 2 America (2020) are some of the other projects on which he has worked.

Prior to beginning his career in the entertainment industry, Hedgepath attended the University of Maryland, where he first majored in communication and then went on to earn a minor in electronics. Aside from that, he attended the Eastman School of Music to study sound recording. He began his career in the industry by working for Lucasfilm in Northern California. This was the beginning of his career.

Greg Hedgepath is a great titan in the world of sound, according to Barber, who states these words. Over the course of several decades and covering a surprising variety of film genres, he has made significant contributions to the film industry. Through his work, Greg has consistently elevated storytelling through the force of sound. This can be seen in the heart-pounding intensity of Speed and Twister, as well as in the nuanced drama of Selma and Straight Outta Compton. As well as being an inventor and a source of inspiration, he is a superb craftsman. A tribute to the significant impact he has had on the art of sound, this award is a testament to his accomplishments.

Since its inception in 1953, the Motion Picture Sound Engineers (MPSE) have been referred to be “a global community of visionary sound artists who define the sonic experience of cinema film, television, and video games.” They refer to members of the MPSE as the “not-so-silent heroes” who are responsible for the immersive audio that contributes to the cinematic experience.

The Motion Picture Sound Engineers (MPSE) is a global organisation that encompasses forty countries across six continents. Their mission is to acknowledge the significance of sound design and sound artists in the art of visual narrative and cinema.