The Musical

Editors – Chris Chandler and Devin Dulany The Musical editors Chris Chandler and Devin Dulany discuss cutting a dark comedy that turns professional frustration, romantic jealousy and middle-school theater into an increasingly elaborate act of revenge. For Devin, the project began years earlier when he edited the original AFI short that eventually became the feature, while Chris brought a background in comedy that includes Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dave and Blindspotting.

Directed by Giselle Bonilla and written by Alexander Heller, The Musical stars Will Brill as Doug Leibowitz, a frustrated playwright working as a middle-school theater teacher while dreaming of a more important career in New York. When Doug discovers that his ex-girlfriend Abigail, played by Gillian Jacobs, has begun dating his nemesis, Principal Brady, played by Rob Lowe, he decides to sabotage Brady's pursuit of a prestigious Blue Ribbon award by secretly replacing the school's planned production of West Side Story with an original musical designed to create the worst possible publicity for everyone involved.

The film began as an AFI Conservatory short before Bonilla, Heller and several members of their original filmmaking team expanded the idea into their first feature. Devin edited that original short and returned for the feature, while Chris joined the team as both editor and post producer. The movie premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival before receiving a nationwide theatrical release.

In our conversation, Chris and Devin talk about expanding a premise that worked at short-film length into a feature, maintaining the movie almost entirely through Doug's increasingly distorted point of view, and finding the right editorial balance for a protagonist whose commitment to his own grievances is essential to the comedy. They also discuss working with Will Brill's intensely serious performance, preserving the sincerity of the young cast, building the escalating revenge plot, and holding back enough of the school production to make the final performance deliver on everything the film has been promising.

CHRIS CHANDLER Chris Chandler is an editor whose credits include The Musical, Blindspotting, Dave and Curb Your Enthusiasm. His work spans comedy, music-driven storytelling and character-focused television and feature filmmaking. Chris received an ACE Eddie Award nomination alongside Roger Nygard, ACE for the Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 11 finale, "