16 Interesting Facts About The Movie "Sound Of Metal" That Will Make You Say, "Oh, Wow"
Riz Ahmed continues to be the best.
In case you haven't seen it yet, Sound of Metal is a film that follows the journey of metal drummer and addict Ruben (Riz Ahmed) as he begins to lose his hearing.
It has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, has been winning many awards, and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. And I'll be shocked if it doesn't get a bunch of noms (and probably wins) this upcoming awards season.
Basically, the movie is great and here are some behind-the-scenes facts about it:
1. Riz Ahmed spent five days a week for seven months working with American Sign Language coach Jeremy Lee Stone to prepare for his role.
"My preparation for this film was a privilege. It wasn’t taught. It was a joy and it has changed me and enriched my life," Ahmed told Variety.
2. Stone, BTW, also portrays the ASL teacher in the film...
3. ...and was director Darius Marder's creative assistant during production.
View this photo on Instagram
"I really gave him a lot of freedom to direct deaf actors with a level of nuance that I couldn’t possibly understand or have. ... That was really what I felt was necessary, as it related to a culture that wasn’t my culture," said Marder.
4. Ahmed and Stone became such good friends during the process that Ahmed actually attended Stone's wedding.
5. Ahmed wore auditory blockers deep inside his ear canal that emitted white noise for certain scenes.
He told USA Today, "I couldn’t hear anything, including the sound of my own voice."
6. He also learned to play the drums in seven months for the role.
View this photo on Instagram
Marder told Ahmed before production, "When you're drumming onscreen, you're going to be drumming for real."
7. Ahmed and Olivia Cookie (who plays Lou) actually played in a real night club in front of a real audience.
8. Cooke said that she and Ahmed bonded over the "sheer terror" of having to really perform as a band.
9. Paul Raci, the actor who plays Joe, is a C.O.D.A. (Child of Deaf Adults) and is a hearing person who grew up with deaf parents.
Raci, a breakout star in the film, has been winning many accolades for his performance.
10. He's also a member of the Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles...
View this photo on Instagram
11. ...and the lead singer of a Black Sabbath tribute band called Hands of Doom ASL ROCK.
View this photo on Instagram
They are a band that performs in American Sign Language.
13. Before production, supervising sound editor Nicolas Becker brought Marder to an anechoic chamber — a room designed to absorb all sound — so they could experience what it's like to not hear anything, just the sound of their bodies.
View this photo on Instagram
Becker explained to Deadline, "Because it’s totally silent, you start to hear your tendons. You start to hear your heartbeat and your blood pressure, and the sound of your hearing system."
14. The sounds Becker created for Ruben's cochlear implants were based on descriptions.
According to Becker, "Audiologists, from what people say, have modeled the cochlear implant sound. So, I listened to that a lot, and I tried a lot of things, many different software and plug-ins, trying to find the best solution."
15. The film was actually in development for about a decade before getting made.
View this photo on Instagram
According to his interview with the Observer, Marder said the seed of the project started 13 years ago.
16. And finally, this is filmmaker Darius Marder's first feature film as a director. Previously, he was best known for writing the screenplay for The Place Beyond the Pines.
