Director Darius Marder on His
Oscar-Nominated Sound of Metal

By Iain Blair

No one was surprised when The Sound of Music was nominated for 10 Oscar Awards 55 years ago. But this year, almost everyone was surprised when the Darius Marder-directed Sound of Metal scored six nods, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing and — fittingly — Best Sound.

After all, the intense drama about Ruben (Riz Ahmed), a punk-metal drummer who begins to go deaf, is not exactly a feel-good story. When a specialist tells him that his condition will rapidly worsen, he thinks his music career — and with it, his life — is over. His bandmate and girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke) checks the recovering heroin addict into a secluded sober house for the deaf, but after being welcomed into a community that accepts him just as he is, Ruben has to choose between his equilibrium and the drive to reclaim the life he once knew.

I spoke with Marder about his feature film directorial debut, which he co-wrote with his brother Abraham, as well as his workflow and the Oscars.

The movie earned six Oscar noms — how important is that for a film like this?
It’s huge, as this was a very ambitious and audacious undertaking. People might think of it as a small film, but we spent 23 weeks on the sound mix, and that’s just one aspect of it. It’s shot on 35mm, and Riz worked for a year on his acting process. We tried to push the boundaries and do something very unusual, so I’m thrilled that everyone’s work was recognized.

Can you talk about editing with Mikkel Nielsen?
He was perfect for this, as he also used to work in sound and as a drummer. He has such a fine sense of rhythm and music. He also has such integrity as an editor, and he’d push back against ideas of mine if he didn’t agree, which was so important. The big editing challenges were many, including a first rough cut that was close to four hours long, so we had a lot to deal with. We also had very specific pacing in mind since the goal was to throw the audience into a visceral journey. There’s only so much an audience can take in terms of an intense experience.

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