“I’m still pinching myself about it. I really am. I genuinely never thought that we’d be back making the show, certainly not in a kind of ongoing capacity.  I’m trying to relish it as much as possible and enjoy every moment. It’s such a gift of a job.”

With the return of Daredevil on the screen comes some new challenges for the character, including, at the very top of Born Again, the death of Foggy Nelson, Matt’s best friend and one of the original show’s best characters. For Cox, the decision to kill such a beloved protagonist felt sad, especially “when you think that there’s so much material that we don’t get to have. There was so much lovely storytelling between those two friends. 

Other than Elden embodying the role so beautifully and bringing so much life to it, it was also a great device to get into the mind of Matt Murdock and really see how it affects the people around him. I understand that if you’re going to bring a show back after six or seven years,, you obviously have to come back with a bang and shake things up a bit. You want the audience to know that they’re not safe in this world, that at any given moment, the rug can be pulled up from underneath you. But it was a tough pill to swallow.”

On the flip side, an interesting arc is formed for Matt after the death of Foggy, as “he’s made a commitment to his in honor of his best friend to give up Daredevil entirely. It’s what people call living amends. You can’t make amends to that person face to face because they’re not here anymore, so you make amends by living your best life in honor of them. He makes that commitment, and the journey of that season is either the evolution or the devolution, however you want to look at it, back into the suit. 

That was what was fun to play with because, on the one hand, in those few episodes before he suits up, he’s living his best life, because he’s not out all night fighting bad guys. He can have a girlfriend, he can go to restaurants, and he’s not beaten up. He’s getting sleep and doing what he loves, making a difference as a lawyer again. So in some ways, his life is working, and there is an integrity to his opinion of himself that I think is significant. Having a real relationship for the first time, maybe ever, is wonderful. It was fun to play with this character and to explore that.

On the other hand, he’s denying an essential part of himself. He’s denying this alter-ego, which is much a part of his truth, if not the primary truth of his life. It will always be one of the most interesting things to witness with Matt Murdock: that pull in two different directions. I think that has to be at the crux of this character, and it’s really fun to play with and explore.”

Of course, there was much more to discuss on Cox’s incredible performance as Matt Murdock, including developing that push-pull as the episodes progress, mirroring the stories of both Matt and Fisk’s return to Daredevil and Kingpin, reuniting with Wilson Bethel, and working with directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead after the show underwent a creative overhaul. 

You can check out the full interview below and stream all episodes of Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+ today: 

[Some of the quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity]

The post Interview: Charlie Cox Discusses Returning as Daredevil in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ appeared first on Awards Radar.

Downs is well-positioned to speak on such crises, starring as Deborah’s agent Jimmy, whose desperate attempts to keep his agency afloat throughout season four see him enlisting the talents of a content creator known simply as “Dance Mom” (Julianne Nicholson), and making calls to the office of Governor Gavin Newsom in order to save a struggling industry.

“Whether you’re in entertainment or not, you recognize the changes in our country and what it means to be living in late-stage capitalism and how hard that is,” says Downs.

While Hacks has been shot in Los Angeles since the beginning, its more recent embrace of the city as its proper setting has afforded Downs a lot of fun in representing the city he calls home onscreen.

“We wanted to highlight a lot of places that are near and dear to us,” says Downs.

One such place is The Americana in Glendale, which Kayla (Megan Stalter) affectionately – and to be fair, accurately – refers to as an “outdoor mall” when pitching it to Ava (Hannah Einbinder) as her unorthodox new home.

“It seems kind of like a dream to live at The Americana,” says Downs. “And also it was weirdly apropos to have Ava kind of live in a Cheesecake Factory, since that’s a callback to what she says to Deborah in the pilot.”

Season four brings several moments such as that one full circle, ultimately reflecting on Downs’ experience creating television alongside fellow showrunners Statsky and Aniello.

“The season was a meditation on not only what it means to make television, but also we were thinking a lot about the ways in which the industry has been changing,” says Downs. “Episode 9 ‘A Slippery Slope’ is literally about the slippery slope of what has happened to the entertainment industry with the disruptions of big tech.”

One might imagine how those conversations are personal for a creator like Downs, whose show has thrived in a legacy media environment like HBO Max, even as the streamer has overcome its own identity crises in this age of tech and entertainment convergence.

Check out my full conversation with Downs below, where we discuss all this and more, even highlighting a few of Downs personal favorite shooting locations in Los Angeles.

The post Interview: Paul W. Downs on Representing Los Angeles in ‘Hacks’ appeared first on Awards Radar.

When I set the stage for my praise of The Life of Chuck here, I raved about the film like so, in part:

For those unaware, The Life of Chuck is an adaptation of the Stephen King novella of the same name, from frequent King adapter Mike Flanagan. It concerns three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz, or Chuck as we’ll come to know him. Starting with the final chapter and going backwards, we grow to understand why this seemingly unremarkable person is anything but. Played at different points by Tom Hiddleston, Benjamin Pajak, and Jacob Tremblay, we find his world filled by folks like his grandparents (Mark Hamill and Mia Sara), as well as others, including Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Felicia Gordon (Karen Gillan). The film takes its time explaining everyone’s relationships to each other, so I won’t get into that here, except to say that the longer the movie goes on, the more you’re consistently having your breath taken away by the simple and human beauty on display.

I absolutely loved this flick from start to finish, as it bounces around genres, occasionally scares you, makes you laugh, and brings you to tears. In less than two hours, I watched scenes that struck a timely chord about the state of the world, had a moment involving All That Jazz elicit my biggest laugh in a theater all year, and had multiple sequences that had me openly sobbing. It’s all done with such care and heart from Flanagan, who previously has shown he can do aces work with King’s horror outings. Here, he takes the mantle from Frank Darabont, as this is very much of the ilk of The Shawshank Redemption (my all-time favorite film), along with The Green Mile and Stand By Me (which Rob Reiner helmed). It’s unlike anything you’ve seen from Flanagan to date, easily stepping up as career best work.

Below, you can see my chat with Lillard. We kick off the discussion by referencing the Lillardthon, which he has fond memories of. I also bring up a few of his older roles, including Summer Catch. However, this is largely about The Life of Chuck. Lillard brings up how filmmaker Mike Flanagan offered him the role. It’s a really nice little story. The film is an easy one to discuss, though we do avoid spoilers. Regardless of how wonderful the movie is, and it’s truly special, Lillard is just a lovely guy to talk to, so we had a good time. Give this a watch and you’ll not just have fond feelings for the man, you’ll be even more excited to see the flick next month…

Here now is my interview with The Life of Chuck cast member Matthew Lillard. Enjoy:

The Life of Chuck begins its theatrical run on June 6th!

The post Interview: Talking ‘The Life of Chuck’ with Matthew Lillard appeared first on Awards Radar.

I had the opportunity to speak with Metzler about the development of Sirens ahead of its May 22nd release. We discussed adapting her own work, building a creative community, and the intriguing interplay between class and gender.

Awards Radar: What inspired you to return to the world of Elemeno Pea?

Molly Smith Metzler: I did Maid with Netflix and that was an incredible experience with very serious subject matter. So, I was trying to figure out what to do next with Netflix. When I first came out to L.A. to do writing for television, Elemeno Pea was sort of my calling card. People frequently asked me about it, and one of those people was Jeanie Hao who remembered it from her days at John Wills Productions. Now she’s at Netflix and we did Maid together, and so she’s known the play for ten years. We were talking about it and she asked if I’d ever considered adapting it, and I was like “maybe”. And here we are and we’re going to drop it next week.

Awards Radar: I mean, I loved Maid. It was one of my favorite shows of 2021. 

Molly Smith Metzler: Oh, thank you!

AR: What was the process of adapting a play for television for you?

MSM: Well, like with Maid, when you’re adapting an award-winning incredible memoir I felt very obligated to honor as much of the book as possible. [Stephanie Land] is such a beautiful writer, I wanted to capture as much of the writing as possible. When you’ve written the IP the great thing is that you can just ignore it. I really threw a lot of the play out the window, we did a huge adaptation, it’s very different from the play. The play is one room and happens over one night with five characters. I love the play, but there was so much more to say about these characters and so much more world to show. So, I’d say it was really freeing because I was the author.

AR: I was going to say, the show itself feels so open in a way that the stage can’t replicate.

MSM: Yeah.

AR: For you, what’s the difference between writing or adapting a work for television be it a novel or your own work in terms of pivoting from one medium to another?

MSM: Like the difference between playwriting and television writing?

AR: Yes.

MSM: I think the primary difference is time. When you write a play, I’d say two years is about how long it takes before you’re ready to go on stage between the drafts and the workshops. You did a good job if it takes two years. In screenwriting, particularly for television, it’s a very rigorous schedule. I learned this on Shameless where we’d be breaking an episode in the room and we’d be shooting in less than two months. You’re going to come up with that story, write it, rewrite it, rewrite it, prep it, and shoot it. That all happens in an eighth of the amount of time it would take for a play. So, you have to learn to do it quicker than you do for a play.

AR: A lot of your work, including Sirens, focuses on these imperfect or complicated relationships between women. I was curious what brings you back to these very nuanced and complicated interpersonal dynamics?

MSM: When you write anything, or the reason I write anything begins with a question I have; it’s an investigation. I find women really fascinating and particularly right now I think it’s a brutal time to be a woman. I often end up writing about women now because I’m so curious about what makes them tick and who we are. What’s our identity now? How has it evolved? What do we stand for? These are questions that I tend to bring to FinalDraft when I open it.

AR: The thing that specifically fascinated me about Sirens is the dynamic between old money, new money, and the working-class and specifically the intersection between gender and class and how it’s portrayed in the show. WHat drew you to this very specific intersection?

MSM: I think I’m a bit of a dog with a bone when it comes to class in America. Whether I want to write about it or not, it’s always in my work. It’s fascinating, particularly in America, that you can’t really change your class. Or, I guess that’s the question I have. Can you change where you come from? Can you change your stripes? I just really enjoy characters that live on the line, and what they’re trying to figure out.

I also think it’s places like Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, both of which I’ve spent a lot of time on; Sirens takes place on a fictional island, but it’s very much one of those or in conversation with those. I think those places offer a lot in terms of conflict between working class and upper class. I think the conversations are a little hotter, a little sexier, when there’s so much on the line or there’s such a big divide between your bank accounts. It all gets a little more ripe for a good story.

AR: Now that you’ve brought it up, I do see how the writing [in these settings] does get a lot sexier. I see that there’s a lot more room for comedy too. So, how do you balance the tonality between this very pitch black comedy and the general tension that I cannot quite find an adjective for?

MSM: Tone is everything, especially when you’re creating a show. With a show like Sirens it does not easily check a box. It’s not a drama, it’s not a comedy, it’s not a muder-mystery, it’s not actually even a “rich people” show. It’s its own thing. A lot of times people struggle to describe Sirens, and I take that as a humongous compliment, but it’s what made the show so hard to make. It’s hard to set a tone like this where we’re doing our own thing and there’s moments that feel like mystery and moments that feel like genre. But, that’s where I like to live as a writer, where those things dance together. That is its own tone, I guess I’d call it a “true dramady”. All my favorite things that I read or watch on TV do that vivisection well between comedy and drama.

AR: Like living in the ambiguity.

MSM: Living in the grey.

AR: Living in the grey, I love that. So, this is your second time showrunning after Maid. What’s changed in your process from writing to having more creative control in this role?

MSM: I always say the best way to have more creative control is to let it go and delegate and hire and bring together a community of artists. On a show like Sirens which is so challenging. There were truly so many people that made this show. I was, obviously, heavily involved but it’s a designer’s challenge to create this world, the writers had a big challenge, the directors had a big challenge. There were so many people involved in coming together. That was the biggest change between my first show and my second and going forward. You get better at creating the community of artists that you need to make the show. And I’m so proud of Maid, and Maid was a wonderful experience, but because it was COVID the team was a very small group of people. It wasn’t a huge project, and there’s good and bad things to that as well. The better you get at showrunning, the better you get at hiring.

AR: That makes a lot of sense. I honestly forgot that Maid would’ve been a COVID production. I can imagine the difference in scale between the projects would’ve been different, especially since Sirens wouldn’t have those restrictions.

MSM: Yes, COVID was an incredibly difficult time to shoot.

AR: I can imagine. I also had a question about the setting specifically. Although Sirens takes place on a fictional island, I read that Elemeno Pea was inspired by your time working on Martha’s Vineyard. What about it makes Martha’s Vineyard such an, and I hate using the term, farmable place to craft these complex dynamics? 

MSM: Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket really have the highs and lows. I remember being twenty-two and arriving at Martha’s Vineyard, and I don’t even know what I was doing there. I got a job working at this very exclusive yacht club and was young and stupid enough to think I would have this experience. But, I ran out of money like two weeks into my trip and had to work so many jobs just to be able to afford living there. I remember getting off the boat and seeing a kind of money I didn’t know existed at this yacht club. I was distracted by it. There’s something tribal about them: they all dress the same, they have their gimlets, they’ve lost all track of time. It’s their world and we’re just living in it. I think I keep going back to that theme because I’m so curious about those women, who they are, and what happened to them after I left that summer. I think I’ve been writing about that summer ever since I experienced it because they were a complex stew.

AR: I get it, especially watching the show. Country club culture scares me but endlessly fascinates me too. Like, even though everyone’s so similar it seems to sow more discord.

MSM: It’s not a cult, but it’s also definitely a cult.

AR: THe definition can be stretched.

MSM: I remember it made a lot of sense to me. They’re definitely having a lot of fun, they’re having a better time than me.

AR: That’s something I’ve always wondered. Like, do these women have any problems? Or are the problems that seem so big just things that they can quickly bypass?

MSM: I think that’s one of the biggest things that Sirens is about. We make a lot of assumptions about these characters and I think by the end of the show it’s surprising to the audience and they’ll want to come back and reconfigure what all of it means.

AR: I definitely see a rewatch in my future because now that I’ve gone through it I want to watch it with all of the twists in mind. I want to see what watching it with a full picture will do, which is something I appreciate in a show.

MSM: Oh, absolutely. And to watch those performances a second time as well. I saw those performances every day for months now and I still find something more incredible each time. The cast is so superb.

AR: Yeah, I mean to your point of the more you work in something the better you get at building a creative community. What was it like working with such a varied, very talented cast on Sirens?

MSM: It was dreamy! Everyone in the cast, all unbelievably talented, very kind, very generous people. I will say working with Julianne Moore she’s the archetype of Michaela’s character. She’s got that icey power. I would do anything she’d tell me to do, she’s a definite cult leader. But, when we get to know her in the arc of the show, there’s such humanity and such compassion and such empathy; she can do it on command, it’s available to her all the time. That’s what made it so amazing to watch her. It was inspiring, I’d go home and do rewrites just for her. It was one of the coolest things I got to do. With Meghann Fahey too, Devon is a very hard role. She’s hard to like: she’s mean, sarcastic, and she’s got a lot of problems but she’s got a great sense of humor too. She’s spiraling in her own way, and she’s full of love. When we started to cast we knew we had to hit gold in this role, it’s such a difficult role and she’s also the metronome of the show. Meghann was such a gift because she does that so well. The balance and the humanity of that character could’ve gone in a different direction, and she made her so alive and so real.

The post Interview: Molly Smith Metzler on the Sharp-Witted Look at Class, Gender, and Complex Bonds in ‘Sirens’ appeared first on Awards Radar.

Designing a character like Oz Cobb didn’t feel like a challenge for Badie, who says that “it takes a tremendous amount of creativity” to reinterpret the character for this world: 

“In a way, it could be easier, because you have total autonomy on the design. For example, if you’re doing a biopic, it could be more difficult to design a character, because the world knows who that is and you have to recreate this specific person. That could sometimes be more difficult than creating an original character. However, The Penguin is an original creation, and Mike Marino is super creative. The same can be said for Sofia, who is a new character for this show. She was a clean slate, and I could incorporate what I felt was best for this character to help bring her to life. I didn’t find it to be very difficult to create her looks and other people in the show, because everybody was original.”

In terms of evolving Sofia’s look throughout the series, Badie explained that “her original look was like a mask. It was a costume that she was portraying this innocence in order to disarm everyone. It was a very calculated thing for her to make her hair traditional, demure, unassuming, that type of thing, to throw everybody off their game. Pre-Arkham, she was like daddy’s little girl. That was showing her innocence prior to being put in this asylum and all the trauma she went through inside. When she gets out, she puts on this mask because she’s been plotting the whole time. 

So she had to come out and make everyone think she’s healed or play the role that people thought that she was. However, she was ready to unleash all her evil, which takes us to the other haircuts. The first one would be a wolf cut. That was a little bit of her starting to reveal herself slightly. When it comes down to the mullet, which is the final look, that was her saying, “To hell with it. I’m going to be 100% true to myself, burn down everything, and unleash all my evil.” Her story, her hair had a personality of its own, and it was definitely a part of her character.”

Of course, there was also much more to discuss, including the importance of rooting each design in some form of reality, even if the series is set in the world of The Batman, the process that went into creating the designs for Victor, Carmine Falcone, the Maronis, and Oz’s younger version. 

Listen to the full conversation below: 

[Some of the quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity]

The post Interview: Discussing the Hairstyles of ‘The Penguin’ with Hair Department Head Brian Badie appeared first on Awards Radar.

Below, you can see my conversation with McGinley. Having grown up with his work, especially on Married with Children, it was really enjoyable to just be chatting with the man. We were riffing on telemarketing scams before we even started recording, before diving right into Shrinking and playing Derek as the man gets to evolve in the world of the show. He’s incredibly thoughtful and fun to talk with, especially given what this role is doing not just for his career, but for him as an artist. It was a lovely chat. The show is wonderful as well, and really is only getting better, not simply for him and his character, but overall, too. It’s streaming on Apple TV+ right now, so check it out if you somehow have not yet. You can thank me later…

Here now is my interview with Shrinking co-star Ted McGinley. Enjoy:

Shrinking is currently streaming on Apple TV+

The post Interview: ‘Shrinking’ Co-Star Ted McGinley Discusses Acting and the Evolution of Derek appeared first on Awards Radar.

Awards Radar had the opportunity to sit down with Steve Toussaint. The talented actor was excited about what’s to come for Lord Corlys Velaryon during the upcoming third season of House of the Dragon. Westeros isn’t kind to those who deal with tragedy, and Toussaint is very aware that his character will need to change in order to survive. The performer also praised other crew members who made the action of House of the Dragon possible. From showrunners to the costume design department, Steve Toussaint had nothing but good things to say about the team behind HBO’s massive hit. Here are some of the highlights from the conversation:

Awards Radar: In Season 2 of House of the Dragon, what was important for Corlys when it comes to his relationship with the Crown?

Steve Toussaint: I think that kind of changed as the season went on, he was forced to put his love for Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) by his beloved wife. He had been injured and he thought: “Let’s get out of this. This is not our war”. His wife thought: “No, this is the right thing to do”. And she was correct. During the first five episodes of Season 2, he was there due to a feeling of obligation towards his wife. That was reinforced after she had died. Her dying wish was to support Rhaenyra and hold the realm together by supporting what they believe to be the legitimate claim to the Iron Throne.

His relationship to the crown was complicated, nuanced. If you look at the two candidates, Rhaenyra and Aegon, she clearly is the right choice. But his family has been hurt by being close to the Targaryens. His daughter then dies after being married to the brother of the King. He’s ambivalent towards the Targaryens, and Rhaenyra in particular.

AR: What was it like to work with Eve Best during this season of House of the Dragon?

ST: It was the absolute best, pardon the pun. I had admired her before meeting her. I had seen her in a couple of things on the screen, I hadn’t seen her in theatre. I saw her in a wonderful show called The Shadow Line. And, of course, she was in Nurse Jackie. When they told me Eve would be playing that part, I was very excited. And you always hope you can get along with the person you’ll be working closely with. And we did! From the first day, we became very close colleagues and friends. It was a great joy. She’s one of those actors you can throw a line at differently, in different takes, and she will go along with it. It was a real heartbreak when her character met her demise.

AR: Did you read the book before working on the show?

ST: No, I hadn’t! George R.R. Martin was kind enough to send a few of us signed copies of the book. I had decided early on that I wouldn’t read the book because there’s the book and there’s the television series. They can be two different entities. The last thing I wanted to do was read something in the book that Miguel and Ryan, at the time, decided that it wasn’t cinematic. My job is to try mu hardest to portray the screen version that they had written. I’ll probably read the book when we finish this thing.

AR: When did you find out that Rhaenys was going to die? What was that like for you?

ST: They must have sent me the scripts before we had our first rehearsal. I must have found out then. My only memory of finding out is actually at the table reading. I know that can’t be possible, but that’s the memory that I have. Eve and I were sitting together. We got to the part where it says: “She plummets to her death”, or something like that. The entire room went like: “Oh no!”. Suddenly, it became real. I can’t say I was in shock, because it’s Westeros. People die all the time in Westeros. But it was hard to lose my partner in crime.

AR: The chemistry between the two characters was incredible. How did you work with Eve Best to craft this relationship?

ST: It was a lot of fun! There wasn’t a lot of work. I think I used to disagree with this idea of “chemistry”. I just thought: “If you just look into another actor’s eyes, there’s chemistry”. But having this experience and having so many people tell me what they felt watching the two of us together, I’m more open to it. When we were rehearsing with Ryan and Miguel before Season 1, there was one question we would ask. When know that they’re a power couple, but when they got together, was it a political thing or was it love? Both Ryan and Miguel, without hesitation, said it was love. That was very important.

As actors, we were teased by other cast members who portrayed people in relationships, because ours was the healthiest relationship. The characters like being around each other, they love each other. I was recently discussing Season 3 with someone, and I said: “The only time that Corlys smiles brightly is with her presence”. The only time he’s completely relaxed with himself is with her. These are things we discovered through playing these characters. A lot of that came from the fact that Eve and I liked each other anyway. We had wonderful conversations on set about all sorts of things. She’s a very funny and kind lady. She was kind enough to laugh at my jokes. That gets you a long way in my book.

AR: Moving forward, what is the essence of Corlys Velaryon? Now that he has lost Rhaenys.

ST: Without spoilers, if you watched the first two seasons, it will make sense. He basically is now about his legacy and what he leaves behind. At one point, he tries to name his granddaughter as his heir. Some people believe that the heir of Driftmark has to be salt and sea. He’s looking for that person. He’s looking for a vehicle for his name to continue. There is nobody else, his children are dead. The grandson who would’ve been the heir to Driftmark has also died. No spoilers, but that does leave his two illegitimate children. As we see at the end of Season 2, Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) wants nothing to do with him. He hates him because of what he did. Corlys is in search of making a lasting legacy. He wants to keep the promises he made to his wife. We open Season 3 in a state of war for the succession.

AR: What is it like for you to work on the massive sets and real locations of House of the Dragon?

ST: It’s terrific! Anything that can aid your imagination makes acting much easier. I worked on this scale once before. I did a film called The Prince of Persia and that was a big deal. I remember walking into the set in Morocco and thinking it was huge. I get that feeling almost every day on this show. No spoilers, but what we have planned for this season is huge. The are some things that I have been told that I’ve never done on television before. It’s amazing! We were walking around the set just a couple of days ago, discussing the details on the paintings and the carvings on the columns. It’s truly amazing. I’m constantly amazed at the crafts people who work on the show. I told Loni (Peristere, one of the directors from the series): “I’m so glad that I don’t have to keep all of this memorized, like you”. He did the lovely, cheeky smile that he has. It’s a massive undertaking and an absolute thrill to be a part of it.

AR: What were your inspirations for the way Corys carries himself when he’s on the screen?

ST: I’ll tell you something that’s interesting. When I first met Ryan and Miguel, when I was trying to get the job, what we talked about, more than anything else, was about being a father. I’m not a father. But I had just played a father in a series of films and television that Steve McQueen had directed. One of them was Small Axe: Red, White and Blue. A played a father who was very stern. He loved his children, but he felt like he had to be tough.

We talked a lot about that character and that kind of father. That was the inspiration, after that, we started talking about our own fathers, myself and Miguel. About how you equip yourself to live in the world. Are you soft and kind? Or are you tough or whatever? A lot of those things kept coming back to me when I looked at the script. Specially when it comes to how Corlys is with his first son. He’s trying to secure a place for his family in a world where you can die very quickly. He hopes that his name carries on. When you first meet him, he’s like: “Let’s get to the throne!” He says to his wife: “It should’ve been you”. He’s very modern in the sense that he’s very supportive of his wife.

Both seasons of House of the Dragon are now streaming on Max.

The post Interview: Steve Toussaint Dives Deep into Playing Corlys Velaryon in ‘House of the Dragon’ appeared first on Awards Radar.

Baird describes it as “the ambience where you fear someone is whispering about you behind your back. You can’t hear it but you just sense it.”

As one might imagine, Conclave has taken on newfound relevance in the wake of Pope Francis’ death and the ensuing election of Pope Leo XIV. Tracking firm Luminate estimates that streaming viewership for the film jumped 3,200% after the passing of Pope Francis in late April. Naturally, Baird’s creative process was intertwined with the Catholic Church throughout his time working on Conclave.

“We were allowed a lot of space to explore ideas and to try things out, even going to Rome to hear what it sounds like when the Pope is in town and making a speech,” says Baird.

Of course, the Oscar-winning film is just one of several acclaimed projects that Baird and his team have worked on over the years. His soundscapes played an equally pivotal role in the 2025 release Last Breath, not to mention the documentary of the same name that preceded it. Director Alex Parkinson relied heavily on the sound team in transforming his documentary into a scripted feature.

“We had many discussions on how to bring cinematic depth and dynamics to the film,” says Baird. “A TV documentary often lives in fear of the channel being changed but with the cinema, the audience has elected to be there, so you have more time to take risks.”

Those risks involved the nixing of a gorgeously epic score that was composed for the film’s most pivotal moment: the snapping of diver Chris Lemons’ (Finn Cole) umbilical cord. Baird saw an opportunity to capture the magnitude and horror of this moment not with sweeping sound, but with sobering silence.

“The idea being that when he was cut off, he was cut off from our world, the observers as well as the people in the film,” explains Baird.

Other recent projects include the star-studded British romance Four Letters of Love and the forthcoming Scottish Samurai drama Tornado. With museum installations and even the FIFA video games to his name, Baird truly cannot be pinned down creatively. Still, he is proud of where his strengths lie.

“I do seem to have found a sweet spot for using silence in tense thrillers for the moment,” says Baird. “When you see people stop eating popcorn in the cinema because they are gripped by what is going on, that’s probably the best.”

Check out our full conversation with Ben Baird of Aquarium Studios below!

Conclave was one of the most acclaimed films of 2024, and is now receiving yet another rise in viewership with the recent election of Pope Leo XIV. As Sound Designer, you helped craft the world in which audiences watch this tense decision-making process unfold. Can you walk us through the demands of the project?

“Conspiratorial silence” was in many ways the watchword for the sound of Conclave. Before I go into this, it needs to be pointed out that the location sound recording that Valentino Gianni had done was exceptional, and rather than having a constant battle to repair and make the dialogue sound audible, we had some of the most beautiful recordings that I had experienced so far. Key to this was preparation. Edward Berger, the director, allowed the time and space for the costume and sound departments to work together to allow for the cleanest and most accurate capture of the production audio. I believe that Ralph Fiennes’s cassock had 4 pockets built in to hide 4 microphones in strategic positions on his body.

Conspiratorial silence is the ambience where you fear someone is whispering about you behind your back. You can’t hear it but just sense it. We wanted to create this feeling that in the corners and behind pillars, people are conspiring – treachery is being concocted. With a beautifully clean dialogue track, this is a joy. In between words there is nothing other than the tiny, foleyed details. The tiny clink of a metal cross, the squeak of a trainer on a marble floor – there is a claustrophobia that is created even in the large spaces of the Vatican.

In the centre of this is Dean Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), who has the weight of the world on his shoulders. We wanted to enhance this weight, so he spent best part of a day recording his breath for every scene, so that we can really feel him and what he is feeling – so that, in a way, the audience becomes part of that worldly weight on his shoulders – to bring a physical connection to what he is feeling.

In the centre of the film is the scene where he breaks into the Pope’s chamber. In the script, while he is in there, Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossillini) arrives at the other side of the door, and senses that Lawrence is in the room so decides not to interrupt him as what he is up to is probably in the best interests of the Conclave. We wanted the chamber to be absolutely silent, so that you can feel Lawrence searching the room but also sense the arrival of Sister Agnes outside and focus on their breathing to transmit the unspoken communication between the two. In order to get to this place, as we progress through the film, it goes from fairly busy and noisy with each location having some kind of background and then when Lawrence closes the door behind him as he enters the chamber, we end up with no ambient sound, only the noises that he makes. It draws the audience right into his world. The hallway outside has a faint hum of the lights so when we cut to Sister Agnes outside, we can feel the difference. In many ways, this scene was the defining scene for the overall sound of the film.

To answer your question, the process of making the soundtrack for this film was simply joyful and very interesting. Edward and Nick Emerson, the editor, were very much on the sound design team. We were allowed a lot of space to explore ideas and to try things out, even going to Rome to hear what it sounds like when the Pope is in town and making a speech. Jack Wensley was working on the dialogues, assisted by Naomi Graham. They had the very hectic task of recording all the background conversations and to make them feel real. Edward had said that everything in the film was to be prepared and nothing improvised, so all the background crowd scenes were written. We were even allowed to get the main cast, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Sergio Castellitto, Lucian Msamati to be involved in the background conversation records. Rob Price and his team did a wonderful job with the foley. The detail on the crosses, the trainers, the wax seal, and my favorite, the book that Dean Lawrence opens when he is snooping around the Pope’s room. Jamie McPhee and Alexej Mungersdorff, with whom we have worked with for many years, helped build the deep background that gave the sense of the magnitude of the situation, but would also drop into silence when tension was required.

What was your reaction to Conclave’s continuous rise in popularity and acclaim throughout 2024 and the early part of 2025?

In most of the work that we’re involved in, a few friends and family would message me and mention they saw my name and that they thought it was good, or ok, or have some advice. With Conclave, it has been everyone I have known letting me know how much they enjoyed the film. Working on something that is popular has been a tremendous ride. Also, all the conversations, like this one, that I have had talking about the work on the film has been terrific. It turns out I like the sound of my own voice and sitting in a cinema or in a Q&A with a microphone is brilliant fun.

You also worked on a pair of period pieces starring Florence Pugh in Lady Macbeth (2016) and The Wonder (2022). Can you describe the creative process behind crafting the soundscapes for those films?

Lady Macbeth was very much a milestone in the company’s history. Aquarium Studios was started in order to make soundtracks for feature films and there had been a few films up to this point but Lady Macbeth seems to mark where the focus moved to cinema entertainment.

It was a great opportunity to work on this micro-budget feature with an impressive cast and a great director in William Oldroyd. There was a very early sound design meeting where it was decided to not really have a score. A strong influence at this point was No Country for Old Men. There is one moment, I think, in the film, where there is a musical tone that is used to mark a particular point, so we adopted the idea of a single musical tone to mark the key turning points in Florence Pugh’s journey. The ambience was to be claustrophobic – and silence was adopted as the most claustrophobic option. Except for the moments where her husband and father in law go away and she opens a window to let the wind in, the majority of the backgrounds are silent. The idea of micro-details that were foleyed to create the sound and the resonance of voices and those details in the rooms made up most of the sound. Without the warm reminder that “it’s a film” from a musical score, the film does feel incredibly brutal at times. Again, silence lends itself to being a period piece as there are no planes, cars etc. The film was shot not far from a road, so there was a bit of a challenge to clean up the dialogue. There was a little ADR though it was also discovered that Florence Pugh can perform the sounds of a child being suffocated extremely well, which came in handy for the end of the film.

For The Wonder, we had worked with the director, Sebastian Lelio, on a previous film, Disobedience. Sebastian was not keen on ADR at the time and during that film, which was set in Hendon, in north London, we wanted to build the sense of a bubble in the area, so again, silence played a part in creating this bubble. It meant that some scenes had to be ADR’d for the traffic noise but he was very happy with the results. Hence, when it came to The Wonder, he was fully open to the opportunities that ADR would allow. One scene where she tries to feed the child was originally filmed with everyone shouting but we tried the idea of ADRing it all as a whisper. The anger in the facial expressions, combined with trying not to be heard did make the scene more powerful. We also were able to record a breathing track for Florence Pugh for the entire film, which we used to bring us closer to the character and learned the power of breathing to put the audience on the shoulders of the actor. The film was shot in the middle of the countryside in Ireland, so we didn’t really have to worry about modern day sounds. Another interesting element was working with Matthew Herbert who was keen to connect the ambience with the score. There’s a clock ticking sequence that shows that most clearly but the work was continued when we worked together on Daniel Koktajlo’s Starve Acre, where the lines between where score starts and ambience stops are quite blurred in places.

You played a vital role in shaping the harrowing underwater soundscape of Last Breath, the incredible true story adapted from the documentary of the same name, which you also worked on. I’d love to know more about how those experiences compared to one another, and how your approach might differ between a feature film and a documentary experience?

I have always felt that regardless of whether it’s a documentary, drama, game or exhibit, sound is part of telling the story that the director wants to tell. Obviously with documentary, there is a truth that should be adhered to but otherwise, it is about having an emotional impact on the audience. Making the documentary version of Last Breath was a learning experience. The director, Alex Parkinson, had made many documentaries but not for the cinema. So, we had many discussions on how to bring cinematic depth and dynamics to the film. A TV documentary often lives in fear of the channel being changed but with the cinema, the audience has elected to be there, so you have more time to take risks.

The ship that this all happens on is pretty functional and with the documentary, it was about finding the line where we can heighten the human experience without telling lies. There were little details like the CCTV to the Sat chambers always had sound on, so you felt connected to the divers. Also, there was a lot of foley done to enhance all the work, to make it as dramatic without again, telling lies. The main element was around the umbilical snapping. There had been a huge score written to cover this but during the process of mixing the film, we had already thought about having more space and a little less score, so that it carried more impact when it was there. So in this climactic moment, I wanted to try cutting everything, including the music at the point of severance. The idea being that when he was cut off, he was cut off from our world, the observers as well as the people in the film. It is a subtle fourth wall breaker but when it was shown to audiences, it was a major impact that was often referred to.

So, when we started work on the drama version in 2023, the umbilical was to break in the same way. It was interesting working on the drama version of the film because you realise that in a documentary, you can have voiceover and interviews to tell you what happens whereas in the drama, you can only really do it by watching and listening to incidental conversations. For the sounds, though, it was interesting that a lot of the sounds that we had created for the documentary were the basis for the sounds in the drama. The key additions was the engines for the boat – it had seven motors that would keep the boat stationary, even in storms and they fluctuate all the time as they are compensating for the movement of the sea, so we felt it important to set up this feeling from the beginning so that when the engines failed, you could suddenly feel their loss. Also, a key part, once again, was breathing. Especially Chris Lemon’s breathing. He gets stuck on the bottom of the ocean and runs out of oxygen, so it was important to make the human connection to his breath from when he puts his helmet on. The authentic sound is very mechanical and very un-human, so we made Finn Cole (Chris) breath for the entire underwater sequences and so you can really feel when he has his last breath. And of course, the breaking of the umbilical was a cut to complete silence as it was in the documentary and it too seems to impact the audience effectively.

You also designed the sound on Four Letters of Love, a moving British romance starring the legendary trio of Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter, and Gabriel Byrne. What was it like working on a project with such a star-studded cast and crafting the sonic landscape for them to play in?

It was great. There have been a few films lately where I have been able to work with people whom I first came across before I worked in the industry. I remember watching Remington Steele with my granny in the 80s, and after Goldeneye, Pearce Brosnan became a household name. Helena Bonham Carter has always been a brilliant actor and Room with a View was a very early date night at the cinema. I have done many projects with Gabriel Byrne and have always enjoyed them. Recently, Dance First where he plays Samuel Beckett was also a great working experience but also, the recent series of War of the Worlds was great fun and because nearly everyone was gone, it was a good opportunity to do some very tense silence – which, even though it was for TV, seemed to work pretty effectively. Also, recently I did the sound for The Great Escaper with Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson and that was absolutely terrific.

As to the soundscape of Four Letters of Love, the sound really had multiple tasks to perform. Firstly, the film was set in two locations – Dublin and the West of Ireland, so as the film would change from one to the other, it was important to feel the difference in the places. Anna Sulley, who looked after the sound effects on this film, did a great job in accentuating these required differences. Secondly, the film was set in the 70s and so it was also important to give a feel for the time. Obviously cars with their older engines but also we spent quite a lot of time working with the music super to create the right kind of music for the time that would be playing in the background – be it on the radio or in the bars. Also, the film had a magic element, though not to be expressed too strongly. To give the feeling of maybe there’s magic involved or maybe it’s simply coincidence. In the film, the brother plays the Irish whistle, so we used that, overlaid with wind and a bit of flute to create a sound that could hint at the magic at key points but it would also blend into the background and score, so it could be as subtle as we wanted it.

You have worked across a wide variety of genres. Do you have a favorite genre in which you prefer to work?

Indeed, I have worked on everything from museum installations to computer games, TV fantasy to drama to documentaries, and feature films from horror to romance via quite a few thrillers. With all of them, the idea is to tell a story and the sound helps to do that. When it works, it’s great and totally satisfying. So whether it’s putting the sound of rockets in for The London Planetarium, crowds and commentary for the FIFA football game, sword fights for Merlin, the waves for the tsunami, screams that make you jump or ambiences that feel tense, I enjoy them all. But I do seem to have found a sweet spot for using silence in tense thrillers for the moment….when you see people stop eating popcorn in the cinema because they are gripped by what is going on, that’s probably the best.

I am also intrigued by your upcoming work on John Maclean’s crime saga Tornado. Can you tell us more about your approach to the sound design for that particular project?

Tornado is a Samurai film set in Scotland. I spent a bit of time reacquainting myself with some historic Samurai films. The scenes in Tornado did tend to be windy but I was keen to keep a bit of a sense of wind as a theme for the main character, who is called Tornado. So, it was an interesting challenge to find wind sounds that would work for the various ambiences while also being able to keep a bit of a different sounding wind for Tornado’s theme. Within this setting, the baddies needed to have weight, so the foley on them was particularly heavy. There is an accordion player with a squeeze box strapped to his back, so to bring a small spot of lightness, his instrument would utter the odd exasperation at a few key moments. The main task was to get Tim Roth’s performance clear. He had done this subdued yet powerful delivery which was covered in wind, so a lot of work was done to expose this performance and bring it forward to give it weight.

I tend to make cuts hard. I am not a big fan of crossfades unless there is a particular reason for it. In this film in particular, hard cuts between scenes and shots gave the edits an extra energy and added brutality to the film.

The post Interview: ‘Conclave’ Sound Designer Ben Baird Reflects on Oscar Drama’s Enduring Relevance appeared first on Awards Radar.

In a recent interview with Awards Radar, Krueger dissected his work as Coach Ben—a role that gave him a fleshed out character, room for creative interpretation, and the physical challenge of often working one-legged after the tortured character went through a stomach churning post-crash amputation. The role required discipline, instinct, and commitment to shape Ben’s heartbreaking journey. Krueger’s words pull back the curtain on how he physically and mentally transformed the character into one whose impact will be felt long after digested.

Krueger’s discipline is evident in his calculated physical evolution, a series-long commitment to mirror Ben’s decline. To help make his physical erosion more prominent the actor did not start with weight loss, instead choosing to gain weight. “I started the long game. I like as much information as I possibly can have. Part of the job of acting is you have to know more than the audience,” shared Krueger.

“At the beginning of season one, I put on a lot of weight. [Coach Ben] is 1990s New Jersey former athlete, muscled out beefcake, perfectly fit. I knew that I could gradually lose the weight. By the time we got to season two, I was down to my normal operating weight,” he explained. “Then going into this season, I started months out. The first script said, ‘Ben looks as gaunt as we’ve ever seen him‘. [Ben] has kind of been off on my own, just grounging for food, trying to catch whatever [he] can. So that was important to me. There’s a whole thing around actors and weights and what they’re doing for roles and… how extreme actors go to me should always be dictated by the story.”

Krueger’s work was not stunt acting, it was layered storytelling. His commitment to Coach’s physical decline conveyed a character who was not only struggling with physical malnourishment as he would abstain from any of the cannibal feasts, but also a loss of morale as he witnessed these young women he coached regress in the most primal of ways. Every glance and stagger felt painfully real, as Ben struggled to stick to his beliefs in a setting that would beat down even the strongest willed.

This season showcased both the physical toll of being stranded in the wilderness and the impact on Coach Ben’s mental state as he responded to voices only he could hear. While fans have numerous theories of voice origins, Krueger revealed that they were not specifically defined by the writers, who trusted him to portray them as a psychological response to Ben’s mental deterioration after six months alone.

“I was talking to whoever I thought might be there, whether it was my subconscious, whether it was my alter ego, whether it was Paul (François Arnaud), I was just trying to make conversation with anybody. That is not the first time that I’ve been talking to somebody.”

Another burning question fans have not been able to shake, who set fire to the cabin. The actor does provide some insight, but no answers, which he feels is kind of the point. “Some stuff we leave a little bit more vague and ambiguous. For instance, I don’t think we’re ever really gonna find out if we’re ever really gonna know who burned down the cabin or what happened to the cabin,” shared Krueger. “I think that’s one of those great stories. Was it Ben? I don’t know, maybe, maybe not. Was it the other other Tai? Was it just a spark that got lifted in the wind from having a bunch of open flames and an old wooden cabin? Who knows? But the important thing is the effect that it had on the group and what happened afterwards, like what transpired because of those events.”

Where discipline laid the groundwork, Krueger’s instincts elevated the final moments of Coach Ben with a prime cut in letting go in one of the most powerful moments of the series. Coach, who is now the captive of the Yellowjackets, wasting away, unwilling to eat. He is gaunt, weakened, disheartened and hoping to die – a shell of the man he was before the crash. His condition is too much for Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) who decides to put him out of his misery. The actor found the closure of his character to be quite fitting. “When I first when I first found out about exactly what the destiny would be, I was like, this is poetic. This is exactly what should happen – it should absolutely be Natalie that does the final act as kind of a mercy killing,” explained Krueger. “And then also just for me as an actor, working with Sophie Thatcher is one of my favorite things in the world.”

“If I have a scene with her, my entire body just relaxes, I know that I’m not gonna have to work too hard, I know that I can just be with her and be present in the moment… I went into that scene… knowing what it was, and having an idea of how it should look. But I also let the idea go because I was like, let’s just see what happens with Sophie and I. We really played off of each other and just kind of let it breathe as much as possible,” continued Krueger. “That naturally led to all of the emotion. This was a long goodbye for the character and for me as an actor on the show as well. So everything just came together really, really beautifully, I thought.”

Krueger’s ability to abandon preconceptions and lean into the energy of each scene created a performance that’s raw, wrenching, and unforgettable—ending a goodbye that gutted fans. It is a testament to an actor who wove discipline, instinct, and courage into every frame. His transformation, presence, and moral weight turned Coach Ben into a character we couldn’t look away from, even as he broke us.

Even post death, Coach Ben’s presence continued to be felt, especially when his decapitated head lead to the literal “WTF!” moment (one of my favorites not only of the series but of recent TV as a whole). Watch the full interview below for: the amputation challenges, learning the fate of his character, funeral parties, Coach Ben ghost detective, and much more.

All three seasons of Yellowjackets are now airing in their entirety on Paramount+.

The post Interview: Steven Krueger On His Transformation For Coach Ben’s Heartbreaking Endgame in ‘Yellowjackets’ appeared first on Awards Radar.

O’Reilly knew she was a part of something special while reading the screenplay, stating that she could “ feel the ambition of the piece. I could feel the ambition of everyone around in every department, particularly for season two. Perhaps we knew that because we were all finishing together. We all wanted to reach as far as we possibly could, both individually and as a collective. However, when I received those scripts, it didn’t just feel special, but it felt important.”

Of course, the big moment for Mon Mothma’s arc in the second season is the speech that she gives in the ninth episode, which will likely stand the test of time as one of the most powerful scenes in Star Wars history. In approaching such a scene like this, O’Reilly explains that she had known the speech was coming for a long time, and it felt like “the crux of who the woman is. It allowed us an opportunity to see a character who doesn’t ever pick up a blaster and doesn’t ever hop in a fighter ship. She is effective for the rebellion and the resistance just by using her voice. Diplomacy first, but what you see in the speech is her superpower, which is her voice, and that was very important to me.

I was very grateful that Tony Gilroy and Dan Gilroy, who wrote that episode, really gave narrative space and screen time to that moment and me, as an actor, by happenstance. What makes this speech so special is also what is layered before it. You understand the complexity of that moment. You understand the fear of the environment. You understand that she is alone, that the rebellion isn’t straightforward, that what was an ally now can be feared. There’s a beautiful scene with Luthen at the beginning of that episode, which really shows these prickly allies that have always needed each other, cognizant of the idea that they can no longer go forward together.

There are fissures all the way through episode nine. The tectonic plates of resistance are moving underneath the whole episode. In fact, there’s the bit before, which I think is really important, is for her to be completely alone in that chamber. She’s just a single, lonely woman. Moments like that allow us to recognize ourselves and understand that it is not easy. We, as viewers, understand that courage is required. We understand the risk. We understand that she is taking every step closer to setting fire to her whole life. 

Therefore, when you get to the speech, there is already a tinderbox of flames around. I hope people feel that as they watch it, the speech itself, getting to give that, I hope, will be one of the most memorable experiences of my whole life as an actor.”

With a show like Andor, there is a lot to talk about, and there’s plenty more you can get out of our interview with Genevieve O’Reilly by listening to the full conversation below: 

[Some of the quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity]

The post Interview: Genevieve O’Reilly Unpacks Mon Mothma’s Arc in Season Two of ‘Andor’ appeared first on Awards Radar.