Berberian Sound Studio – Toby Jones Interview

A strange trip through cinematic history.

One of the year’s most deliciously offbeat films, Berberian Sound Studio sees sound producer Gilderoy travel to Italy to work on The Equestrian Vortex, an archetypal giallo movie in the traditions of Argento and Fulci. Gilderoy’s job is to use his ingenuity to capture the sounds of a slasher movie using whatever comes to mind: the sound of skin seared by boiling water, for example, could be replicated by pouring oil on a heated surface. Surrounded by sickening images, Gilderoy’s own personality begins to change for the worse.

“I definitely don’t think it’s a horror, but you wouldn’t say that some of David Lynch’s work is horror either,” says the film’s star Toby Jones, the brilliant character actor often seen in supporting roles in major films such as The Hunger Games and Red Lights. “It uses horror tropes and beats to tell its story. It’s a very hard film to categorise which is what makes it interesting.”

Swerving around horror and psychological drama, the film also acts a tribute to vintage analogue recording equipment and Italy’s ’70s slasher heritage. Jones admits that he didn’t really know anything about the genre beforehand, which he solved by delving into Suspiria et al: “They’re particular because they don’t prioritise narrative. Elements of design, music and others things that are normally at the service of the narrative are prioritised in a way that’s unlike classic Hollywood films.”

Gilderoy is a reserved Englishman thrust into a culture of flamboyant gestures. It’s a role that calls for Jones to streamline his performance down to the basics. “It’s great to play someone who’s such a big counterpoint to everything else – a fish out of water, as it were – but the big challenge is that it doesn’t become yet another little accountant type figure. Gradually his whole personality is jeopardised, and it’s a massive problem for him. I had to try to find a way of implying that. The challenge is to try to make a diminutive, very timid character have grand emotions.”

The end of the month will also see Jones star as Alfred Hitchcock alongside Sienna Miller in The Girl, which will be broadcast on BBC Two, and charts the tumultuous relationship between Hitch and Tippi Hedren on the set of The Birds. For Jones, the physical transformation necessitated four hours of prosthetics every day. “You just have to come to terms with the fact that someone will be gardening on your face for most of the day,” he laughs.

Words by BEN HOPKINS

DIRECTOR PETER STRICKLAND
RELEASED AUGUST 31st
CERT 15
ARTIFICIAL EYE

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