From first-time feature filmmaker Darius Marder, the drama Sound of Metal follows a drummer named Ruben (Riz Ahmed) who, after years of playing punk-metal shows in seedy bars and clubs, suddenly develops severe hearing loss that essentially ends his music career. Not adapting to his new situation well leads his girlfriend, Lou (Olivia Cooke), to take Ruben to a secluded sober house for the deaf where he struggles to find his place in his new reality.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actress Olivia Cooke talked about the goal of making this film feel as authentic as possible, how emotional it was to see the finished film for the first time, preparing to shoot the live performance, what led to the decision to bleach her eyebrows, and feeling like she was in safe hands with co-star Riz Ahmed. She also talked about when she feels creatively satisfied, and what it’s like getting back to work, for her next project.

Collider: You and Riz Ahmed did brilliant work in this film. Everything about this story and the way that it’s captured feels very authentic.

OLIVIA COOKE: That was Darius’ goal, from the get-go, to feel as authentic as possible. It was terrifying for us, but I’m so glad we did it because it just makes the film feel that much more real.

Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke in Sound of Metal
Image via Amazon Studios

This must have been such a great script to read and such a cool character to explore, but it also seems like the experience of seeing this film and hearing how it would be presented and seeing the way the captions were done would have been really unique. What was it like to see the finished film, for the first time?

COOKE: Oh, God, it was so emotional. With a film like this, you know that you’re only gonna play a really small part in the making of it. Your job is to be as emotionally available as possible. And so, seeing it put together with the sound design and captions, and seeing Ruben’s journey, exploring his deafness and his place within the deaf community, which was something that I haven’t been privy to because I had finished all of my stuff with Riz in the beginning, it was just incredible. It felt like three movies in one.

Do you personally see this as a heavy and dark film, or do you see this as a hopeful film about finding redemption and overcoming odds?

COOKE: I think it’s a bit of both, for me. With anything in life that you have to overcome, struggle or battle against, there’s always gonna be dark and heavy moments. You’re gonna have those really good days where you’re not worried because everything is amazing, but then reality sets in. It’s a mental battle, as much as it’s anything more extraneous. Especially for Ruben, it’s a battle of his mind, his perception of his life, and his perception of how he wants to live after losing his hearing. You see him battle with so many different thoughts and bereavement and the possible relapse in addiction. I think it’s so interlaced with darkness, and then hope and levity. That was a really convoluted way of saying, I think it’s both.

Olivia Cooke in Sound of Metal
Image via Amazon Studios

Even for the time that we get to know your character, there are so many layers to her story, between the band and the kind of music she does, the relationship between her and Ruben and how addiction affects them, and her family life. What was your way in with her? Where did you start from and how did you balance locking all of those pieces into place?

COOKE: It was just a lot of time spent with Riz and a lot of time spent with Darius, in the beginning. Luckily, Riz and I had band rehearsals together, so it didn’t feel too foreign when we got onto set and lived in that Airstream together. You could tap into that really easily. It’s so hard for me to explain. It’s hard for me to be eloquent when talking about how I tap into a role because it just feels so instinctual and so guttural, especially with someone like Lou, whose story is so explicit. You have to mark the performance with so much emotion. I think that really comes down to Darius emailing me a 10,000 word essay on Lou’s upbringing, how and why she is who she is, where she’s coming from, and why so estranged from her father. Having that knowledge, even though you never really learn any of that, colors the performance for me.

What led to the decision of the bleached eyebrows and what was it like to see yourself like that?

COOKE: Just because I’ve got big eyes, I thought it would make me look kind of alien. There’s something with Lou where she feels empowered when she’s on stage, but in her everyday life, she wants to hide away and vanish. She wears more androgynous clothes to escape any eyes that would be prying. I just thought that might be a really interesting way to physically embody that. Also, with any role, I’m just like, “Let’s just try to look as different as possible.” There were about three years where I just hated being in hair and make-up and was like, “That all right, I’ll just do my own hair and let it dry naturally.” There were a good three years where I just looked exactly the same in everything. There’s something quite feral about Lou, and I think that was a cool way to tap into it.

Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke in Sound of Metal
Image via Amazon Studios

One of the things that seems the hardest to capture is the feeling that you get at a live performance. It’s very hard to get on film because if you haven’t experienced what that’s like, it’s hard to translate. What was that live performance like to do? Was that terrifying, or was that fun?

COOKE: It was really terrifying. When you’re rehearsing, you can put it out of your mind that you’re gonna eventually have to be on stage and perform it. By the third go, I was more in it and more relaxed, but there are only so many takes that you can do before your voice just completely gives up. We only did about seven takes, on the whole, with that performance, but that was the most that we did, throughout the film. It was terrifying, but it was also exhilarating. My guitar strings snapped, right before we were about to do the take, and I was like, “It’s fine!” Luckily, it was all right. We put the work in, and then we just have to act like we knew what we were doing.

Did you get to a point where you felt confident in the live performance, or are there always some nerves when you’re pushing yourself outside of your regular actor comfort zone?

COOKE: There are all of the nerves, and then you just have to be really good at putting a front on and acting and just being the character. Luckily, you can do that. I’m not being Olivia. Olivia is not on stage, thank God. I’m not having to be myself and have the scrutiny of that. I can’t hide behind a facade and a character, which takes some of the pressure off.

What was it like to have Riz Ahmed there to go through this with?

COOKE: It was amazing. He is such a dedicated actor, and so raw and emotional and soulful. You just feel safe in his hands. Also, we’re going through it together with the live performance. We were doing something we’d never done before. Even though Riz is a musician, he’d never picked up a set of drumsticks. So, it felt wonderful to have someone who could relate to that, in every sense of the world. Obviously, he had more heavy lifting, but in those moments, you do feel like you’re in a safe pair of hands.

Olivia Cooke in Sound of Metal
Image via Amazon Studios

When it comes to your career and projects, what is it that currently satisfies you, artistically? Since you have no control over the final outcome of a project, and you have no say in what takes get used or how it gets edited together, when do you feel creatively satisfied?

COOKE: It sounds really wanky, but I think when you’ve done a scene, it’s clear afterwards because something happened in the scene where you connect with the other actor, you forgot that there was a crew around you, and you transcended a little bit, for that bit of time. That’s the high you chase afterwards, where you’re like, “Oh, my God, I was really in it then, and I didn’t expect to be,” or “This is the feeling that I’ve wanted to be in, this whole performance. I only got it for this little, tiny bit, but it was amazing.” Not even in terms of project, but just in specific moments on set with another actor, that’s what I chase. What’s amazing about this job is that you get to imagine what it’s like to live so many different lives. And so, when you do actually tap into that, it feels so real. That’s what’s so addictive.

Have you figured out what you’re going to do next? Are you working on something now, or are you trying to figure out how to do that again safely?

COOKE: I just started working, a couple of weeks ago, on the first thing that I’ve done in a year and a bit, and it is odd. You find that you’re looking at eyes more. With social distancing, especially in an industry where, after a hard day, you go to the pub you have a pint and you talk about what you’ve done, or you hug your fellow actor, at the end of the day. It is so odd not to do that, but I’m happy to be back on set, having a bite size chunk of normality. I’m lucky to be working, when a lot of people aren’t, but it’s so odd. It’s that much more hopeful with the news of the vaccine. This year has been annoying, at best, for a lot of people. It’s still something that I don’t think we ever truly get used to.

What is the project that you’re shooting right now?

COOKE: It’s called Slow Horses. It’s for Apple TV+.

Sound of Metal is available to stream at Amazon Prime Video.