The Satan All of the Time director explains his stunning narrator decide

The brand new movie The Satan All of the Time weaves collectively a tapestry of violence from the lives of misplaced souls. Set in Meade, Ohio within the wake of World Warfare II, the Netflix drama picks up with quite a lot of wayward characters — fathers, moms, sons, a number of unfastened cannons, and in some methods God himself — who every hit a turbulent spell and switch to religion, in some type or one other, for solutions. Primarily based on the celebrated e-book by Donald Ray Pollock, it’s a grim and evocative watch.

For filmmaker Antonio Campos, it’s additionally a step as much as a bigger scale of storytelling. In his earlier movies Simon Killer and Christine, and even his flip to TV with USA’s The Sinner, Campos drilled down into the psychologies of particular people to search out what was at their core. The Satan All of the Time has him pulling the strings of an ensemble, and one stacked with rising stars like Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan, and Riley Keough.

Polygon sat down with Campos over Zoom to speak about why he jumped on the probability to adapt the novel, how Pattinson discovered his voice as a maniacal preacher, and the way he landed on soft-spoken narrator for the movie — who’s performed by none apart from Pollock himself.

The Satan All of the Time appears like a giant shift out of your earlier work. What you about this story, and what was your means into it?

Antonio Campos: There have been so many photographs within the e-book I needed to convey to display. The primary was the prologue, and determine how that might look, and create a spot that I might stroll by way of. That was the very first thing. Nevertheless it was a giant generational story that I used to be taken with telling, and doing it by way of the genres of Southern Gothic and noir.

There are these type of characters that go to darkish locations which can be very form of in step with those that I’ve put in films earlier than. The factor that I believe that I used to be most taken with exploring was the connection that these characters have with faith and religion, and exploring a world the place you’re feeling the absence of God, however the place you additionally really feel the depth of individuals’s perception. And so for me as somebody who was raised Catholic, and who had a mom who was very, very spiritual and a father who wasn’t, and who struggled along with his religion, I simply felt taken with telling a narrative that was a couple of generational story that handled faith indirectly. And that’s what caught me form of on a thematic degree. Outdoors of that, it was actually that I simply I liked these two genres. I liked the characters that Don had created within the e-book, who I needed to make into folks on the display.

Picture: Glen Wilson/Netflix

You decided that’s type of uncommon in e-book diversifications: You employed the creator to be the narrator. How did that occur?

I waited so lengthy on that, to ask Don if he would do the voiceover. I used to be so scared that he would say no, as a result of I solely had Don’s voice in my head. There was no backup plan for Don. And once they lastly introduced it up, I believe two years into figuring out him, and he was like, “Effectively, for those who assume that I can do it then I’m comfortable to.” And he gave me an out. He mentioned “For those who don’t prefer it, if it’s not good, don’t don’t be scared to inform me, I received’t be insulted.” And I used to be like, “Don, don’t fear. I’m gonna find it irresistible.”

However yeah, he doesn’t even do his personal audiobooks. I informed him I used to be like, “Who does your audiobooks? They suck! You need to do your audiobooks.” No, he doesn’t like doing it. However he generously put his voice within the film.

Jake Gyllenhaal produced the movie — was there ever a task he thought of taking up? Did he assist you to safe Tom since they labored collectively in Spider-Man: Far From Residence?

Randall Poster, who’s generally known as music supervisor, however had labored on Christine and a pair movies I produced, he was the one who introduced me the e-book, and he and I partnered up very early on to do that and produce this. After which we would have liked a accomplice, and I had met Riva Marker, who’s Jake Gyllenhaal, his accomplice, and I had recognized about 9 Tales , his firm, and what they have been as much as. And that entire relationship was pushed by a standard curiosity within the type of materials we have been into on a producerial degree. So Jake was at all times a producer on the venture, however was by no means going to be a part of it.

And Tom got here in earlier than Jake did. When Tom was forged the film, Tom had been forged as Spider Man, however I hadn’t seen Tom as Spider-Man but. So then the Tom informed a shaggy dog story about once they have been on set for Far From Residence that Jake had mentioned, “What are you doing subsequent?” And Tom was like, “I’m doing this after we name The Satan All of the Time.” And Jake was like, “Oh, I’m producing that film.” Someway he hadn’t gotten the memo.

Picture: Glen Wilson/Netflix

How did you and Robert Pattinson land on the characterization for the preacher character? It’s wild, however increasingly more, that appears to be an uncharted place Pattinson likes to go in his films.

We knew that the character was from Tennessee, so we checked out folks from Tennessee, we checked out evangelical preachers and we checked out rock stars on the time. However that voice and that characterization, we talked in regards to the character so much, however that voice was Rob Pattinson in all his magical glory.

The movie feels very trustworthy to the e-book, and it appears like you’ve got nice reverence for Don’s prose, however was there one thing you invented for the movie that you just wanted for dramatic causes or that you just simply felt you needed to see?

My brother and I actually favored the facet storyline, the underbelly storyline of what was occurring in Meade, and so we type of leaned into that. Like Leroy [Douglas Hodge] and Bobo, and this different character Tater, who mainly is who Leroy is within the script, that was stuff that was like within the periphery, but it surely was a part of the world that we needed to discover with Boedeker [Sebastian Stan]. The factor I believe we added extra of was complexity to Sandy. I believe we leaned into her POV in that a part of the story. And in the end, I believe that we leaned to a extra hopeful ending regardless that the movie has a mysterious, ambiguous ending, there’s nonetheless a way of potential for folks.