How the ‘Bones and All’ Soundscape Came to Life with Raw Chicken and Gruesome Research

The believability of Luca Guadagnino’s spine-chilling feature “Bones and All” is no small feat, given the grotesque cannibalistic behavior exhibited by the film’s protagonists; but the task is one that the audio editors and mixers took to extremes, destroying raw chickens to achieve the effect of consuming another human being.

“They had to buy many chickens and break bones and destroy flesh,” emphasized Michele Gualdrini, a recording mixer on the film.

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Based on a 2015 novel of the same name by Camille DeAngelis, “Bones and All” is a horror romance that stars cannibal outcasts Maren (Taylor Russell) and Lee (Timothée Chalamet), who embark on a road trip to evade the consequences of their actions.

The 130-minute feature contains no shortage of graphic content, including one especially nauseating sequence where a fellow cannibal named Sully eats an elderly woman after breaking into her home with Maren. Supervising dialogue editor Davide Favargiotti told Variety the scene required extensive research — at Guadagnino’s firm insistence — to perfectly replicate the sounds of a dying person.

“One of the major things (Luca requested) about the horror sounds and more disgusting sounds was, ‘Let’s keep it real as much as possible,'” Favargiotti said.

“They didn’t kill anybody or eat anybody to try to make the sound,” Favargiotti clarified through laughter, translating for sound FX editor Daniele Quadroli.

Unlike Guadagnino’s last horror film, “Suspiria,” Gualdrini stressed the director’s latest feature substitutes eerie stingers with increased diegetic sound. The sequence where Sully consumes the old woman is a prime example, he said, in that suspense is mounted solely through sounds of the disturbed cannibal moving and feasting, before viewers actually bear witness to the corpse he’s devoured.

Another challenge in the editor’s room was doctoring the audio of a sequence toward the end of the film in which Lee is punctured in the lungs. Similarly thorough experimentation was needed to properly imitate the staggered breathing patterns and decreased energy level of someone with an injury of that caliber: “We re-recorded all of (Timothée’s) lines to change the performance,” Favargiotti revealed.

But Gualdrini, Favargiotti and Quadroli are all veterans when it comes to working alongside Guadagnino: Gualdrini was introduced to Guadagnino on the set of 2018’s “Suspiria,” while Favargiotti began collaborating with the director on his 2015 film “A Bigger Splash.” Quadroli’s working relationship with Guadagnino dates back the farthest as a sound editor and mixer on 2009’s “I Am Love.”

“There are always different challenges with Luca that really push you to find new solutions to problems or to find new ways to express whatever he’s trying to do with sound or whatever it is to tell the story that he’s telling,” Favargiotti said, reflecting on what continues to draw him to work with the Oscar-nominated director.

Guadagnino wrapped production on his newest film “Challengers” over the summer and is scheduled for an Aug. 11, 2023 release. Favargiotti is the dialogue editor for the upcoming feature, which stars Zendaya and Josh O’Connor.

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