Knock on Wood

The following interview contains SPOILERS for All of Us Strangers. Proceed at your own risk.

In my interview with All of Us Strangers editor Jonathan Alberts to commemorate the film’s streaming release, Alberts discussed his process, editorial style, working relationship with writer/director Andrew Haigh, and more. We also discussed the ending of the film, an emotional gut punch that I would not want to be spoiled for those who hadn’t seen it.

I asked Alberts whether the song in the final scene of the film (“The Power of Love” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood) was written into the screenplay or if it was an editorial discovery during post-production. “It was written,” Alberts confirmed, “but we re-cut that section where they’re in bed many, many times.”

He’s referring to Adam (Andrew Scott) and Harry (Paul Mescal), who curl up in Adam’s bed together shortly after Adam discovers Harry’s lifeless body in his room. “There was a bunch more dialogue in the front end of that, and we did a lot of different permutations of what that should be.” As seen on-screen, the moment is only front-loaded by Adam reciting the opening verse of “The Power of Love” to Adam, making a promise to the man he’s fallen in love with:

“I’ll protect you from the hooded claw

Keep the vampires from your door…”

Albert said that, by this point in the film, “a lot’s happened. It’s a lot to process. There were moments when we stripped that back to very little dialogue, before the very end when the music starts to play and the camera rises up. [It was written into the script], with the camera rising, and the star field…I almost hate mentioning it if somebody hasn’t seen it…” I assured Alberts I would figure out a way to make sure it went unspoiled, and I agree with him – it’s a valuable part of the film that ties the narrative and themes together. It has made me cry every time I’ve watched the film.

“It was hard to find exactly what the right amount of [dialogue] was,” Alberts said when it came to Scott and Mescal’s final scene. “I think we [figured it out]. It was long, and then we shortened it, and we sat with it shortened for quite a while.” Throughout the post-production process, Alberts and Haigh chose different angles to focus on, and would occasionally recut the entire scene. But the song’s presence was a constant.

“It was always intended to be part of the end,” Alberts said. “It was written for the end. “And some of that dialogue comes up with Harry and Adam at the door [at the very beginning of the film].” Alberts mentioned a scene near the beginning when Adam is watching television, which is the first time we hear the actual recorded version of “The Power of Love” in the film’s context. “It was scripted that he was watching a section from Hellraiser, which is a bit of a queer cult classic. We discovered [the song’s presence in the scene] pretty late. We thought ‘What if it’s playing?’ He’s watching the video of that song. We changed it to a whole bunch of different things before we settled on that. And it sets up the love story in a nice way, right before Harry knocks on the door.”

Alberts was satisfied with how the musical continuity turned out in the finished film. “It echoes back to [that scene] when you hear it for the final time. That was a really good discovery later on in the editorial process.”