Posted in: HBO, TV | Tagged: the last of us

The Last of Us Sound Editor Discusses Toughest Sequence, Abby & More

Supervising sound editor Michael J Benavente (Moneyball) spoke with Bleeding Cool about season two's most visceral scene, Abby, and much more.

Supervising sound editor Michael J. Benavente is one of the most accomplished in his field, with his body of work spanning over four decades. As much as he's worked in most genres across film and television, there is no denying that he still encountered challenges trying to adapt Naughty Dog's popular survival franchise, The Last of Us, to one of the most critically acclaimed HBO series. Despite not being a gamer himself, he didn't hesitate to rely on the 2013 and 2020 games' original staff to recreate the iconic infected from runners, clickers, bloaters, etc, alongside creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, the latter is a lifelong industry friend with Benavente and brought him on board the series. The Moneyball sound editor spoke to Bleeding Cool about what he feels was his most difficult sequence to edit together, navigating through the series' two most iconic musical moments from both seasons, and what he can say about his approach to Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) from her introduction in season two and how it might look for season three.

The Last of Us Supervising Sound Editor on Season Two's Most Visceral Moment, Music and More

Bleeding Cool: What was the most difficult sequence to work on this season?

Let me think, it's so funny, because in episode two ("Through the Valley"), where Joel (Pedro Pascal) meets his demise, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) gets kicked in the ribs at the end of this episode. Craig was adamant that she sounded like somebody who was struggling to breathe. That was one of the trickiest sounds we had to come up with, because it's a quiet sound, and it doesn't play big. We want to feel the pain, and we've all had moments where we struggled to breathe, and that was tricky, because Bella did it, we used sound effects, Craig did some. Then, when she's on the horse at the very end of the episode, and she goes by quickly, we want to hear that breathing, and I remember that, compared to a clicker, an explosion, or a gun battle, that wouldn't seem like such a big deal, but nailing that sound was pretty tricky. We tried and could never quite get it right. Eventually, we nailed it, but it's things like that when you're working on a soundtrack that you don't think are going to be the tough things, but those things pop up and it is tough to get them done right, but we eventually did.

One of the things that stuck out about me was when there was use of songs in the show, like one was obviously from season one, 'Long, Long Time.' Nick Offerman singing the Linda Ronstadt song, and then you have Bella Ramsey in season two performing A-ha's 'Take on Me.' Was it a conscious decision to have the actors sing it all the way through? Was there any thought to having the original Ronstadt song or the A-ha song integrated in that rendition? Was it just something to let the actors perform it as they did?

I'm not in charge of the music, so that's a whole different department. Those are decisions Craig and Neil made. I think 'Long, Long Time,' from what I've been told, Craig knew he needed a song because of that whole story in season one, episode three. I guess it was an added thing in the video game that expanded those two characters (Bill and Frank). When Craig wrote that great episode, they needed a song and the story was about he's friends with Seth Rudetsky, who you know is a big Broadway guru, and he helped him pick a song. I think that's how they pick that, and you do hear the Linda Ronstadt original version at the very end as they're driving off.

As far as 'Take on Me,' that's in the video game as well, but Bella did such a great job of playing and performing that I think it's all from the set. I can't guarantee, because I wasn't there. It's funny; we did have to change some of the tuning of the guitar when you see her tune. Craig is that accurate, and wants the tuning to be the right notes. Most audiences watch it and would think it was fine, no matter what the notes, as long as they were close. Chris Battaglia, one of my sound designers, went in because he plays guitar, figured out exactly the tuning before she starts the song.

As you approach season three and the focus shifts to Abby, how were you told to distinguish her from the other protagonists, Joel and Ellie, from season two going forward?

The series, I'm not sure, because I know Craig is writing season three right now, and season two was basically just to introduce her and get the story in motion for season three. Kaitlyn is an amazing actress; she brought so much to it. With all these actors, there are a lot of action sequences in the series, and most of the time, they have to come in, do all their efforts, and their breaths, which I record with them.

I remember Craig and Kaitlyn were so great, because she had that whole sequence with the avalanche in season two, episode two, and being chased by the infected. She did all that stuff on an ADR stage, and it's a beautiful performance. When I went to edit it, you always must edit some, move things a frame or two, but she nailed all that. She was that good, so as far as her story arc, I don't know much about it, but what she did sonically, I do, and she was terrific.

Did you ever feel like the weight of the franchise as you're working on it?

No, I tried not to. I'm not a gamer. I am a little bit older, but I am experienced as a sound supervisor. I tried to look at it as, This is a really cool and interesting project," as if nobody knew this story. That's how I came to it, and obviously, we incorporated things from the video game that were important to people. I didn't want to look at this as the video games are the Bible. I wanted to look at it as a reference and let this be a whole new thing. We all took that approach to see what we could come up with creatively, and sometimes, we step back, and it is more like the video games. In general, we made it quite theatrical and as entertaining as possible for a different medium.

Both seasons of The Last of Us, which also stars Gabriel Luna, Rutina Wesley, Young Mazino, Catherine O'Hara, and Jeffrey Wright, are available to stream on HBO Max.

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