Screenwriter Dan Hall found inspiration for The Silent Hour after coming across an article about NYPD officer, Dan Carione, who as a result of an on-the-job accident required the use of a hearing aid. At the time, NYPD’s policy was that anyone needing hearing equipment to work could not be an officer, and he was terminated from the force. Carione sued the department and won. Today, thanks to Carione’s bravery, hearing aids are allowed for NYPD officers. Carione’s experience resonated with Hall, and he felt it was a solid jumping-off point for a story featuring a hero deaf cop.
“On the surface, The Silent Hour is about a hearing-impaired detective trapped in a semi-abandoned Boston apartment block with a deaf murder witness, attempting to escape a team of killers,” says Hall, but the story delves a bit deeper. The core dynamic between the two lead characters, Frank and Ava, is what truly lies at the heart of this high-stakes caper.
“It’s really about the relationship between these two people, and the journey of discovery that the detective goes on, thanks to the witness, where he learns that despite losing his hearing, he has lost none of his worth as a police officer, or man,” says Hall.
The most compelling aspect of The Silent Hour for Director Brad Anderson was that it centered around deaf characters, which he had never worked with before. He saw this oner as a great opportunity to utilize sound design as a storytelling agent. He adds, “I also like the fact that it’s a very contained story. It takes place over a short period of time. One location, more or less. Those sorts of restrictions sometimes lend themselves to coming up with really creative, cool storytelling choices, and I think we’ve been able to do that in this movie.”
Anderson continues, “How does one tell the story about a man, in this case, a cop who’s losing his hearing, and how does that figure into the storytelling? In this movie, we’re going to find ways to get into the headspace of Joel Kinnaman’s character, Frank – and sort of hear or not hear the world the way he does. As a filmmaker, this was an interesting and new way to explore storytelling – through sound and the lack of sound.”
Anderson truly hopes the classic action components are an initial draw for the audiences. But as much as this is a thrilling story, there is a compelling human emotional factor he is equally keen to underscore for the fans. “The connection between these two characters in the context of an action film is a little unusual. Different in the fact that one’s deaf and one’s losing his hearing, it makes it more unique. In some respects, it’s straight out of an action thriller, and in other respects, it’s a deeply engrossing character piece as well. I think that this combination is what makes The Silent Hour fresh and interesting,” states Anderson.
While in pursuit of a dangerous suspect, Boston Police Detective Frank Shaw (Joel Kinnaman) is badly hurt, sustaining a progressive and permanent hearing loss injury. Sixteen months later, Frank returns to work and is struggling to navigate his new normal. When Doug Slater (Mark Strong), his good friend on the Narcotics Squad requests his assistance interviewing Ava Fremont (Sandra Mae Frank), a deaf murder witness, he’s hesitant, but eventually agrees to the task. Frank’s noble deed unintentionally lands him in the middle of a sinister plot to silence Ava forever, and he instinctively leaps into action. The cards are stacked against them as Mason Lynch (Mekhi Phifer) and his henchmen have them completely surrounded within a soon-to-be condemned residential building. Cut off from the outside world and left to their own devices, these two practical strangers must lean on themselves and each other as they are thrust into a battle for their lives.
From Page To Screen
“It all began with a script that caught my attention years ago” recalls producer Eric Paquette. “That script was titled Submerged by the talented Dan Hall. Fast forward to June 2021 when, out of the blue, Dan sent me another script on spec titled Silence. I was immediately captivated and knew I wanted to produce it. The journey of The Silent Hour had officially begun.”
Writer Dan Hall found inspiration for The Silent Hour after coming across an article about NYPD officer, Dan Carione, who as a result of an on-the-job accident required the use of a hearing aid. At the time, NYPD’s policy was that anyone needing hearing equipment to work could not be an officer, and he was terminated from the force.
With the story in place, the search for directors began. Enter Brad Anderson. Paquette remarks that he was “a filmmaker [he’d] long admired but hadn’t yet found the right project to collaborate on.” Paquette continues: “That changed when he read Silence and I shared my enthusiasm for the material. Dan and Brad worked together to refine the script, leading us to rename it The Silent Hour, elevating our lead from a rookie cop to a seasoned detective.”
With a writer, producer and director invested, the next step was to bring the script to Stuart Ford at AGC. Paquette adds that “Stuart’s passion for the project and expertise in selling foreign rights proved invaluable as we began assembling pieces of the puzzle. With the script in hand, we approached Joel Kinnaman and Mark Strong, both of whom enthusiastically agreed to join our cast.”
Joel Kinnaman was immediately drawn to the contained and tight format of the script, but his interest was sustained by the journey of his character, Frank Shaw. “He’s an extremely confident alpha male, who at the peak of his power suffers an injury where he starts to lose his hearing, and it completely changes his world. It changes his perception of himself and how he operates in the world,” Kinnaman reflects. “It’s a story about survival in the circumstance, but also about Frank’s acceptance of his new reality and understanding that life doesn’t end when one loses their hearing.”
Mekhi Phifer notes that once he started with the script, he could not put it down. “There were aspects that were funny as well as intriguing. I did not know what was going to happen and that kept me going – it was a page-turner!” Phifer gives the fans a fair warning to be prepared for a crazy thrill ride. “They’re not going to know what’s going to happen – who’s going to live, who’s going to die, who’s going to succeed or how it’s going to end. The Silent Hour is not cookie-cutter by any way, shape or form.”
It was incredibly important that the role of Ava be played by an actress with the lived experience of deafness, and Sandra Mae Frank was the perfect fit for the part. Her enthusiasm for the role was palpable. She freely confesses her love of action films, deeming it her all-time favorite genre – but more than that, it was the nature of deaf representation in the script that she found most remarkable. “How Dan wrote my character Ava as a deaf person, it wasn’t really about her deafness. It’s about her relationship with the other character Frank, who is losing his hearing. And it’s interesting to read the script that has a different version of deaf in it, and deaf people, and the culture, and how they were raised. Ava was raised that way, but Frank, he’s losing his hearing, so he doesn’t have that culture. He’s latent deaf which adds an extra element to the script, and it’s really nice,” she affirms.
Hall confides that it was a magical moment to see the final product come to life. Specifically, Hall is excited for audiences to connect with our two heroes. Because this kind of action movie has never centered around deaf characters before, there were opportunities for unique twists and turns at every scene. The premise of a deaf cop being hunted by hearing killers presented a myriad of unusual situations – but what really stood out to him were the simple tasks that became extremely complicated due to the heroes’ hearing impairments.
In particular, Hall notes that “there is an elevator scene where our heroes use the alarm button to call for help, but they can’t hear whether or not anyone has actually answered the call – and by the time someone does answer, our heroes have already hung up.”
For Mark Strong, this scene exemplifies why The Silent Hour’s action-movie premise stands out. In addition to the film’s strong story, he shares that “these characters have to escape when they cannot hear the people who are pursuing them… this gives an added level of threat – and I thought the script was great for that reason.”
Hall continues to say that when the core relationship of the film is between two deaf characters, one of whom struggles to use ASL, communicating critical details to the audience sans dialogue can be challenging. He took this as an opportunity to exercise his creativity – a successful strategy that ultimately resulted in the unique scenarios that he knows make The Silent Hour stand out.
He continues that “the underdog story of a guy who has given up on himself finding the strength to get back up thanks to this brilliant woman who has faced similar hurdles in her life will hopefully stay with people after they leave the theater.”
American Sign Language (ASL) Master, Anselmo DeSousa’s work with actor Joel Kinnaman began months before the cameras started to roll. Producer Paquette praised Kinnaman’s commitment, noting that “Joel committed to three months of ASL training, ensuring authenticity in his portrayal of the role.” In addition to ASL lessons, DeSousa also introduced Kinnaman to deaf culture, helping him fully understand the experience of someone who loses their hearing abilities.
Kinnaman credits DeSousa for helping him quickly adjust to the steep learning curve when it came to his ASL lessons. While the interpreters were a fantastic resource, his lessons started to take hold when waiting in between takes with Sandra Mae Frank when Kinnaman had to rely on sign language to communicate with her.
“Joel picked up ASL quickly, and on set he and Sandra Mae communicated very well without an interpreter,” shares DeSousa. Throughout production, DeSousa admits that at times even he was surprised at how adept Kinnaman became at sign language.
While working with Frank, DeSousa focused more on her character’s lines in ASL to ensure they were accurate and linguistically correct for the film’s context and setting. Oftentimes, you would find them perfecting their ASL dialogue before shooting specific scenes.
DeSousa fondly recalls the incredible efforts by Production to ensure the deaf culture was recognized and respected. With three ASL/English interpreters on hand to work with himself and Frank, there was always full access to communicate with everyone on the cast and crew, creating an amazing and inclusive experience.
For many, The Silent Hour is their first experience where deafness is a central story element. A big takeaway for Kinnaman while working on this film was learning about the deaf community, and it was humbling for him to understand how little he knew before stepping onto this project – and now, he’s grateful for the new knowledge he gained. Kinnaman was able to put his ASL to good use, effectively communicating both on and offset, and he now has a greater appreciation for sign language and its beauty. He confides, “This really was a rewarding experience, more so than I expected – that’s what you want a film to be. You want there to be a lesson learned, something that you bring with you for the rest of your life, and this was more so than many of my experiences.”
Brad Anderson, Director
Two decades after his indie romantic comedy Next Stop Wonderland opened to rave reviews (and won the Grand Prize at the Deauville Film Festival), Brad Anderson continues to demonstrate his versatility as a filmmaker unwilling to be pinned down. His films, spanning genres from sci-fi (Happy Accidents) to paranoid thriller (The Machinist); from horror (Session 9) to action (Transsiberian); from political drama (Beirut) to period gothic (Stonehearst Asylum), have premiered at festivals around the world and been both critically acclaimed as well as box office winners. His thriller The Call with Halle Berry was recently the #1 film on Netflix. His numerous episodic television credits include such shows as The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Treadstone and Peacemaker, as well as many pilots, including DC’s Titans, and the Netflix smash Clickbait. He recently wrapped Apple’s sci-fi drama Invasion and his latest film is the dark drama Blood, starring Michelle Monaghan. He’s currently developing a thriller based on a Jack London short story, as well as a period romance based on the book The Mapmaker’s Wife.
Dan Hall, Writer
Dan Hall is a UK-based feature writer specializing in genre, with a particular focus on action, thriller and horror. The Silent Hour marks Hall’s feature debut: it is a clear distillation of his voice as a writer and typifies his muscular, propulsive style of writing. Hall has a slew of projects in development with established producers and exciting talent attachments.