In the world of filmmaking, sound is an invisible character that shapes emotion and tells a story. For the acclaimed film “The Grotto,” lead sound engineer Ghassan Abdelnour was tasked with building this character from the ground up, collaborating closely with Tony Award-winner and director of “The Grotto” Joanna Gleason to create a rich auditory world for the witty and emotional drama.
“The Grotto,” available on Apple TV, stars Betsy Brandt (“Breaking Bad”) as Alice Kendall, a woman whose life is upended by the sudden death of her fiancé. She inherits half ownership of a struggling desert nightclub, The Grotto, where she discovers a community of eccentric performers and a deeply held secret that forces her to confront her own grief and future.
For Abdelnour, a seasoned sound designer with credits on projects with Billy Zane(INT.HALLWAY/NIGHT) and Harvey Guillén(The Start of The End), the key was to translate the film’s emotional core into a tangible sonic experience. This meant treating the film’s two primary settings—the vast, empty desert and the vibrant, intimate nightclub—as opposing forces.
“The actual physical place in the movie that is The Grotto had to be a character on its own,” Abdelnour explained. The nightclub had an indie, DIY feel to it with the nightclub name “The Grotto” written in blaring white lights on its exterior. Inside, it was an intimate space where the drama unfolded.
“It’s recognizable by the sound of the cold, isolated, windy desert where it sits, and then you contrast it with the warmth that you feel when you’re inside, where it always feels homey even when it gets very crowded and the music gets loud,” he explains. “That contrast is where the sound concept is at its core.”
This dichotomy serves as a sonic metaphor for Alice’s journey. “Sound is something that is felt by audiences and never really pinpointed, which is what makes it so important,” he said. “Capturing the drama conceptually through sound was that sort of feeling of loss, coldness, and isolation that the main character was feeling and using the desert to portray that, and then in contrast that feeling of welcome and warmth that she felt from The Grotto.”
Achieving this required a deep and collaborative partnership with director Joanna Gleason. Abdelnour worked to meticulously translate her vision into the film’s final mix.
“It was all her vision at the end of the day, and my job was to make sure that her vision came to fruition,” Abdelnour noted. “We had a handful of sessions, going through each scene, constantly tweaking everything from the balance of the mix, sound effects, and specifically the soundscape of The Grotto and its surroundings.”
The film, which also stars Steve Kazee, Dan Bucatinsky, and Susan Sullivan, has been praised by viewers, earning a 7.1-star rating on IMDb and being called “witty and emotionally grounded” The narrative’s journey from despair to hope is mirrored in its audio landscape.
Abdelnour also contributed to the soundtrack’s integration, working with Gleason and the film’s composer. “My role was mixing the different elements and creating the perfect balance that feels right… making sure the soundtrack is as effective as it can potentially be in being the soul of the film.”
Ghassan Abdelnour continues to build magnificent auditory worlds for film and television. His work on “The Grotto” stands as a testament to the power of sound in transforming a story into an immersive, emotional experience for the audience.
“The Grotto” is now streaming on Apple TV. The film’s original soundtrack is available on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pandora. For more information, visit thegrottomovie.com.
By Penny Black
Published on November 2, 2025
