Sonny Atkins and AJ McLauchlin, the editor and colorist behind the A24 horror movie “Undertone,” sat down with Variety‘s Angelique Jackson to discuss how they brought the podcast…
Sonny Atkins and AJ McLauchlin, the editor and colorist behind the A24 horror movie “Undertone,” sat down with Variety’s Angelique Jackson to discuss how they brought the podcast horror film to life during a Variety & Adobe Creative Collaborators panel at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
Both Atkins and McLauchlin described the project as an “easy yes.” The debut feature from writer-director Ian Tuason follows a popular paranormal podcast host as she becomes haunted by anonymous, mysterious recordings.
For McLauchlin, much of his job as the colorist was to make sure the film looked as spooky as it felt. “So much of this movie takes place in the shadows. With every movie, the biggest conversation is how dark do you go? How much negative space can you have on screen?” he said. “There’s so many moments, without giving anything away, where the image lives in that liminal space between what you can barely see… so if you’re not paying attention, you will miss some things in the shadows.”
Another major part of “Undertone” was the collaboration between Tuason and the creative team, Atkins explained. “[Ian Tuason] sent me the most detailed document I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Atkins. “It had every frame mapped out, and most of my job was trying to make sure that his really, really precise, keen vision was [something] I could bring to fruition.”
It worked out; while the film is Atkins’ first feature and foray into horror, his background in editing commercials gave him a guide in how to ensure everything was communicated effectively and efficiently. “Most editors start with a really long assembly, and I chopped everything out. I think my first cut was 60 minutes long,” he said. “And then the process was adding flesh back onto a skeleton that we knew worked and really extending long takes and keeping you at the edge.”
Both Atkins and McLauchlin praised the director for his eagerness to collaborate. “I had all the runway in the world, and whenever it came down to any question, it was just turn to Ian and you get the thumbs up or he would just give the simplest note,” said McLauchlin. “It was a dream. It’s the best kind of job to work on where you just have all the room in the world to try whatever and then have someone who just knows what’s going on and you can always defer [to].”
Wrapping up the conversation, Atkins noted that for aspiring editors, sometimes the most important part of the job is being able to show someone what doesn’t work: “Editing is 10% of the job… Sometimes, as an editor, you do just have to be someone’s hands to show them, ‘Hey, this doesn’t work,’ or ‘Hey, this does work.’” For budding colorists, McLauchlin recommended putting your ego aside: “Don’t worry about making mistakes, because that’s where you find good things. Just fail and keep going.”