Articles by Danielle Solzman

Avatar: The Way of Water
Awards

Avatar: The Way of Water Composer Simon Franglen on Honoring James Horner’s Original Score and Writing Three Hours of New Music

January 6, 2023 Danielle Solzman Comments Off on Avatar: The Way of Water Composer Simon Franglen on Honoring James Horner’s Original Score and Writing Three Hours of New Music

Simon Franglen took over scoring duties for Avatar: The Way of Water from James Horner following the legendary composer’s tragic passing, and he pays tribute to Horner’s iconic theme from the first film early on in the sequel, which has already grossed more than $1.5 billion worldwide. The Way of Water finds Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) facing off against a familiar nemesis — Stephen Lang‘s […]

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody
Awards

I Wanna Dance With Somebody Editor Daysha Broadway on Whitney Houston, VFX Crowds, the Two Scenes It Hurt to Cut, and the “Star-Spangled Banner” Sequence

January 6, 2023 Danielle Solzman Comments Off on I Wanna Dance With Somebody Editor Daysha Broadway on Whitney Houston, VFX Crowds, the Two Scenes It Hurt to Cut, and the “Star-Spangled Banner” Sequence

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody stars Naomi Ackie (Master of None) as the titular singer, and it’s the first family-approved biopic of the Grammy-winning superstar, as it was produced by Whitney’s former manager and sister-in-law, Pat Houston. Kasi Lemmons (Harriet, Eve’s Bayou) directs from a script by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Anthony McCarten, (The Two Popes, Darkest Hour) and Ackie crushes it as Whitney Houston, even doing her own singing, which […]

Devotion movie
Awards

Devotion Composer Chanda Dancy on Scoring Around the Sounds of War, and Incorporating a Corsair’s Dive Whistle Into Her Music

January 6, 2023 Danielle Solzman Comments Off on Devotion Composer Chanda Dancy on Scoring Around the Sounds of War, and Incorporating a Corsair’s Dive Whistle Into Her Music

JD Dillard‘s Devotion tells the true story of naval aviators Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors) and Tom Hudner (Glen Powell) as they fought in the Korean War. Brown was the Navy’s first Black aviator, and together with Hudner, both would become the most celebrated wingman in Naval history. Ultimately, Devotion is a film about loyalty and their friendship with each other. Composer Chanda Dancy worked closely with Dillard to develop the score […]

Babylon movie
Awards

Babylon Composer Justin Hurwitz on Creating a Unique Jazz Sound for His Reunion With Damien Chazelle

December 13, 2022 Danielle Solzman Comments Off on Babylon Composer Justin Hurwitz on Creating a Unique Jazz Sound for His Reunion With Damien Chazelle

Writer-director Damien Chazelle has been working on Babylon for more than a decade — that’s how long the movie has been living in his head. Oscar-winning composer Justin Hurwitz hasn’t lived with the project for quite as long, but he worked on the score for three years, and while his scores for Chazelle’s previous films run just over an hour, his Babylon score clocks in at around two hours, which […]

The Menu
Composers

The Menu Composer Colin Stetson on Approaching the Culinary Thriller Like a Comedy, and How the Strings Tied the Score Together

December 8, 2022 Danielle Solzman Comments Off on The Menu Composer Colin Stetson on Approaching the Culinary Thriller Like a Comedy, and How the Strings Tied the Score Together

The star-studded culinary thriller The Menu is a biting satire set in the world of fine dining. Ralph Fiennes stars as a revered chef who offers his guests a one-of-a-kind experience at his high-end restaurant, Hawthorne, which is located on a remote island. Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult play two lucky(?) diners who bite off a bit more than they can chew as Chef serves the rest of his guests […]

Tony Kent
Crafts

Sidney Editor Tony Kent on How Film Licensing Issues Helped Him Trim the 3-Hour Cut of Apple’s Sidney Poitier Documentary

November 21, 2022 Danielle Solzman Comments Off on Sidney Editor Tony Kent on How Film Licensing Issues Helped Him Trim the 3-Hour Cut of Apple’s Sidney Poitier Documentary

While Sidney, the new Sidney Poitier documentary on Apple TV+, runs shy of two hours, Editor Tony Kent initially turned in an assembly cut of three hours — because when it comes to an iconic actor like Poitier, more than enough footage exists to craft a two-part film or even a docuseries. Thus, a lot of thought and careful consideration went into cutting the film down to its current running […]

Volker Bertelmann
Awards

All Quiet on the Western Front Composer Volker Bertelmann on Finding the Right Sound for Netflix’s Anti-War Film, and His Shorthand With Its Director

November 21, 2022 Danielle Solzman Comments Off on All Quiet on the Western Front Composer Volker Bertelmann on Finding the Right Sound for Netflix’s Anti-War Film, and His Shorthand With Its Director

All Quiet on the Western Front marks the fifth collaboration between German filmmaker Edward Berger and Composer Volker Bertelmann, his fellow countryman who previously scored Berger’s Showtime miniseries Patrick Melrose starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The anti-war film, which is now streaming on Netflix, represents the first-ever German adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque‘s classic novel, and it follows in the footsteps of Universal’s Oscar-winning 1930 film directed by Lewis Milestone. Suffice it to say, […]

Matthew Chavez
Camera

Sidney Cinematographer Matthew Chavez on Shooting Apple’s Sidney Poitier Documentary: “We Just Have to Not F— It Up”

November 14, 2022 Danielle Solzman Comments Off on Sidney Cinematographer Matthew Chavez on Shooting Apple’s Sidney Poitier Documentary: “We Just Have to Not F— It Up”

Matthew Chavez wanted to be a director when he first enrolled at USC but life had different plans and he became a cinematographer, finding a niche for himself in the documentary world. Sidney, his latest nonfiction effort, is a documentary about Sidney Poitier, a Hollywood icon, yes, but a man who was so much more than that as well. Now streaming on Apple TV+ following its world premiere at the […]

Black Adam
Crafts

Black Adam Editor Mike Sale on Working With Dwayne Johnson, Finding the Right Balance of Comedy and Tension, and Henry Cavill’s Secret Superman Cameo

November 11, 2022 Danielle Solzman Comments Off on Black Adam Editor Mike Sale on Working With Dwayne Johnson, Finding the Right Balance of Comedy and Tension, and Henry Cavill’s Secret Superman Cameo

Black Adam Editor Mike Sale, ACE had one day off between wrapping his work on Red Notice and starting to cut Dwayne Johnson‘s next movie alongside fellow editor John Lee, but he dove into the gig headfirst and didn’t look back. Sale has developed a feel for Johnson’s work over the years, having also edited Skyscraper and Central Intelligence. However, Black Adam marked his first comic book movie, and it […]

Kevin Kiner
Composers

Samaritan Composer Kevin Kiner on Co-Writing the Score for Sylvester Stallone’s Superhero Movie With Jed Kurzel, Plus Star Wars

September 1, 2022 Danielle Solzman Comments Off on Samaritan Composer Kevin Kiner on Co-Writing the Score for Sylvester Stallone’s Superhero Movie With Jed Kurzel, Plus Star Wars

When Kevin Kiner first got a call from fellow Samaritan composer Jed Kurzel, he thought he was simply signing up to help out a colleague, but instead, he found himself co-writing the score for Julius Avery‘s superhero movie, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Kiner has collaborated with other composers before, of course, but he wasn’t terribly familiar with Kurzel’s style going into the project, so he had […]