Composers – Below the Line

Living Composer Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch on How She Unintentionally Created a Tear-Jerking Score for the Bill Nighy Drama

January 17, 2023 Robin Milling Comments Off

What would you do with your life if you were given a finite number to your existence, with perhaps only months to live? The question is posed by Living, a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa‘s 1952 film Ikiru that transposes the setting to 1953 London. Bill Nighy delivers one of his very best performances as an ordinary man leading a mundane life — a veteran civil servant caught up in a […]

The Banshees of Inisherin Composer Carter Burwell on His Fourth Collaboration With Martin McDonagh and His Songwriting “Competition” With Brendan Gleeson

January 16, 2023 Edward Douglas Comments Off

Composer Carter Burwell has done a fine job establishing and maintaining relationships with a number of talented filmmakers, as evidenced by the fact that they keep coming back to him to provide music to their films. One of Burwell’s frequent collaborators is Writer-Director Martin McDonagh, who has worked with the composer going back to his first feature film, In Bruges. Their latest effort, The Banshees of Inisherin, reunites the cast […]

The Woman King Composer Terence Blanchard on Reuniting With Gina Prince-Bythewood and Finding the Sound of Dahomey

January 12, 2023 Edward Douglas Comments Off

Renowned Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard has been scoring films and television shows going all the way back to Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever in 1991. That partnership has led to a pair of Oscar nominations for Blanchard, for 2019’s BlacKkKlansman, and 2020’s Da Five Bloods. Blanchard returns to the Oscar race this year with his score for Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s The Woman King, which marks a new high for the composer, who has […]

Raymond & Ray Composer Jeff Beal on Crafting a Trumpet Piece for Ethan Hawke, and His Actor-Friendly Approach to Scoring Films & TV Shows

January 12, 2023 Ian Spelling Comments Off

Jeff Beal is already a five-time Emmy Award winner, and the composer’s score for the Apple TV+ movie Raymond & Ray –which spans from jaunty and jazzy to heartbreaking — could have him in the hunt for another statue. A trumpet player since his youth, Beal seemed particularly suited to Raymond & Ray, as Ethan Hawke‘s character, Ray, is a trumpet player who reluctantly reconnects with his estranged brother, Raymond […]

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

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 […]

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

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 […]

Animation

Academy Unveils Shortlists in 10 Oscar Categories, Including a Star-Studded Field for Best Song

December 21, 2022 Staff Comments Off

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 95th Academy Awards, including Documentary Feature Film, Documentary Short Film, International Feature Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Sound, and Visual Effects. The Best Song category, in particular, is stacked this year, as artists who made the Academy’s shortlist include Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Lady […]

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

December 13, 2022 Danielle Solzman Comments Off

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 […]

Thirteen Lives Composer Benjamin Wallfisch on Enhancing the Emotion and Tension of Ron Howard’s Rescue Drama

December 13, 2022 Edward Douglas Comments Off

At the relatively young age of 43 years old, British Composer Benjamin Wallfisch has already been nominated as Film Composer of the Year two years in a row at the World Soundtrack Awards, and nominated for a Golden Globe for composing the Hidden Figures score with Hans Zimmer and Pharrell Williams. He also earned BAFTA and Grammy nominations for the Blade Runner 2049 score he and Zimmer composed together. Wallfisch has […]

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

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 […]