Composers – Page 2 – Below the Line

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 […]

Men Composer Ben Salisbury on Scoring Alex Garland’s A24 Film With Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and How Jessie Buckley (and a Bird) Helped

December 7, 2022 Edward Douglas Comments Off

Composers and musicians Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow have scored all of filmmaker Alex Garland‘s work to date, including three features and the FX series Devs, but their score for Garland’s summer release Men is next-level — it’s music that’s as haunting and eerie as the film itself. For those unfamiliar, Barrow is one-third of the acclaimed British band Portishead, while Salisbury comes from a background scoring nature films and […]

Mad Max: Fury Road Composer Tom Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL) on Reuniting With George Miller for Three Thousand Years of Longing

December 6, 2022 Edward Douglas Comments Off

George Miller’s adaptation of Three Thousand Years of Longing flew under the radar when MGM released the film earlier this year, but it’s worth seeking out on VOD and digital platforms, as not only is it a visual feast, but it once again finds Miller working with Grammy-nominated composer Tom Holkenborg (aka “Junkie XL”), with whom he worked on Max Max: Fury Road. Holkenborg gives Miller’s latest film a rich score that’s […]

Composer Tyler Bates on Scoring Ti West’s X and Pearl, Two Killer Films That Couldn’t Sound More Different

December 5, 2022 Edward Douglas Comments Off

Musician and composer Tyler Bates has been making music for movies and television for many decades, but his work has become far more prominent working with the likes of Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen), James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde), Chad Stahelski (John Wick), and Rob Zombie (The Devil’s Rejects, Halloween). A few years back, Bates came on board to score filmmaker Ti West‘s yet-to-be-named […]

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

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, […]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Tutti Music Partners on Orchestrating & Producing the Sessions for Bear McCreary’s Epic Score

November 4, 2022 Edward Douglas Comments Off

Continuing our series on the amazing below-the-line artisans working on Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which recently wrapped its first eight-episode series, we next have the orchestrating team of Tutti Music Partners — Ed Trybek, Jonathan Beard, and Henri Wilkinson — who have performed their duties for a number of composers we’ve spoken to in the past, including Michael Abels and Tom Holkenborg. The role […]

Oscar-Winning Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir on TÁR and Her Close Collaboration With Both Todd Field and Cate Blanchett

November 2, 2022 Edward Douglas Comments Off

In 2020, Icelandic musician/composer Hildur Guðnadóttir became the first woman to ever win the Oscar for an Original Score for her work on Todd Phillips‘ smash-hit Joker. Guðnadóttir’s triumph is among the kind of glass ceiling-smashing wins that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been hoping to see more of in recent years. This year, Guðnadóttir has two fantastic scores in contention, the first of which accompanies Todd […]

New Hellraiser Composer Ben Lovett on Finding the Right Balance Between His Own Sound and Paying Homage to the Original Score

October 31, 2022 Ian Spelling Comments Off

Growing up, Ben Lovett never particularly considered himself a horror fan. He just liked good stories and didn’t really gravitate toward a single genre — of film or music. So it’s merely a coincidence that Lovett, now a respected singer-songwriter, producer, and film composer, has carved out a niche for himself in the realm of genre films, often working with directors David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, and Jim Cummings. Lovett’s notable credits […]