James Seymour Brett is currently scoring the comedy Lay the Favorite. The film is directed by Stephen Frears and stars Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joshua Jackson, Laura Prepon and Vince Vaughn. Recording sessions for the music are scheduled to take place in early January. The movie follows a young woman as she goes from in-home stripper in Tallahassee to gambler’s assistant in Las Vegas, working for one of the most successful sports gamblers in the business. D.V. DeVincentis (High Fidelity) has written the screenplay based on Beth Raymor’s memoir. DeVincentis is also producing the independent film with Anthony Bregman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Randall Emmett & George Furla (16 Blocks) and Paul Trijbits (Jane Eyre). Frears has worked with composer Alexandre Desplat on his last three features (The Queen, Cheri and Tamara Drewe). According to Deadline, Desplat was originally also attached to score Frears’ latest project and had to drop out because of a scheduling conflict with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Lay the Favorite is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival next month. No word yet on when the film will be released.
Brett’s credits include the animated feature Planet 51, as well as NBC’s TV drama Crusoe. He has also worked with Harald Kloser on a number of films directed by Roland Emmerich, including 2012 and most recently, Anonymous. The composer has also written the music for the large-scale arena show Batman Live, produced in conjunction with Warner Bros, DC Comics and and Nick Grace Management. The show has recently completed a successful UK tour and is now going on to tour worldwide. To find out more about the show and listen to some of Brett’s work for the project, check out the video below. A soundtrack album is anticipated for a release next year.
