Volker Bertelmann (aka Hauschka) has signed on to score the upcoming drama Downhill. The film is directed by Nat Faxon & Jim Rash (The Way Way Back, screenwriters of The Descendants) and stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Will Ferrell, Miranda Otto, Zach Woods, Zoë Chao, Julian Grey, Ammon Jacob Ford and Kristofer Hivju. The movie is based on the Golden Globe-nominated Swedish feature Force Majeure and follows a seemingly picture-perfect family as they are forced to reevaluate life, and how they truly feel about each other when they barely escape an avalanche during a ski vacation in the Alps. Jesse Armstrong (In the Loop, Succession) wrote the screenplay. Louis-Dreyfus is producing the project with Likely Story’s Anthony Bregman and Stefanie Azpiazu (Enough Said, Private Life). Downhill is currently in post-production and is expected to be released in 2020 by Fox Searchlight.
Bertelmann’s other upcoming projects also include Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Old Guard and Jessica Swale’s Summerland. The composer also has recently scored the comedy drama The Perfect Candidate directed by Haifaa Al Mansour about a young female physician who maneuvers through her conservative, male-dominated society to run in municipal elections. The movie will premiere later this week at the Venice Film Festival. Bertelmann also has the sci-fi thriller Stowaway directed by Joe Penna (Arctic) and starring Anna Kendrick, Toni Collette, Shamier Anderson and Daniel Dae Kim coming up. The movie centers on the crew of a spaceship headed to Mars that discovers an accidental stowaway shortly after takeoff. Penna also co-wrote the screenplay with Ryan Morrison. Stowaway is expected to premiere next year.
