Category: Composer Interviews

Weekly Film Music Roundup (February 11, 2011)

Tags: Atli Orvarsson, Cedar Rapids, Chris Bacon, Christophe Beck, Deborah Lurie, Elton John, Gnomeo & Juliet, James Newton Howard, Just Go With It, Justin Bieber, Never Say Never, Rupert Gregson-Williams, score, Soundtrack, The Eagle

Four new movies are opening in wide release today:

Just Go With It directed by Dennis Dugan and starring Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman features a score by Rupert Gregson-Williams. No soundtrack album has been announced and judging from the release status of Gregson-Williams’ previous work for Adam Sandler/Happy Madison-produced films (with the exception of Bedtime Stories), the score will most likely remain unreleased.

Also opening wide is the animation musical Gnomeo & Juliet, which features songs by Elton John and a score by James Newton Howard and Chris Bacon. As reported last December, a soundtrack album including Elton John’s songs and four cues from the original score are has been released this Tuesday. To order the CD and listen to audio clips, visit Amazon and to download the album, visit Amazon or iTunes. To watch a short interview with composer James Newton Howard talking about his score for the project, visit Trailer Addict.

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‘The Eagle’ Soundtrack announced

February 11, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews, Film Music Albums 1 comment

Tags: Atli Orvarsson, Kevin Macdonald, score, Soundtrack, The Eagle

Silva Screen Records has announced a soundtrack album for the adventure movie The Eagle. The album includes Atli Orvarsson’s original score for the film starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell and Donald Sutherland. The soundtrack will be released on February 22, 2011. The movie directed by Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void, The Last King of Scotland, State of Play) takes place in Roman-ruled Britain, where a young Roman soldier endeavors to honor his father’s memory by finding his lost legion’s golden emblem. The Eagle is opening in theaters today. To find out more about the movie, visit the official movie webpage and watch the trailer below.

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Mark Isham to score ‘Dolphin Tale’

February 11, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews, Film Scoring Assignments 0 comments

Tags: 3D, Dolphin Tale, Mark Isham, The Conspirator, The Factory, Warrior

Mark Isham revealed in a recent interview on Scorenotes that he just signed on to score the upcoming family drama Dolphin Tale. The movie centers on the friendship between a boy and a dolphin whose tail was lost in a crab trap. The film stars Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Harry Connick, Jr., Kris Kristofferson and Nathan Gamble. Dolphin Tale was shot in 3D and is supposed to feature spectacular underwater sequences. The film is directed by actor turned director Charles Martin Smith, who previously worked with Mychael Danna on his last two theatrical features (The Snow Walker, Stone of Destiny).

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Hans Zimmer to collaborate with ‘Rodrigo y Gabriela’ on new Pirates movie

February 10, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews 0 comments

Tags: Hans Zimmer, Inception, Johnny Marr, Pirates 4, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rango, Rodrigo y Garcia

Hans Zimmer revealed in a recent interview on KCRW that he is currently collaborating with the Mexican music duo Rodrigo y Gabriela on his score for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Rodrigo y Gabriela are known for their fast, rhythmic acoustic guitar performances. Visit the duo’s official webpage to find out more about Rodrigo and Gabriela and listen to their work. The fourth Pirates of the Caribbean directed by Rob Marshall and starring Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Penelope Cruz is set to open on May 20, 2011. Click here to listen to the complete audio interview with Zimmer on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. In the interview, Zimmer also talks about his Oscar-nominated score for Inception, his thoughts on the Award season and his other upcoming projects. He also goes into detail about his collaboration with Johnny Marr on Inception and mentions that Marr has been brought back to perform on the music for Gore Verbinski’s Rango.

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Clint Mansell to score ‘Mass Effect 3’

February 9, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews 0 comments

Tags: Clint Mansell, Last Night, Mass Effect 3

While we don’t usually report video game scoring assignments, we will make exceptions for assignments by high profile film composer. According to a recent interview with Clint Mansell at The Quietus, the composer will score the upcoming game Mass Effect 3, which marks his first video game scoring assignment. The game developed by Bioware is scheduled to come out at the end of this year (watch the debut trailer below). In the interview, Mansell also talks about his work methods, his experience leading his band Pop Will Eat Itself and his collaboration with Darren Aronofsky including his scores for Black Swan, The Wrestler and Requiem for a Dream.

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Michael Giacchino on ‘Good Morning America’

February 3, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews 0 comments

Tags: Good Morning America, Michael Giacchino, Oscars

This morning, ABC’s Good Morning America featured a report on Michael Giacchino in their Countdown to the Oscars series. The composer talks about his working methods, what joining the Academy meant to him and his efforts on mentoring students in Los Angeles. Giacchino has a busy year ahead of him with six movies scheduled for release this year and Andrew Stanton’s John Carter of Mars release date recently being moved forward from a Summer to a March, 2012 release.

Watch the video below or visit the ABC News webpage.

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Composers react to Academy Award nominations

January 25, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews, Film Music News 0 comments

Tags: 127 Hours, A.R. Rahman, Academy Awards, Alan Menken, Alexandre Desplat, Hans Zimmer, How To Train Your Dragon, Inception, John Powell, Nominations, Oscars, Randy Newman, Tangled, The King's Speech, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, Trent Reznor

Following the announcement of the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards, reactions from all nominated composers have appeared online.

John Powell on How to Train Your Dragon:

Visit Movieline for a short interview with Powell on his very first Oscar nomination and also check out Variety and The Hollywood Reporter for a short reaction from the composer.

Alexandre Desplat on The King’s Speech:

Check out a short quote in Variety and The Wrap on his fourth (and third consecutive) nomination for Tom Hooper’s movie which received the most nominations for any film today.

Hans Zimmer on Inception:

Check out this interview on Movieline for Zimmer’s reaction on his ninth nomination and the lack of nomination for Inception’s director Christopher Nolan.

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Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross win Critic’s Choice Award

January 15, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews, Film Music News 0 comments

Tags: Atticus Ross, Critics Choice Awards, Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight Rises, The Social Network, Trent Reznor

Last night, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won the Critic’s Choice Award for their score for David Fincher’s The Social Network. The movie was also awarded the best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay prize. The score beat out the scores for Black Swan (Clint Mansell), Inception (Hans Zimmer), The King’s Speech (Alexandre Desplat) and True Grit (Carter Burwell). The ‘Best Song’ award went to A.R. Rahman, Dido Armstrong and Rollo Armstrong for the song If I Rise for Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours.

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Weekly Film Music Roundup (January 14, 2011)

January 14, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews, Film Music News 0 comments

Tags: Barney's Version, Burning Palms, Every Day, Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Jeanine Tesori, Lorne Balfe, Matthew Margerson, Pasquale Catalano, Sundtrack, The Dilemma, The Green Hornet

Two new movies open wide this weekend:

The comic book adaptation The Green Hornet is directed by Michel Gondry and stars Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz and Cameron Diaz. The film’s score is composed by James Newton Howard. While no soundtrack release has been announced, an album is reportedly in the works. In the movie, Britt Reid, heir to his father’s large company, teams up with his late dad’s assistant Kato to become a masked crime fighting team. Visit the official movie webpage to watch trailers and learn more about the film. Also check out an interview with James Newton Howard on Spectrasonics where he talks about the synthesized instruments and sounds he used to create the score and his collaboration with director Michel Gondry.

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Michael Wandmacher’s ‘Train’ score released

January 11, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews, Film Music Albums 0 comments

Tags: Drive Angry, Michael Wandmacher, Soundtrack, Train

Lionsgate Records has released Michael Wandmacher’s score for the horror thriller Train. The film directed by Gideon Raff (The Killing Floor) stars Thora Birch.The movie is set in Europe, where a group of American college athletes unknowingly board a train that will become one deadly ride. The movie premiered at 2008’s Screamfest Film Festival and has been available on DVD for more than a year. To listen to audio clips and download the score, visit Amazon or iTunes.

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