Category: Film Music News

Randy Newman wins Grammy Award for ‘Toy Story 3’

February 13, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music News 0 comments

Tags: Awards, Crazy Heart, Grammy, Randy Newman, Stephen Bruton, T Bone Burnett, Toy Story 3

Randy Newman has won the Grammy Award for Toy Story 3 in the Best Score Soundtrack Album category at today’s award ceremony, beating out Danny Elfman for Alice in Wonderland, James Horner for Avatar and Hans Zimmer for Inception and Sherlock Holmes.

The winner in the Best Compilation Soundtrack Album category is Crazy Heart, produced by Stephen Bruton and T Bone Burnett. In the Best Song for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, the award went to The Weary Kind from Crazy Heart, co-written by Stephen Bruton and T Bone Burnett.

Alexandre Desplat wins BAFTA for ‘The King’s Speech’

February 13, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music News 0 comments

Tags: Alexandre Desplat, Awards, BAFTA, The King's Speech

Alexandre Desplat has won the Orange British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) in the Original Music category for his score for The King’s Speech. The award was presented to him by singer/songwriter Paul McCartney. Desplat’s competitors in the category were A.R. Rahman for 127 Hours, Danny Elfman for Alice in Wonderland, John Powell for How to Train Your Dragon and Hans Zimmer for Inception. The award marks Desplat’s first BAFTA after being nominated before for Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Queen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. For a backstage interview with Desplat at the Awards show, watch the video below after the jump.

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Weekly Film Music Roundup (February 11, 2011)

February 11, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews, Film Music News 0 comments

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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John Powell wins Annie Award for ‘How to Train Your Dragon’

February 5, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music News 0 comments

Tags: Annie Awards, How To Train Your Dragon, John Powell

John Powell has won the Annie Award in the Music in a Feature Production category for his score for Dreamworks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon at tonight’s Annie Award ceremony in Los Angeles. The other contenders in the category were Sylvain Chomet (The Illusionist), David Hirschfelder (Legend of the Guardians), Harry Gregson-Williams (Shrek Forever After) and Pharrell Williams & Heitor Pereira for Despicable Me. The award is Powell’s first win as a solo composer, having previously won for his collaboration with Harry Gregson-Williams on the original Shrek and his collaboration with Hans Zimmer on Kung Fu Panda.

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Weekly Film Music Roundup (February 4, 2011)

February 5, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music News 0 comments

Tags: David Hirschfelder, John Frizzell, John Swihart, Sanctum, The Other Woman, The Roommate

Two new movies open in wide release this weekend.

The Roommate starring Leighton Meester and Minka Kelly features a score by John Frizzell. As reported earlier this week, Madison Gate Records has released a soundtrack album including Frizzell’s score.

The James Cameron-produced thriller Sanctum starring Ioann Gruffud, Richard Roxburgh and Alice Parkinson features music by David Hirschfelder. A soundtrack album has been released on Varese Sarabande Records as announced here.

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A.R. Rahman, Randy Newman and Alan Menken to perform at the Academy Awards

February 4, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music News 0 comments

Tags: 127 Hours, A.R. Rahman, Alan Menken, Oscars, Randy Newman, Tangled, Toy Story 3

According to the Hollywood Reporter, all Academy Award-nominated song will be performed at this year’s Oscar telecast. A.R. Rahman and Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine will perform the song If I Rise from Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, which has lyrics co-written by Dido and Rollo Armstrong. Rahman is also nominated for his original score on the movie. Alan Menken, who is nominated for writing the song I See the Light from Disney’s animated film Tangled, will accompany singers Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi on the piano. Randy Newman will perform his song We Belong Together from Pixar’s Toy Story 3. Finally, Gwyneth Paltrow will be singing the nominated song Coming Home from Shana Feste’s Country Strong. The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony will take place on February 27 and will air on ABC.

John Barry dies aged 77

January 31, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music News 0 comments

Tags: John Barry

Various websites including the BBC reported this morning that John Barry has passed away at age 77 of a heart attack. Barry was born on November 3, 1933 in York, England and is considered one of the most accomplished and successful composers in film music history. Most famous for scoring 11 films in the James Bond series, among them Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice, Barry has been an active film composers in over four decades and scored close to a 100 feature films. He won five Academy Awards for such movies as Born Free, The Lion in Winter, Out of Africa and Dances With Wolves. His last film score for Michael Apted’s Enigma was released in 2001, after which the composer retired from film composing.

Weekly Film Music Roundup (January 28, 2011)

January 28, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music Albums, Film Music News 0 comments

Tags: Alex Heffes, Biutiful, From Prada to Nada, Gustavo Santaolalla, Heitor Pereira, Mark Isham, score, Soundtrack, The Mechanic, The Rite

Two new movies are opening in wide release this weekend:

The Rite directed by Mikael Hafstrom and starring Anthony Hopkins, Colin O’Donoghue and Alice Braga features music by Alex Heffes. A soundtrack album has been released digitally on Silva Screen Records and will be available as a physical CD in February. Check out our previous article on the announcement.

Also coming out is Simon West’s The Mechanic starring Jason Statham and Ben Foster. The film is scored by Mark Isham. A soundtrack has been released in three different versions on Isham’ own label MIM Records. The Assassin’s Edition is a six track EP of selections from the score (visit Amazon or iTunes to download and listen to clips from the album). The Complete Collector’s Edition features the complete underscore that includes bonus tracks not used in the film (visit Amazon or iTunes).

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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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Weekly Film Music Roundup (January 21, 2011)

January 21, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music News 0 comments

Tags: John Debney, No Strings Attached

Only one movie is opening in wide release this weekend. Ivan Reitman’s No Strings Attached starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher features a score by John Debney, as well as several songs. As reported a few days ago, two soundtrack albums have been announced and a few audio clips of Debney’s score can be found online.

Opening in limited release this weekend after receiving an Oscar-qualifying run at the end of last year is Peter Weir’s The Way Back featuring music by Burkhard Dallwitz and John Wells’ The Company Men with a score by Aaron Zigman.