Following last night’s Oscar ceremony, the compilation album Celebrate the Music – The 84th Annual Academy Award featuring music from the show has been released. The album includes the theme for this year’s show entitled Celebrate the Oscars composed by Hans Zimmer. Also featured are a number of tracks inspired by or derived from Zimmer’s thematic framework by the members of the all-star band that Zimmer and Pharrell Williams brought together for the show, including A.R. Rahman, Giorgio Moroder, Junkie XL, Sheila E. and Esperanza Spalding. Finally, the album also includes the cover version of What a Wonderful Life performed by Esperanza Spalding and the Southern California Children’s Chorus, which played during the ceremony’s In Memoriam sequence. To listen to audio clips and download the album, visit iTunes. Read the rest of this entry »
Hans Zimmer’s Oscars Theme Released
Posted: February 27, 2012 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music AlbumsTags: Academy Awards, Celebrate the Music, Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams
Ramin Djawadi to Score Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Pacific Rim’
Posted: February 27, 2012 by filmmusicreporter in Film Scoring AssignmentsTags: Guillermo Del Toro, Pacific Rim, Ramin Djawadi
DelToroFilms.com is reporting that Ramin Djawadi has signed on to score the sci-fi monster movie Pacific Rim. The film is directed by Guillermo del Toro and stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi and Ron Perlman. The movie is set in the future where soldiers piloting giant robots battle against giant monsters who have mysteriously risen five miles beneath the ocean. Travid Beacham (Clash of the Titans) has written the screenplay and Del Toro is producing the film with Thomas Tull & Jon Jashni for Legendary Pictures and Mary Parent (Role Models). Del Toro has beem quoted as saying “After many months we have finally closed the scoring with Ramin Djawadi – whose scores for Game of Thrones, Prison Break and Iron Man are amongst my favorites in the last few years.” The director has previously collaborated with composers Marco Beltrami (Hellboy, Mimic), Danny Elfman (Hellboy II: The Golden Army) and Javier Navarrete (Pan’s Labyrinth). Read the rest of this entry »
Ludovic Bource Wins Oscar for ‘The Artist’
Posted: February 26, 2012 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music NewsTags: Academy Awards, Ludovic Bource, The Artist
Ludovic Bource has won his first Academy Award in the Best Original Score category for his music for Michel Hazanavicius’ black-and-white silent film The Artist. The other contenders in the category were John Williams (The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse), Alberto Iglesias (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and Howard Shore (Hugo). All four nominated composers were in attendance at the awards ceremony.
In the Best Original Song category, Bret McKenzie has received the award for the song Man or Muppet from Walt Disney Pictures’ The Muppets. Read the rest of this entry »
Brian Ralston Scoring ‘Crooked Arrows’
Posted: February 26, 2012 by filmmusicreporter in Film Scoring AssignmentsTags: Brian Ralston, Crooked Arrows, Steve Rash
Brian Ralston is currently scoring the upcoming sports drama Crooked Arrows. The movie directed by Steve Rash (Can’t Buy Me Love, The Buddy Holly Story) follows a rag-tag Native American high school lacrosse team that is forced to join the elite New York Prep League, which is comprised of better trained and equipped rivals. The film starring Brandon Routh, Gil Birmingham, Crystal Allen and Chelsea Ricketts is written by Brad Riddell and Todd Baird. J. Todd Harris (Jeepers Creepers) and Mitchell Peck (Priest) are producing the project, which is co-produced by Sports Studio (Miracle). Ralston will be recording his Native American influenced score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony next month. Crooked Arrows will be released in theaters this spring. Read the rest of this entry »
Alan Menken Featured on CBS News
Posted: February 26, 2012 by filmmusicreporter in Composer InterviewsTags: Alan Menken, Mirror Mirror
This morning, CBS News featured a lengthy video segment on composer Alan Menken, focusing on the composer’s eight Academy Awards for Disney musicals. The video also shows Menken working on his most recent feature project, Mirror Mirror directed by Tarsem Singh and starring Lily Collins, Julia Roberts, Sean Bean, Armie Hammer and Nathan Lane (visit our previous article for more details) at his home studio near New York. In the segment, Menken also talks his work for the stage. The composer will be having three shows playing simultaneously on Broadway this spring, including Newsies, Sister Act and Leap of Faith. Check out the full 8-minute video after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Ilan Eshkeri on ‘Coriolanus’
Posted: February 26, 2012 by filmmusicreporter in Composer InterviewsTags: Coriolanus, Ilan Eshkeri, Ralph Fiennes
Ilan Eshkeri has recently published a video interview about his music for the drama Coriolanus. In the video, the composer talks about his collaboration with Ralph Fiennes who made his directorial debut on the project and the process of creating the score for the film based on the play by William Shakespeare. Also shown is footage from the recording sessions of the avant-garde score performed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra. Check out the full video after the jump. A soundtrack album featuring Eshkeri’s score is scheduled to be released on March 20, 2012 by Varese Sarabande and is available for pre-order on Amazon. Check back on this page for the full soundtrack details. Coriolanus starring Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox is currently playing in select cities. Read the rest of this entry »
John Debney to Score ‘Hatfields & McCoys’
Posted: February 25, 2012 by filmmusicreporter in Film Scoring AssignmentsTags: Hatfields & McCoys, John Debney, Kevin Reynolds, The Three Stooges
John Debney has announced on his official Facebook fan page that he will be scoring the upcoming period drama mini-series Hatfields & McCoys. The three-parter directed by Kevin Reynolds (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Waterworld) stars Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton as two lose friends and comrades during the Civil War who return to their neighboring homes – Hatfield in West Virginia, McCoy just across the Tug River border in Kentucky – to increasing tensions, misunderstandings and resentments that soon exploded into all-out warfare between the two families. Tom Berenger, Powers Boothe and Mare Winningham are co-starring. Leslie Greif (Walker, Texas Ranger) is producing and Ted Mann (Deadwood) & Ron Parker (Broken Trail) have written the script for the Thinkfactory Media production. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Red Lights’ Soundtrack Details
Posted: February 24, 2012 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music AlbumsTags: Red Lights, Rodrigo Cortéz, score, Soundtrack, Victor Reyes
Lakeshore Records has announced a soundtrack release for the psychological thriller Red Lights. The album includes the original music from the movie composed by Victor Reyes (Buried). The soundtrack will be released digitally on March 13, 2012. Audio clips are available after the jump. Red Lights is directed by Rodrigo Cortéz and stars Robert De Niro, Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Joely Richardson, Toby Jones and Elizabeth Olsen. The movie about a psychologist and her assistant whose study of paranormal activity leads them to investigate a world-renowned psychic premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it has been acquired by Millennium Films for US distribution. No domestic release date has been set yet. The soundtrack release coincides with the opening of the film in Spain, where it it scheduled to come out on March 2. Read the rest of this entry »
James Seymour Brett to Score Disney’s ‘Planes’
Posted: February 24, 2012 by filmmusicreporter in Film Scoring AssignmentsTags: James Brett, James Seymour Brett, John Lasseter, L'Histoire De Nos Petites Morts, Planes, Saving Santa
James Seymour Brett has been hired to score DisneyToon Studios’ upcoming feature Planes. The animated movie directed by Klay Hall draws inspiration from Disney/Pixar’s Cars and centers on a small-town crop-duster (voiced by Jon Cryer) with a fear of heights who longs to enter an epic around-the-world air race. Stacy Keach and Brad Garrett are also lending their voices for the project. Pixar’s/Walt Disney Animation Studios’ chief creative officer and Academy Award-winner John Lasseter (Toy Story, A Bug’s Life) is producing the film. Brett’s music is expected to be recorded this summer. Planes is set for a release in spring 2013. Read the rest of this entry »
Weekly Film Music Roundup (February 24, 2012)
Posted: February 24, 2012 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music NewsTags: Aaron Zigman, Act of Valor, Craig Wedren, David Buckley, Gone, Good Deeds, Johnny Klimek, Nathan Furst, Reinhold Heil, Tomorrow When the War Began, Wanderlust
Four new movies are opening in wide release this weekend:
Opening in most theaters is the war movie Act of Valor directed by Scott Waugh & Mike “Mouse” McCoy about a group of active-duty Navy SEALs that is sent across the globe as they track the terrorist ring to the U.S.-Mexico border. Relativity Music has released a soundtrack album featuring the film’s country songs by artists including Keith Urban, Sugarland and Lady Antebellum. Check out our previous article for the full details and audio clips. The label has also released a separate soundtrack featuring the movie’s original score by composer Nathan Furst. Audio clips and more details about the score release can be found here.
Also opening wide is the thriller Gone directed by Heitor Dhalia and starring Amanda Seyfried, Daniel Dunjata, Jennifer Carpenter, Sebastian Stan and Wes Bentley. The film’s score is written by David Buckley (The Town, Forbidden Kingdom). Lakeshore Records has released a soundtrack album featuring the composer’s score digitally earlier this week and the CD version is set to come out next month. Visit our soundtrack announcement for the full details including audio clips. Also visit Film Music Media for an audio interview with Buckley about his work on the thriller. Read the rest of this entry »
