Film Music Reporter

Academy Awards Original Song Short List Announced

Posted: December 19, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music News
Tags: Academy Awards, Songs

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced the short list of 39 songs that are in contention for nominations in the Original Song category for the 84th Academy Awards. On January 5, 2012, the Academy will screen clips featuring each song for voting members of the Music Branch in Los Angeles. Following the screenings, members will determine the nominees by an averaged point system of voting. A maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film and the nominations will be announced on January 24.

Here are songs in alphabetical order of the films:

“The World I Knew” from African Cats
“Lay Your Head Down” from Albert Nobbs
“Star Spangled Man” from Captain America: The First Avenger
“Collision of Worlds” from Cars 2 Read the rest of this entry »

Carter Burwell to Score ‘Gangster Squad’

Posted: December 19, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Scoring Assignments
Tags: Carter Burwell, Gangster Squad, Ruben Fleischer

Carter Burwell has signed on to score next year’s crime drama Gangster Squad. The film is directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, 30 Minutes or Less) and stars Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin, Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi and Michael Pena. The movie is based on L.A. Times’ seven-part series Tales of the Gangster Squad written by Paul Lieberman, which chronicles LAPD’s struggle with crime and corruption in the 1940s by forming a unit called Gangster Squad to keep organized crime figures from the East Coast out of Los Angeles. Will Beall (Castle) is adapting the material for the screen. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sound and Music of ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’

Posted: December 19, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews
Tags: Ghost Protocol, Michael Giacchino, Mission Impossible

SoundWorks Collection has posted a new profile on the sound and music of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The video includes interviews with composer Michael Giacchino, director Brad Bird, as well as the film’s supervising ADR editor Gwen Whittle Yates and supervising sound editor Richard Hymns. Check out the full video that also features some footage from the score’s recording sessions after the jump. As previously announced, the soundtrack for the movie is coming out on CD on January 10, 2012 and it has recently already been released digitally and is now available to download on Amazon. Read the rest of this entry »

Fall 2011 Television Music Roundup (Part 6): Cable

Posted: December 18, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Scoring Assignments
Tags: AMC, American Horror Story, Boss, Brian Reitzell, Carter Burwell, Cesar Davila-Irizarry, Charlie Clouser, Enlightented, FX, Gabriel Mann, Gustavo Santaolalla, HBO, Hell on Wheels, Homeland, James Levine, Kevin Kiner, Mark Mothersbaugh, Ryan Murphy, Sean Callery, Showtime, Starz, The Exes, TV Land

In our sixth and final part of our fall television series, we are taking a look at the major new shows on the cable networks:

One of this fall’s most talked about new shows is American Horror Story created by Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk and starring Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Taissa Farmiga and Denis O’Hare. The series has recently received two Golden Globe nominations for Best TV Drama and for Lange’s performance. The show’s score is composed by James Levine who has worked on most of Murphy’s projects in the last decade, including Nip/Tuck, Glee and the feature film Running with Scissors. The drama has also been using a lot of pre-existing score music from composers such as Bernard Herrmann and Alan Silvestri. The series’ opening theme is written by Charlie Clouser (Saw, Numbers) and sound designer Cesar Davila-Irizarry. Visit EW.com for more information and to watch the opening credits sequence. Read the rest of this entry »

‘John Carter’ Soundtrack Preview

Posted: December 18, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Composer Interviews
Tags: Andrew Stanton, John Carter, Michael Giacchino

Last night, WQXR’s Movies on the Radio show premiered the first couple of tracks of the score for Disney’s upcoming sci-fi adventure John Carter. The music is composed by Michael Giacchino who recently recorded his orchestral score for the film in Los Angeles. During the one-hour show, Giacchino also talked about his other recent projects, including Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Super 8. To listen to the full interview and the world premiere of more than 10 minutes of the John Carter score, check out the audio stream below or visit WQXR’s website.

The segment with the tracks from John Carter starts around the 44:00 minute mark. Read the rest of this entry »

‘Baseline’ Soundtrack Released

Posted: December 18, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music Albums
Tags: Baseline, Michael Csányi-Wills, Nigel Clarke, score, Soundtrack

Cutting Edge Group’s Pale Blue soundtrack label has released a soundtrack album for the British urban crime drama Baseline. The album includes the original score from the movie composed by Nigel Clarke and Michael Csányi-Wills (The Little Vampire, Will). The digital-only release is available to download on Amazon. Check out audio clips from all tracks on the album after the jump. Baseline is directed by Brendon O’Loughlin and stars Jamie Forman, Zoe Tapper, Gordon Alexander, Freddie Connor, Gary Stretch and Dexter Fletcher. To learn more about the film, visit the official movie website and Facebook page. Read the rest of this entry »

Christian Henson to Score ‘Trap for Cinderella’

Posted: December 17, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Scoring Assignments
Tags: Christian Henson, Grabbers, Iain Softley, Trap for Cinderella

Christian Henson is the composer of the upcoming British psychological thriller Trap for Cinderella. The movie is directed by Iain Softley and based on Sebastien Japrisot’s novel of the same name centering on the mystery surrounding two women who are trapped inside a beach house at a French resort that is gutted by a fire of suspicious origin. Tuppence Middleton, Alexandra Roach, Kerry Fox and Frances de la Tour are starring in the film produced by Robert Jones (Dirty Pretty Things) and Dixie Linder (The War Zone). Softley has previously worked with composers Edward Shearmur (K-Pax, The Wings of the Dove) and Javier Navarrete (Inkheart) on his last couple of features. Read the rest of this entry »

Patrick Doyle’s ‘Man to Man’ Score Album Announced

Posted: December 17, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music Albums
Tags: Eric Neveux, Hideaways, Man to Man, Patrick Doyle, score, Soundtrack

MovieScore Media has announced a soundtrack album for Régis Wargnier’s 2005 drama Man to Man. The album includes the score from the film written by Academy Award-nominated composer Patrick Doyle (Thor, Rise of the Planet of the Apes). The music is performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The album will be released both digitally and on CD on December 27, 2011. For audio clips and to pre-order the album, visit Screen Archives. Man to Man starring Joseph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas and Hugh Bonneville centers on three anthropologists who hunt and capture pygmies for study, in an attempt to illustrate the link between man and ape. Read the rest of this entry »

Weekly Film Music Roundup (December 16, 2011)

Posted: December 16, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music News
Tags: A Game of Shadows, Alexandre Desplat, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Carnage, Chip-Wrecked, Ghost Protocol, Hans Zimmer, Mark Mothersbaugh, Michael Giacchino, Mission Impossible, Sherlock Holmes

Two new movies are opening nationwide this weekend:

Expected to top the weekend box office is the action adventure sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams,Stephen Fry, Jared Harris and Noomi Rapace. The film’s music is written by Hans Zimmer and produced by Zimmer & Lorne Balfe. WaterTower Music has released a soundtrack album featuring the composer’s score. For the full details, including audio clips, visit our previous article. For a behind-the-scenes video from the recording of the score, click here and also check out two junket video interviews with Zimmer on Trailer Addict. For more recent interviews with the composer talking about his music for the sequel, visit Collider, MTV, ARTISTdirect and The Playlist.

Also opening wide this week is the family movie sequel Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked directed by Mike Mitchell and starring Jason Lee, David Cross, Jenny Slate, Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Amy Poehler, Anna Faris and Christina Applegate. A soundtrack album featuring the movie’s songs performed by The Chipmunks & The Chipettes has been released on Atlantic Records. For more information and audio clips, check out our soundtrack announcement. The film’s score is composed by Mark Mothersbaugh and no score album has been released. Read the rest of this entry »

Alexandre Desplat Scoring Wes Anderson’s ‘Moonrise Kingdom’

Posted: December 16, 2011 by filmmusicreporter in Film Scoring Assignments
Tags: Alexandre Desplat, Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson

Alexandre Desplat has recently recorded his music for the upcoming indie drama Moonrise Kingdom. The film marks the composer’s second collaboration with director Wes Anderson after 2009’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox, for which Desplat earned an Academy Award nomination. The movie stars Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Francis McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward. The film is co-written by Anderson and Roman Coppola (The Darjeeling Limited) and is set in a small New England town that is turned upside down when a young boy and girl who fall in love run away together. Anderson is producing the project alongside Scott Rudin (The Social Network, No Country for Old Men), Steven Rales (Young Adult) and Jeremy Dawson (Fantastic Mr. Fox). Read the rest of this entry »