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.
Latest News
Alan Menken Featured on CBS News
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.
Ilan Eshkeri on ‘Coriolanus’
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.
John Debney to Score ‘Hatfields & McCoys’
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.
‘Red Lights’ Soundtrack Details
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.
James Seymour Brett to Score Disney’s ‘Planes’
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.
Weekly Film Music Roundup (February 24, 2012)
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.
Christopher Young to Score ‘Killing Season’
Christopher Young has revealed in a recent interview with 123 Film Easy that he is attached to score the upcoming action thriller Killing Season. The movie reunites the composer with director Mark Steven Johnson. They have previously collaborated on the comic book adaptation Ghost Rider and the Kristen Bell-starring romantic comedy When in Rome. Killing Season stars Robert De Niro as an American military veteran who has retreated to a remote cabin in the Appalachian Mountains, where he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a European tourist, played by John Travolta, who turns out to be a former Serbian soldier looking for revenge. Even Daughtery (Snow White and the Huntsman) has written the screenplay for the Millennium Films and Corsan Picture production.
‘Keyhole’ Soundtrack Details
Milan Records has announced a soundtrack album for the Canadian indie drama Keyhole. The album includes the film’s original music composed by Jason Staczek and performed by Elizabeth Ripley, Ela Lamblin and Martin Kuuskmann. The soundtrack will be released on March 13, 2012 and is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Check audio clips from all tracks on the album below. Keyhole is written and directed by Guy Maddin (The Saddest Music in the World) and stars Jason Patric, Isabella Rossellini and Udo Kier. The movie centers on a gangster and deadbeat father who returns home after a long absence and is toting two teenagers: a drowned girl who has mysteriously returned to life and a bound-and-gagged hostage who is actually his own teenage son.
Henry Jackman to Score ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’
Henry Jackman has been tapped to score the upcoming action sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The film is directed by Jon Cho (Step Up 2 & 3, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never) and stars Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Byung Hun Lee, Adrienne Palicki, Ray Park, D.J. Cotrona, Jonathan Pryce and Ray Stevenson. In the sequel to the 2009 film, the G.I. Joes are fighting their mortal enemy Cobra and are also forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland) have written the screenplay and Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers, Salt) and Brian Goldner (Battleship) are producing the film based on the Hasbro’s G.I. Joe characters.