Polydor Records has announced that they will release the soundtrack to the comic book adaptation Kick-Ass on March 29 in Europe. A release date in the US has not been announced, but is expected to follow shortly. The soundtrack will feature a number of songs featured in the movie, as well as a track from Ennio Morricone’s For a Few Dollars More. The album also includes several quotes from the film’s characters. Film Music Reporter has learned that there are plans to release a separate score CD later on. The film’s composers are Ilan Eshkeri, Marius DeVries, Henry Jackman and John Murphy and the movie will be released on April 16 by Lionsgate. Composer Marius DeVries also serves as producer of the soundtrack CD along with David Reid. The album mixes punk rock from The Dickies and New York Dolls with Sparks’ alt pop alongside The Prodigy, Primal Scream and Brit-Award newcomer Ellie Goulding, all topped off by the King himself Elvis Presley. The soundtrack will also launch Taylor Momsen’s (Gossip Girl) new post-grunge band The Pretty Reckless. 

Here’s the tracklisting of the soundtrack CD: Read the rest of this entry »

Bruno Coulais to score Babies

Posted: March 13, 2010 by filmmusicreporter in Film Scoring Assignments
Tags: , ,

Bruno Coulais has been hired to score the upcoming documentary Babies. The movie simultaneously chronicles the lives of four of the world’s newest human inhabitants – in Mongolia, Namibia, San Francisco, and Tokyo, respectively — from first breath to first steps, on a journey at once universal and amazingly original. The movie is directed by Thomas Balmes and will be released in the US this mother’s day weekend on May 7 by Focus Features. To watch the trailer and find out more about the movie, check out the official movie webpage. According to Coulais, the music for Babies was written for a very special orchestra that included a lot of toys, a string quintet, wind orchestra, ethnic instruments, piano and percussion. The score also features vocals by French artist Rosemary. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Isham is currently working on two new scores. The Conspirator is a drama directed by Robert Redford about Mary Surratt, the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination trial of Abraham Lincoln. The movie stars James McAvoy, Alexis Bledel, Robin Wright Penn, Evan Rachel Wood, Kevin Kline, Danny Huston, Justin Long and Tom Wilkinson and is expected to come out later this year. The project marks Redford’s and Isham’s fourth collaboration after A River Runs Through It, Quiz Show and Lions for Lambs. In a recent video that Isham uploaded on YouTube, he mentions that the score will be influenced by Bartok.

Isham’s other new project is the action drama Warrior. The movie directed by Gavin O’Connor centers around the youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer who returns home, where he’s trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament. Warrior stars Nick Holte, Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton and Lionsgate is planning to release the movie later this year. Isham worked with O’Connor before on Miracle and Pride and Glory. According to the composer, the music will be influenced by the instrumental post-rock band Explosions in the Sky (Friday Night Lights). Read the rest of this entry »

Varese Sarabande Records has added details on James Newton Howard’s score for Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang coming out in Europe later this month and state-side in August. The album features 24 tracks of the score amounting to almost an hour of music. Please note that Varese Sarabande has changed the cover art since the previous announcement of the score release. To listen to clips from the album, check out Varese’s international distributor page Colosseum. Read the rest of this entry »

Schifrin CD Box Set announced

Posted: March 12, 2010 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music Albums
Tags: ,

Film Score Monthly has announced a new 5 CD box set for Lalo Schifrin scores from the 60’s. The set limited to 2000 copies includes his score for The Cincinnati Kid (1965) starring Steve McQueen and directed by Norman Jewison, featuring a song based on the main theme performed by Ray Charles. In addition, the set includes Schifrin’s first Hollywood score to the adventure movie Rhino! (1964), his jazz score for the film noir Once a Thief (1965) starring Alain Delon and Jack Palance, as well as his scores for the international espionage movies The Venetian Affair (1967) and Sol Madrid (1968). Finally, one disc is devoted to bonus tracks from Schifrin’s other MGM scores from the period, including such TV projects as Medical Center and The Mask of Sheba. To find out more about the CD set and to listen to clips from the scores, check out Film Score Monthly’s CD page or Screen Archives.

Clash of the Titans soundtrack coming

Posted: March 11, 2010 by filmmusicreporter in Film Music Albums
Tags: ,

WaterTower Music has announced that they will release Ramin Djawadi’s score for Clash of the Titans on March 30. In the movie starring Sam Worthington, Liams Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, the mortal son of the god Zeus embarks on a perilous journey to stop the underworld and its minions from spreading their evil to Earth as well as the heavens. Clash of the Titans is directed by Louis Lettier (The Incredible Hulk) and will be released on April 2. Djawadi and his crew recently finished recording the score in London. Tracklisting and details on the score will be announced shortly.

A new video interview with composers Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders who were nominated for an Academy Award for their score for The Hurt Locker was recently uploaded at Hikari Takano’s interview page. In the interview, Beltrami and Sanders talk about their collaboration, the Oscar nomination, as well as their work on this year’s Best Picture winner. Apart from the 25 minutes video interview, the site also features a video with Buck Sanders playing the ‘The Way I Am’ theme from The Hurt Locker. To watch the videos, check out this link.

Christophe Beck is currently finishing up his score for the comedy remake Death at a Funeral. The Screen Gems produced movie based on the 2007 Frank Oz directed comedy stars Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, Zoe Saldana, Danny Glover and James Marsden. In the movie, a funeral ceremony turns into a debacle of exposed family secrets and misplaced bodies. Death at Funeral is directed by Neil LaBute (Nurse Betty, Possession, Lakeview Terrace) and is scheduled to come out on April 23.

Read the rest of this entry »

Blake Neely has been hired to score the upcoming Warner Bros comedy Life as We Know It. In the movie, two single adults become caregivers to an orphaned girl when their mutual best friends die in an accident. The movie stars Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel and is directed by Greg Berlanti. Berlanti and Neely previously collaborated on such TV shows as Everwood, Eli Stone and Brothers & SistersLife as We Know It is scheduled to be released on December 22. Read the rest of this entry »

Avid Audio just uploaded a new video feature with James Horner talking about his working process and the technological advances on his Oscar-nominated score for Avatar. The video also features interviews with Horner’s scoring mixer Simon Rhodes and electronic music arranger Simon Franglen. To watch the video, click on this Vimeo link.