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Tag: Michael Penn

Weekly Film Music Roundup (October 3, 2025)

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Opening in theaters nationwide this weekend is the biographical sports drama The Smashing Machine written and directed by Benny Safdie and starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, Oleksandr Usyk, Lyndsey Gavin, James Moontasri, Satoshi Ishii, Yoko Hamamura, Stephen Quadros and Jason Tremblay. The film’s original music is composed by Belgian experimental jazz musician Nala Sinephro who has made her feature scoring debut on the project. Warp Records & A24 Music have released a soundtrack album featuring the artist’s score today. Check out our soundtrack announcement for the full album details and to learn more about the A24 release.

Also opening wide this weekend is the horror thriller Bone Lake written and directed by Mercedes Byrce Morgan and starring Maddie Hasson, Alex Roe, Marco Pigossi and Andra Nechita. Roque Banos (Don’t Breathe, The Machinist, Evil Dead, In the Heart of the Sea, Come Play, Sexy Beast, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, The Killer’s Game) and Ben Cherney (The Kids Are Alright 2) have composed the film’s original music. No word on a soundtrack release. Check out our previous news article for more information about the movie, which is being released by Bleecker Street.

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Weekly TV Music Roundup (May 18, 2025)

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Premiering on Tuesday, May 20, is the Prime Video original series Motorheads created by John A. Norris and starring Ryan Phillippe, Nathalie Kelley, Michael Cimino, Melissa Collazo, Nicolas Cantu, Uriah Shelton, Mia Healey, Josh Macqueen, Drake Rodger, Matt Lanter, Johnna Dias-Watson and Audrey Gerthoffer. The show’s original music is composed by Waz & Jamie Jackson (aka WAZ-JACKSON) (Cougar Town, Bad Monkey, Undateable, Bluff City Law, Life Sentence, Rush Hour, Surviving Jack, Egg). Check out our previous article to learn more about the coming-of-age drama, which will be available to stream exclusively on Prime Video.

Premiering on Thursday, May 22, is the Netflix limited series Sirens created by Molly Smith Metzler and starring Julianne Moore, Meghann Fahy, Kevin Bacon, Glenn Howerton and Milly Alcock. Michael Abels (Get Out, Us, Nope, Star Wars: The Acolyte, The Burial, Landscape with Invisible Hand, See You Yesterday, Breaking) has composed the show’s original music. A soundtrack album featuring the composer’s score will be announced soon. Check out our scoring assignment announcement for more information about the comedy, which will be available to stream exclusively on Netflix.

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Weekly Film Music Roundup (February 7, 2025)

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Opening in theaters nationwide this weekend is the action comedy Love Hurts directed by JoJo Eusebio and starring Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu, Lio Tipton, Sean Astin, Mustafa Shakir, Marshawn Lynch, André Eriksen and Rhys Darby. The film’s original music is composed by Dominic Lewis (The Fall Guy, The Man in the High Castle, Bullet Train, Peter Rabbit, Money Monster, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, Spirited). Back Lot Music has released a soundtrack album featuring the composer’s score today. Check out our previous news article for the full album details and to learn more about the Universal Pictures release.

Also opening wide is the slasher movie Heart Eyes directed by Josh Ruben and starring Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Gigi Zumbado, Devon Sawa Jordana Brewster and Michaela Watkins. Jay Wadley (I’m Thinking of Ending Things,  Swan Song, Tell Me Lies, Franklin, Indignation, We Grown Now, I Carry You with Me, Fire Island) has composed the film’s original music. A soundtrack album featuring the composer’s score will be released in the coming weeks by Lakeshore Records. Check back on this page for the full album details and check out our scoring assignment announcement for more information about the Sony Pictures release.

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Matt Wolf’s ‘Pee-wee as Himself’ to Feature Music by Jon Brion & Michael Penn

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Jon Brion (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, Lady Bird, Paranormal) and Michael Penn  (Girls, Boogie Nights, Masters of Sex, Sunshine Cleaning, The Last Kiss) have contributed original music to the upcoming documentary Pee-wee as Himself. The 2-part film is directed by Matt Wolf (Spaceship Earth) and chronicles the life of artist and performer Paul Reubens and his alter ego Pee-wee Herman. The movie features interviews with Reubens recorded prior to his recent death, revealing his creative influences and the personal struggles he faced to persevere as an artist.

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Michael Penn Scoring Cazzie David’s & Elisa Kalani’s ‘I Love You Forever’

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Michael Penn (Girls, Boogie Nights, Sunshine Cleaning, Masters of Sex, The Last Kiss) has recently scored the upcoming comedy drama I Love You Forever. The film marks the feature directorial debut of Cazzie David & Elisa Kalani and stars Sofia Black-D’Elia, Ray Nicholson, Jon Rudnitsky, Raymond Cham Jr. and David herself. The movie follows a disillusioned 25-year old law student whose love life consists of non-committal hookups who starts to believe true love may actually exist when she meets a handsome and charming journalist who isn’t afraid to show affection.

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Michael Penn Scoring Andrew Durham’s ‘Fairyland’

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Michael Penn (Girls, Boogie Nights,  Masters of Sex, Sunshine Cleaning, On the Verge, The Last Kiss) is scoring the upcoming coming-of-age drama Fairyland. The film is written and directed by Andrew Durham and stars Emilia Jones, Scoot McNairy, Geena Davis, Cody Fern, Adam Lambert and Maria Bakalova. The movie based on Alysia Abbott’s 2013 memoir of the same is set in 1970s and 1980 San Francisco and centers on a young girl growing up with her father – widowed poet and gay activist Steve Abbott – amid the AIDS epidemic.

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‘Hollywood Stargirl’ Soundtrack Album Details

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The full details of the soundtrack album for the Disney+ original movie Hollywood Stargirl have been revealed. The album features the songs from the film performed by lead actress Grace VanderWaal and other cast members, including the original songs Figure It Out co-written by VanderWaal herself and Heaven Knows written by the show’s executive music producer Michael Penn (Girls), as well as covers of Blondie’s Dreaming, Brian Wilson’s Love and Mercy and Cass Elliot’s Make Your Own Kind of Music. Also included is the original song Miracle Mile written by Penn and performed by Z Berg, a cover of Penn’s No Myth performed by Jasmine Ash & Peter Adams, as well as the movie’s original score composed by Rob Simonsen (Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Love, Simon, The Way Back, The Adam Project, Nerve, The Age of Adeline) and Duncan Blickenstaff (Alex, Inc., LA to Vegas). The soundtrack will be released digitally this Friday, June 3 by Walt Disney Records and will be available to stream/download on Amazon and any other major digital music services.

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Weekly TV Music Roundup (May 29, 2022)

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Premiering tomorrow, May 31, is the CW drama Tom Swift created by Melinda Hsu Taylor, Noga Landau & Cameron Johnson starring Tian Richards, Ashleigh Murray, April Parker Jones, Marquise Vilsón, Albert Mwangi and LeVar Burton. The show’s original music is composed by Matthew Head (P-Valley, Boomerang, The Family Business). The series, which is inspired by the Tom Swift book series and revolves around the title character who was introduced in the network’s Nancy Drew, will air every Tuesday on the CW.

Premiering in the U.S. on Thursday, June 2, is the British drama This Is Going to Hurt created by Adam Kay based on his book of the same name and starring Ben Whishaw, Hannah Onslow, Ambika Mod, Michele Austin, Rosie Akerman and Andreea Paduraru. JARV IS…, led by Jarvis Cocker (of Pulp), have composed the film’s original music. Rough Trade Records has released a soundtrack album featuring the artist’s score and songs earlier this year. Click here for the full album details and to learn more about the series, which premiered in the UK on BBC and will debut in the U.S. on AMC+.

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Julia Hart’s ‘Hollywood Stargirl’ to Feature Original Score by Rob Simonsen & Duncan Blickenstaff and Songs by Michael Penn

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Rob Simonsen (Ghostbusters: Afterlife, The Adam Project, Foxcatcher, The Way Back, (500) Days of Summer, The Age of Adeline) and Duncan Blickenstaff (Alex, Inc., Outmatched, LA to Vegas) have composed the original score for the new Disney+ original movie Hollywood Stargirl. Michael Penn (Girls, Boogie Nights, Masters of Sex) has previously been announced to compose music for the film and is credited as the project’s executive music producer and for providing additional music to the teen comedy drama co-written and directed by Julia Hart and starring Grace VanderWaal, Judy Greer, Elijah Richardson, Tyrel Jackson Williams, Nija Okoru, Al Madrigal, Judd Hirsch and Uma Thurman.

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Netflix’s ‘On the Verge’ to Feature Music by Michael Penn

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Michael Penn (Girls, Boogie Nights,  Sunshine Cleaning, Masters of Sex, The Last Kiss) has recently scored the new Netflix original series On the Verge. The show is created by Julie Delpy (2 Days in Paris, Before Sunrise) and stars herself, Elisabeth Shue, Sarah Jones, Alexia Landeau, Mathieu Demy, Troy Garity, Timm Sharp and Giovanni Ribisi. The comedy drama revolves around four women – a chef, a single mom, an heiress and a job seeker – as they dig into love and work in pre-pandemic LA. Delp is also executive producing the project with Michael Gentile and Lauraine Heftler. On the Verge is premiering today on Netflix.

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