Category: Music News

WAMG Talks To TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS Composer Jongnic Bontemps

The highly anticipated addition to the action sci-fi franchise TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS opened in theaters on June 9. According to Deadline, “the movie has pounced on a $110M opening weekend. Combined with domestic, that gives the Autobots and Maximals a global debut of $170.5M, coming in ahead of projections. The Steven Caple Jr-directed franchise reboot was No. 1 worldwide and at the international box office for the frame.” The film’s exciting score is from Jongnic “JB” Bontemps.

Bontemps is a uniquely modern film composer, harmonizing a classical education with his rich tech background. As a maestro of Silicon Valley he wrote everything from The CW sci-fi series 4400, the Netflix docuseries WE ARE: THE BROOKLYN SAINTS, DANCE DREAMS: HOT CHOCOLATE NUTCRACKER, the Netflix and Shondaland-produced documentary about the Debbie Allen Dance Company’s award-winning production of THE NUTCRACKER, and the Netflix documentary MURDER TO MERCY: THE CYNTOIA BROWN STORY. He was recently nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award for his work in the 2021 Sundance documentary selection MY NAME IS PAULO MURRAY directed by Julie Cohen and Betsey West. He is known for his hip-hop infused score for the Tribeca-favorite documentary UNITED SKATES, to rousing additional music for the acclaimed film CREED II directed by Steven Caple Jr. He became the go-to composer for Caple Jr. while scoring his coming-of-age drama THE LAND, for which he also orchestrated the song “This Bitter Land” performed by Nas and Erykah Badu. JB’s other recent work includes the CNN special THE PEOPLE VS. THE KLAN, the dramatic feature LAST NIGHT IN ROZZIE directed by Sean Gannet, the CNN Films documentary CITIZEN ASHE that premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and the Netflix film WEDDING SEASON. Up next for JB is the Arkane Studios video game REDFALL.

JB has scored dozens of features, series and video games in all genres, fusing a contemporary sound with timeless emotion. His other recent projects include original scores for the Lifetime biopic CLARKE SISTERS: THE FIRST LADIES OF GOSPEL, the Toni Braxton-led drama, FAITH UNDER FIRE, the Sundance selection LEIMERT PARK produced by Charles King (Mudbound), and additional music for the Epix series GODFATHER OF HARLEM starring Forest Whitaker. JB’s scores have echoed at Cannes, the Warsaw Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, and the American Black Film Festival, as well as at home on Netflix, CNN, HBO, BET, Lifetime, NBC, Showtime, Netflix, PBS and Disney XD.

Brooklyn born, JB learned the piano and soaked up his gospel and jazz surroundings. He studied music at Yale and later found himself at the heart of the tech industry as a software developer and entrepreneur after selling his startup to HP. He thrived there for several years, but eventually decided to pursue his deeper passion and jumped head-first into the film scoring program at USC and the Sundance Film Music Lab. He apprenticed as a programmer for numerous A-list Hollywood composers before breaking out on his own.

JB spoke with me prior to the film opening.

Jongnic had the task of creating a new sound to the franchise while honoring the musical language of the past films. He accomplished this by re-imagining the score from the past to help re-introduce the characters in a new setting and time while also paying homage to all who worked on the franchise before.

With the movie taking place in multiple countries and cities, and Jongnic being a Brooklyn native, he integrated classic 90s hip-hop into the score and was inspired by Afro-Peruvian music. He also added slight easter eggs that fans are sure to notice which makes the score encompass the meaning of ‘More than meets the eye’. 

Milan Records has released TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) by composer JONGNIC BONTEMPS on June 9th. Available everywhere now, the album features music written by Bontemps for the seventh live-action installment in the blockbuster film franchise. https://soundtracks.lnk.to/riseofthebeasts

During our phone conversation, JB and I talked about how he became a film composer, his advice for new composers, the passing of the musical baton by TRANSFORMERS composer Steve Jablonsky and “The Jablonsky Rules”.

WAMG: Hey, JB, it’s Michelle from We Are Movie Geeks.

JB: Michelle, how are you doing today?

WAMG: I’m doing well. I loved the film. Fans are really excited for another TRANSFORMERS film. How did you land the gig? I mean, you’ve worked with Steven before on Creed Two, but when you get that phone call and what goes through your mind like, I’m going to do a Transformers movie.

JB: Well, let me tell you, it was a little further back than CREED II.

We met when he was in grad school. We were both at USC together, and we’ve been working together ever since. So it was short films, USC series eventually first feature, THE LAND, and then we go to CREED II.

I was the secondary composer to the great Ludwig Goransson. And finally, when Steven was tapped to do TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS, he put my name in the hat. And the studio called inquiring, who is this, JB? Because obviously I hadn’t done a major motion picture like this before, so they were curious. And my agent and I discussed it, and we’re like, you know what, we have to do something to knock their socks off on this first interaction. So we conspired and I wrote ten minutes of music based off of my love of the Transformers universe, listening to Steve Jablonsky’s cinematic scores for the movies, and also my discussion with Steven about where he wanted the story to go for this next chapter. Put that together into a suite, about ten minutes of music.

Got it recorded here in LA. With LA musicians. Hired a cinematographer to record a videotape thing and editor edit together with my voiceover, explaining why I should be considered for the job, as well as my love for Transformers. We put that all together into a four minute sizzle reel, sent it to the studio. (pauses)

And then there was crickets. (laughs)

WAMG: Oh my (laughs)

JB:  It took a while. Then they gave me a call. I had a great meeting with Randy Spendlove (President of Motion Picture Music at Paramount Pictures). Then after that meeting, there were crickets for about six months.

And then finally, when they wrapped production, Steven called me and said, “hey, we’re about to go into this post-production meeting. This is coming up. Let’s make sure that everybody has the reel you put together.” And they did. And a few days later, they called and said, we are offering you the job. So I did the demo in March of 2021. I was not hired until December of 2021. (laugh)

WAMG: Wow (laughs)

JB: There was a lot of: Am I going to get this gig? Am I not going to get this gig? A lot of giving up, saying, okay, I guess it was good shot and I have some music for my demo. It was definitely a journey. I was overwhelmed. I was really overwhelmed that they called and offered it to me, so much so that I literally cried. It was a culmination of so many leaps of faith just to come and do this.

Director Steven Caple Jr. on the set of PARAMOUNT PICTURES and SKYDANCE Present In Association with HASBRO and NEW REPUBLIC PICTURES A di BONAVENTURA PICTURES Production A TOM DESANTO / DON MURPHY Production A BAY FILMS Production “TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS”

WAMG: That is so amazing. My next question was going to be had they started shooting any of the movie? Had you seen any of the movie before you really started composing the score, because it’s a nice combination of your score and all these terrific 90’s songs.

JB:  When I first did the demo, obviously they had just started production. So the demo was based off of just my understanding and pouring my knowledge of the Transformers universe into some music and what would I want to hear as an Autobots theme? I did that standalone. Then when I was hired in December, they were just starting post-production, so there was like an assembly of the movie.

I believe it was something like wow, 4 hours.

WAMG: I love it. (laughs)

JB: Yeah, exactly, because it was something crazy.  And I started watching the film, and I was like, oh my goodness, what did I get myself? (laughs) I asked myself, how am I going to get his done – I have no idea. Just Faith.

And I just started going back and just started writing music. And I started writing music away from picture because picture was not ready for me to start working with directly. Soon after I was hired, I had a meeting with Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura on the set of PARAMOUNT PICTURES and SKYDANCE Present In Association with HASBRO and NEW REPUBLIC PICTURES A di BONAVENTURA PICTURES Production A TOM DESANTO / DON MURPHY Production A BAY FILMS Production “TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS”

WAMG: THE Lorenzo di Bonaventura?!

JB: I had a meeting with him and he said, welcome to Transformers. Happy to have you. Don’t mess it up.

WAMG: Oh, my gosh. And you’re like, man…

JB: Exactly! What the heck did I get myself into? But he did have some direction, which was very good. He said, “so many composers end up not finishing the movie because by the time we as the producer, and it’s not getting any better, he says, because by the time we as the producers and the studio hear the score, if it’s not exactly what we were thinking about, there’s not enough time to change gears. And then we go into sort of like triage. What we want to do to ensure your success is we want to hear music to picture as early as possible.

As a matter of fact, we have a cut coming out, I believe, in February for little internal screening. We want to hear music in that. This way we can steer you in the right direction. And there’s time to course-correct.”

I’m like, okay, so it was game on. (laughs)

WAMG: Time to get my game face.

JB: Yeah, my game face. That’s right, I’m not going to mess it up. You don’t have to worry about me. I got it covered. All the confidence came out, but I was sheep on the inside. So what we decided to do was to score the cold open of the film and pretty much all of reel one, which ended up being about 20 minutes of music. And I wanted to have that ready to go for the first sort of like screening of the film for studio’s screening. So that’s what we started working on.

And there was an eight-minute cold open, we say now called the Trans cut because that’s no longer in the movie. The whole thing different direction, different opening, and it’s been called online, the Trans cut. We’re hoping to release that at some point, so my work is not wasted. But what it did was, when we screened the movie with that music in there, it gave the studio, the producers and myself, the confidence that I can do this. And also talking with them about the direction and what they heard, they appreciated. At that point, I was a little more secure, but at least I passed the first test and I can live another day.

OPTIMUS PRIMAL and OPTIMUS PRIME in PARAMOUNT PICTURES and SKYDANCE Present In Association with HASBRO and NEW REPUBLIC PICTURES A di BONAVENTURA PICTURES Production A TOM DESANTO / DON MURPHY Production A BAY FILMS Production “TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS”

WAMG: I noticed there’s a lot of unique, orchestral instruments. There’s lots of great percussion going on. There’s this other worldly kind of theme. There’s a really great human element to it, but you can almost hear, like, the machines working.  You’ve combined all of it with the orchestra for this new sound.

What instruments did you say, Okay, this instrument is going to be this maximal. This instrument is going to be Optimus Primal.

JB: (laughs)

WAMG: This instrument is going to be this to combine for all those music cues.

JB: Well, so much of the foundation of the score was set by Steve Jablonsky in his scores for the original Transformers.

And that music is so beloved and really set the tone and the sound for what a Transformer score should be. So my plan was not to really defer from that language, but to totally embrace that language. And I guess there were a couple of rules, we call them “The Jablonsky Rules.” One is the score had to have a sense of nobility and honor, especially when we talk about Prime and the Autobots. The score has to be a hybrid of orchestra and fit because we’re talking about electronic or electrical energon life forms, so we have to have a sense of both of those together. There needs to be a sense of emotion because we want the audiences to connect to the plight of the Autobots, that they’re trying to save their planet and their culture from extinction. Right? So we want to be able to connect with their journey.

There has to be a certain level of emotion in the score. And then there also has to be themes, because what Jablonsky did so wonderfully was create these memorable themes that we attach now to characters and have become almost synonymous with who they are. I knew I had to create some melodies, some themes that we could attach to this next chapter in the story. So those were sort of the rules that I was playing with, but at the same time, I wanted to infuse my own experience, what sounds heroic to me, what melodies kind of work, and then also what sounds we can infuse from the environment. A very important thing for me as a film scorer is to make sure that the music represents the cultures and the characters that we see on screen.

But I wanted to figure out how we could infuse a little bit of Brooklyn, how we can infuse a little bit of story, how we can infuse a little bit of let’s just say the environment is the third act. So those were sort of the overriding things that I wanted to have in there. And as far as instruments were concerned, both the Maximals and Optimus Prime, the Autobots,  I never really created theme for Prime by himself, which is more the Autobots kind of theme.  Those are both in brass, so French horns and trombones both sort of lead other lead measurements in their motifs, specifically the large versions of it.

But I also try and use string versions of it as well. We want to get more emotional or not emotional, but the more connected side where we want to really feel their plight, both the Maximals and the Autobots, so I also used those themes in strings as well. It wasn’t really about assigning certain instruments to the characters.

It was about trying to create themes that really connote the essence of all the characters.

WAMG: Because in the movie, you learn this is set in 1994, and the Maximals have been on Earth much longer than the Autobots have. And these beasts, they really know the humans, they know they have merit. They believe that they’re worth fighting for. So it’s like you’re having to keep within, like you said, the Jablonsky rules. But it’s pretty much a prequel, which is so cool.

JB: Yeah, it’s very cool. From the story, we kind of learned that the Optimus Prime that we’ve grown up with or that we know and love from the movie isn’t there yet.  And it’s really Optimus Primal who shows him the way to actually find value in humanity.

WAMG:  What’s really impactful is Tobe Nwigwe ’s lone original song in the film, “On My Soul” featuring Nas and Jacob Banks. Oh, my gosh, it was such a great finale for the movie. It’s just really good. How did you like working with him?

JB: First of all, working with Tobe Nwigwe was amazing.

He just has a sense of energy. I mean, again, the energy that this man brings to the table and positivity is really infectious, just like being around him as a person. But during the third act, Steven wanted to inject some of that energy from Tobe into the film, so he asked him to write a song that would be used during a sequence in the third act. Tobe did that and he actually wrote the song to Picture, and when we first heard it, we were like, wow, we’re blown away.

Steven brought it to my room and we watched it and we were like, whoa, this is great. Of course, Steven being the great director that he is, he had some notes and some ideas on how to make it more attached to the story and hit the beats in a different way.  And Tobe and myself and our music editor and Tobe music team, we sat down and then we kind of rearranged the song based on Steven’s notes. And then it was my job to add all these orchestral elements on top of that. So to really sort of bring out some of the strings and add some more parts, some of the string parts, adding in the brass part, there’s a part of the song where you actually hear the Maximal melody making that work with the picture and the music there.

So that was what my job was, to really add the orchestral elements to the song. And the great news was when we actually did that, we played it back for Tobe and his team. They were like, what did you guys change? It’s great! (laughs)

It means we did our job. We did our job because we basically were able to bring it into the world of the score, yet it still felt like the song that they envisioned wrote.

WAMG: Because it’s a great music video. I just watched it again today on YouTube. And the music video is really terrific.

Who are some of your favorite composers? What are your favorite scores? What grabbed you when you were a young composer or just a person going to movies, and thought, this is great music for this movie.

JB: The funny thing is, I didn’t know this was actually a vocation as a young person, okay?

I was always into music. I played piano for a long time. I was never great. I was never fancy like that because I didn’t spend a great amount of time to really be great and I was okay. But I really enjoyed making music with my friends, doing that thing.

When I went to college, I decided I wanted to study music as well. So I did that. And when I got out to the real world, I had no idea how to make money with music, so I ended up launching into a software career, and I did that for about 15 years. It wasn’t until a friend of mine heard some music I was just messing around with in garage band. She said, that sounds like film music. I said, wait there’s music in films? Wait is music in video games?

By this point, I was in my mid-30’s. I was on the track to be a chief technology officer for Silicon Valley Company and I was married with a wife and two kids. I was entrenched in life and I realized that, no, this is not what I need to be doing software. I need to figure out how to do this music thing and now this is the career that I want because it allows me to have music.

It allows me to actually make some money as well as and it also allows me to work with technology to do this stuff.  I ended up going back to school to USC Film’s Scoring program, came out of there and also had no job again. But luckily enough, I had some great friends. And I made one guy named Peter Roder, who is a contractor here in town. He contracts all the musicians for recording sessions.And he suggested to me, “instead of looking for an assistant job, you have this great knowledge of technology and, you know, the process of writing for film and TV. Why don’t you combine those two and create a company that does tech consulting for other composers?” And Composer Tech was born, and I did that for eight years, and by the time I was done, I had about 140 clients around the world, and they included some of the top film score people that I grew to learn to love.

So Danny Elfman was a client, Lucia Gordon, Teddy Shapiro, Michael Giacchino, these are all my clients who I did tech work for. I got a chance to understand  how they approached scoring a film, what their process was, how they want to utilize technology. And some people, like Christoph Beck, became mentors to me and took me under their wing and I love their music. So you ask getting back to your original question about where I find inspiration and other composers, I would say I was blessed that Christoph Beck, I love his way of infusing pop sensibilities and electronics into his scores and they always sound so fresh. Ludwig Goransson, look at the way he pulls in. Again, also a pop sensibility, but also a world sensibility, whether it’s hip hop or if it’s music from Latin America, whatever it is, he knows how to pull in the essence of all these styles of music and turn that into a memorable film score.

Mr. Alexandre Desplat, I mean, the guy, let me tell you. And the way he uses these textures, especially with the woodwinds for his scores, he’s so delicate, yet also so powerful. I remember his score for GODZILLA. I was working for him when he was working on that and the first time I heard that in the studio, I said, wow.

Teddy Shapiro is another composer. That score for TROPIC THUNDER still provides a lot of inspiration for me, as well as his amazing work on “Severance” and the way that he makes these very creative ensembles and create his textures that are pretty evocative and interesting. So those are the people that I look to for inspiration.

And I’m blessed to say that I know them all. I have all their cell phone numbers and they may actually answer my phone calls. (laughs)

WAMG: (laughs) That’s when you know you’ve really made it.

JB: Well, remember they needed me to keeping their studios alive for a long time.

WAMG: You know, I saw this YouTube video with you and Pedro Eustache about the Tarka flute that is so cool.

JB: One of the things that I want to do in the film was making sure that the score would get reflected the place that we were. And when we went to Peru, I wanted to inject, but inject authentically, the sound of Peru into the score. So I looked to partner with folks that understood that music and intrinsically could bring that to the cues that they were on. And Pedro Eustache came on.

I was very careful because so many times in a film score, you hear a pan flute, that tells the movie is set in South America. So I was definitely aware of and wanted to avoid that proclivity and I was reticent of any kind of woodwinds. Because I was like, I don’t want to fall into that stereotype. One of the editors said, hey, I think we should kind of get some old woodwinds in here, but I wanted to do it again in a way that was interesting and new, so I talked to Pedro.

I wrote a little bit of line for some Tarka flutes. I didn’t want the pan flutes. I wanted these Tarka flutes. I wanted ocarinas, I wanted some toyos. So I was very specific about the flutes, the woodwinds that I wanted. And then Petro was like, I got you. And he built a custom Tarka flute that was the mouthpiece of the Tarka flute, but the body of a regular Western flute because he wanted to get the breathy sound of a Tarka signature of that instrument. But we needed the body of the flute to get the sustained and all the notes that we needed to work with the actual cue. He built a custom instrument that did not exist before this score and first time being heard. And he did it so masterful.

WAMG: It’s so effective and to watch the two of you on this YouTube video. You both are really giddy about the Tarka and it’s so much fun to watch. It’s really wonderful to watch. And you got a Transformers T shirt on, and the sound is great. The sound is so great.

JB: Thank you so much. It was really a labor of love. I love Transformers. I love the universe. I also want to make sure that what we did, the fans would appreciate.

And that’s really what sort of drove every… drove us to do all the stuff that we did. We want to do this for the fans. We want to make sure that the score elevates the movie and is at the level that the fans deserve. And that meant working with the greats like Pedro Eustache or Alicia Acuña on latin percussion, Abraham Laboriano, hiring the best programmers. Anthony Baldino worked on scores like TENET, “The Mandalorian.” He came on board to do synth programming for us. I just really tried to surround myself with amazing folks.

And then finally, Steve Jablonsky, he came on board as a mentor and guided us toward the end of a process. He was so gracious and so giving up his time. He said, “I’m here to pass the torch onto you and to help you realize the score for the fans and for the movie.” So it was pretty phenomenal, that interaction I was really blessed to have.

Check out this amazing track “Humans and Autobots United” from Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Soundtrack – Music by Steve Jablonsky.

WAMG: Gosh. That must have really been a moment.

JB: I’m so thankful for his involvement and his guidance.

WAMG: I have one last question. You talked about when you were younger and playing music with your friends. What advice would you give to young musicians considering your career in film composing or mixing or editing?

JB: Well, I would say one thing is continue to make music with your friends and the people around you, because that interaction of making music with people, I think, keeps the joy alive.

The second thing is, start making music for media now. No one has to give you permission to score things and find young filmmakers around you. Look to the left and to the right, and now there are people around you that are budding cinematographers or buddy directors. Start working with them right away, because it’s just going to be so important to start to build a rapport with people, build a language with people and start to understand what it is like to work with someone else to sort their film. One thing we remember as film composers is that we are artisians, not artists. Our art is in service of something else. It is to help something else function. So you need that sense of collaboration and to have those instincts of collaboration well honed, so that you can do this and to serve a director’s mission.

WAMG: What else have you got coming down the pike? What else are you working on now, if you can say?

JB: Well, I can’t say about too many things. As of right now, I have four films coming out next week. I’ll be traveling to do that. Choirs on Disney+, a docuseries. I have World’s Best, which I co-scored with Raashi Kulkarni, Disney hip hop musical coming up the end of this month on Disney+. Plus, I have a documentary, The Space Race, about the African American experience in the space race.

WAMG: I can’t wait to see that. Yes.

JB: Which I co-scored with Anna Drubich, my longtime friend.  And then, yes, another film for Hulu called JAGGED MIND, which is an erotic thriller. And that comes up on June 16. (laughs)

WAMG: And then you’ve got some little film called Transformers RISE OF THE BEASTS.

JB: (laughs)

WAMG: Thank you again. This was a real pleasure. Good luck with the film. Good luck with all your upcoming projects. And I hope we can speak with you again because this has been a great conversation. Really.

JB: I hope so. I hope we will be crossing path many times.

TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS is playing now in theaters everywhere. (review)

TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) TRACKLISTING –

1. The Maximals

2. Unicron / Scourge

3. Autobots Enter

4. What Are You

5. More Than Meets the Eye

6. Mirage

7. Museum Heist

8. Battle at Ellis Island

9. Fallen Hero

10. Chris Meets Mirage

11. Arriving in Peru

12. Hiding in Plain Sight

13. The Cave

14. Switchback Chase

15. The Village

16. Saving Elena

17. One Last Stand

18. The Final Battle Begins

19. Unicron Approaches

20. Home Team

21. Volcano Battle

22. No Matter the Cost

23. Till All Are One

24. Humans and Autobots United

25. Here’s My Card

26. A Long Time Ago

L-r. RHINOX, WHEELJACK, OPTIMUS PRIME, MIRAGE, CHEETOR, ARCEE, OPTIMUS PRIMAL and Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, below, star in PARAMOUNT PICTURES and SKYDANCE Present In Association with HASBRO and NEW REPUBLIC PICTURES A di BONAVENTURA PICTURES Production A TOM DESANTO / DON MURPHY Production A BAY FILMS Production “TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS”

Listen To The First Music From THE FLASH By Composer Benjamin Wallfisch

WaterTower Music is proud to announce today’s release of “Worlds Collide” and “Run”—the first music to be released from Warner Bros. Pictures’ upcoming film “The Flash.” Directed by Andy Muschietti (the “IT” films, “Mama”), “The Flash” serves as the DC Super Hero’s first-ever standalone feature film. “Worlds Collide” and “Run” were created by lauded two-time GRAMMY- and BAFTA-nominated composer Benjamin Wallfisch (The “IT” films, “Shazam,” “Blade Runner: 2049” [with Hans Zimmer]) and both are now available for streaming (Standard and Dolby Atmos / Spatial Audio configurations) and digital purchase.

The two tracks will also be included on the upcoming The Flash (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), which is scheduled for release the same day the film is set to open in theaters in North America, June 16, 2023.

Wallfisch describes “Worlds Collide” as an important cue—heard at the climax of the movie—which features a new theme representing the meshing/coming together of DC eras past and present.

Wallfisch’s notable projects include It and It Chapter Two, Blade Runner 2049 (with Hans Zimmer), Shazam!, The Invisible Man, Mortal Kombat, Thirteen Lives, A Cure For Wellness, Annabelle: Creation, King Of Thieves, Hidden Figures (with Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer), and music based on Elgar’s Enigma Variations for Dunkirk.

Check out our interview from 2017 here: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2017/03/composer-benjamin-wallfisch-talks-composing-scores-for-hidden-figures-a-cure-for-wellness-and-bitter-harvest/

The composer discussed the track in further detail: “Worlds Collide” was a cue that Andy (Muschietti) and I iterated on—probably over 50 times—to get just right, even as the orchestra was recording it. Andy’s incredibly creative ideas meant adjusting the music and musicians in real time. The track is built on a chord progression where the outer voices of the chords move towards each other, almost pulled together by a powerful gravitational force, whilst always building in intensity. At the apex, there’s about 17 layers of orchestra playing together—probably over 1000 musicians! It was one of those moments where we had to ‘go big or go home’ to match the magnitude of what fans will see on screen!”

And “Run” was the very first music Wallfisch wrote for “The Flash,” just over three years ago. He described the genesis of the track and how it was integrated into the film: “Andy invited me to come onboard for the movie in the summer of 2020. Although the script was still being developed, I was inspired by the film concepts we discussed. “Run” was basically the first music I envisioned: a restless, searching piano figure, representing Barry’s crisis after losing his mother, played against insistent staccato strings that are on the edge of being impossible to perform because of their sheer speed.

“A few days later, and months prior to shooting,” Wallfisch continued, “I played this super rough sketch to Andy, alongside a bunch of other ideas for the film. Then, two years later, as Andy was putting together his first cut, he surprised me by putting this little piano sketch up against picture in one of the key moments in the movie, and it stayed there through to the final, almost unchanged. Andy and I have worked together closely for the last six years, and this was a moment I was especially grateful for our relationship. I feel so fortunate to have such a creative shorthand with someone I consider an absolute genius. “

Warner Bros. Pictures presents “The Flash,” directed by Andy Muschietti. Ezra Miller reprises their role as Barry Allen in the DC Super Hero’s first-ever standalone feature film. Worlds collide when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian… albeit not the one he’s looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?

“The Flash” ensemble also includes rising star Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue and Michael Keaton. It is produced by Barbara Muschiett and Michael Disco. The screenplay is by Christina Hodson, with a screen story by John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein and Joby Harold, based on characters from DC. The executive producers are Toby Emmerich, Walter Hamada, Galen Vaisman and Marianne Jenkins.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Double Dream/a Disco Factory production of an Andy Muschietti film, “The Flash” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and is set to open in theaters in North America on June 16, 2023 and internationally beginning 14 June 2023.

Listen To The BLACK ADAM Theme From Composer Lorne Balfe

WaterTower Music has released the first music to be heard from the upcoming New Line Cinema action adventure “Black Adam,” starring Dwayne Johnson. The first-ever feature film to explore the story of the uncompromising DC antihero comes to the big screen under the direction of Jaume Collet-Serra (“Jungle Cruise”). The Black Adam Theme (from “Black Adam”) by highly respected Grammy Award-winning and Emmy-nominated composer Lorne Balfe (“Mission Impossible: Fallout,” “The Lego Batman Movie,” “Black Widow”) has just been released – in advance of the film and soundtrack release. “Black Adam” smashes into theaters and IMAX internationally beginning 19 October 2022, and in North America on October 21, 2022.

Balfe’s vision for the music of Black Adam encompasses an exploration into the back stories that define the characters. The composer commented on that approach. “It was exciting to get into the Black Adam theme, and I really wanted to capture his essence as the DC comic book world’s anti-hero. We had a large brass section across the score to give the weight and power of the main character’s past, which I balanced out with high tempo, more melodic sounds to give the audience that more familiar heroic feel. We also experimented a lot with choir on this project, which was able to contribute a unique and classical sound that ties in nicely with Black Adam’s story.”

Consistently receiving accolades for his musical compositions, he received critical acclaim for his score in the most successful film of the Mission: Impossible franchise, Writer/Director Christopher McQuarrie’s MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT (Paramount Pictures) and has been announced as the composer of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 & 8.

Other notable credits include TOP GUN: MAVERICK (Paramount), BLACK WIDOW (Disney/Marvel), AMBULANCE (Universal), JUNGLELAND (Paramount), THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE (Warner Bros), and the Oscar nominated film THE FLORIDA PROJECT (A24). Coming up Lorne’s work will be heard in ARGYLLE, directed by Matthew Vaughn.

In addition to his work with Christopher McQuarrie, Lorne has worked with many of the most prestigious directors in the industry, including Christopher Nolan, Ron Howard, Michael Bay, Cate Shortland, Ang Lee, Christophe Waltz, Jerry Bruckheimer, Sean Baker, and Chris McKay.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT Interview: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2019/01/composer-lorne-balfe-discusses-mission-impossible-fallout-game-awards-six-underground/

TERMINATOR GENISYS Interview: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2015/07/composer-lorne-balfe-talks-score-for-terminator-genisys/

In ancient Kahndaq, the slave Teth Adam was gifted the almighty powers of the gods. But he used those powers for vengeance and was imprisoned. Now, 5,000 years later, he is freed and once again wields his dark sense of justice onto the world. Refusing to surrender, Teth Adam is challenged by a team of modern day heroes known as the Justice Society— Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Atom Smasher and Cyclone—who seek to return him to eternal captivity.

Johnson stars alongside Aldis Hodge (“City on a Hill,” “One Night in Miami”) as Hawkman, Noah Centineo (“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”) as Atom Smasher, Sarah Shahi (“Sex/Life,” “Rush Hour 3”), Marwan Kenzari (“Murder on the Orient Express,” “Aladdin”), Quintessa Swindell (“Voyagers,” “Trinkets”) as Cyclone, Mo Amer (“Mo,” “Ramy”), Bodhi Sabongui (“A Million Little Things”), and Pierce Brosnan (the James Bond and “Mamma Mia!” franchises) as Dr. Fate.

Collet-Serra directed from a screenplay written by Adam Sztykiel and Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani, based on characters from DC created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck. The film’s producers are Beau Flynn, Hiram Garcia, Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia, with Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Chris Pan, Walter Hamada, Adam Schlagman, Geoff Johns, Eric McLeod and Scott Sheldon executive producing.

The director’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes Oscar-nominated director of photography Lawrence Sher (“Joker”), production designer Tom Meyer (“Real Steel, ”Finch”), editors Mike Sale (“Red Notice,” “Skyscraper”) and John Lee (“Anyone Home?”), costume designers Kurt and Bart (“Deadpool 2,” “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 & 2”), Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer (“Life of Pi,” “Wonder Woman”), and composer Lorne Balfe (“Black Widow”).

New Line Cinema Presents a Seven Bucks/Flynn Picture Co. Production, A Jaume Collet-Serra Film, “Black Adam,” distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

https://www.dc.com/BlackAdam

Listen To “Top Gun: Maverick (Music From The Motion Picture)” Soundtrack From Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga And Hans Zimmer

Interscope Records announces the release of Music From The Motion Picture Top Gun: Maverick out today, May 27th. Available at all digital retailers, as well as CD, the soundtrack is available now. A Target exclusive CD of the soundtrack includes an exclusive cover and poster. https://www.target.com/p/various-artists-top-gun-maverick-soundtrack-target-exclusive-cd/-/A-86415827#lnk=sametab-

Arriving as one of the most anticipated blockbusters of the year from Paramount Pictures, Top Gun: Maverick arrives in theaters nationwide today.

Available here: https://topgunmaverick.lnk.to/Soundtrack

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJzLTReoSNQTCCJ3f9o4IFyEWB8HyIiJa

Earlier this month Lady Gaga revealed “Hold My Hand” as the first single to be released from the soundtrack. Produced by Gaga and BloodPop© with additional production by Benjamin Rice, the soaring anthem received widespread critical acclaim right after its release with Billboard declaring “Lady Gaga soars with “Hold My Hand,” and Vanity Fair raved the song “catapults her [Gaga] into next year’s Oscar race.”

“I Ain’t Worried” by GRAMMY® nominated band OneRepublic followed. Produced by Ryan Tedder, Brent Kutzle, Simon Oscroft and Tyler Spry, OneRepublic will perform “I Ain’t Worried” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC, 11:35/10:35c), tonight May 27th.

With a combination of classics from the original film, new music, and score, the album reflects Top Gun’s past, present, and future all at once. It boasts instantly recognizable cuts such as the theme song “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins, while Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller recorded a show-stopping live rendition of “Great Balls of Fire” showcased in the film and included on the record.

Plus, it features original score tracks by the movie’s composers—Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer and Academy® Award winner Lady Gaga and multiple Academy® Award winner Hans Zimmer.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer added, “This album continues the musical legacy that the original Top Gun ignited back in 1986. We are so thrilled to have Lady Gaga and OneRepublic lend their artistry towards putting a modern spin on the already iconic and beloved soundtrack.”

Making waves already, “Hold My Hand” was written for the motion picture and is featured throughout the film. The motion picture version of “Hold My Hand” features additional production and score by Lorne Balfe and Academy Award-winner Hans Zimmer. It also marks Gaga’s return to writing and producing original music for film, after the success of 2018’s A Star is Born soundtrack that earned Gaga an Academy Award, four GRAMMYs®, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and Critics’ Choice Award.

Paramount Pictures’ Top Gun: Maverick visits Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) after more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators. Maverick is where he belongs –pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.” Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.

Read Jim Batts review HERE.

Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE TOP GUN: MAVERICK

  • Main Titles (You’ve Been Called Back to Top Gun)
  • Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins
  • Darkstar
  • Great Balls of Fire (Live) by Miles Teller
  • You’re Where You Belong / Give ‘Em Hell
  • I Ain’t Worried by OneRepublic
  • Dagger One is Hit / Time to Let Go
  • Tally Two / What’s the Plan / F-14
  • The Man, the Legend / Touchdown
  • Penny Returns – Interlude
  • Hold My Hand by Lady Gaga
  • Top Gun Anthem

Michael Kamen’s Score For THE IRON GIANT Being Released On LP By Varèse Sarabande Records On August 5

Varèse Sarabande Records is excited to announce the LP release of The Iron Giant (Deluxe Edition) Original Motion Picture Score with music by Michael Kamen. Varèse Sarabande has previously released Kamen’s The Iron Giant score as a 49-minute program single LP. The 2-LP Deluxe Edition is now available for pre-order at all retailers, with a green vinyl version exclusive to VareseSarabande.com and Intl.VareseSarabande.com. The album will release August 5.

The 2-LP package taps directly into the ethos of the film, with a pull tab opening the Giant’s die-cut eyes on the front jacket. Depending on which inner sleeve has been slotted in the first position directly behind the cover, the reveal is different. Open the eyes in normal or defense mode!

Watch the unboxing video.

Preorder here: https://found.ee/theirongiant

Creating The Iron Giant’s beautiful, sympathetic score was Michael Kamen—one of his last major scores and his first animated film, miles away from the action blockbusters for which he had become known, but much closer to his heart. Kamen’s gorgeous score is full of melody, humor and sensitivity, grandly performed by the Czech Philharmonic. It scales as big as the threat of nuclear annihilation, and as intimate as the goodness that connects nine-year-old Hogarth Hughes to the alien machine—who decides he would rather be “Superman” than a weapon.

This Deluxe Edition adds an additional 13 minutes of alternates, outtakes and rare demos—including a piano-and-guitar attempt at an unrealized song, “Souls Don’t Die,” based on Kamen’s theme, performed by Kamen and Eric Clapton. Tim Greiving’s new liner notes feature new interview material with director Brad Bird, music editor Christopher Brooks and orchestrator Blake Neely, going deep into Kamen’s working process and their adoration for the gifted, late composer.

A modern classic, The Iron Giant, directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol) tells the story of a young boy who befriends a giant alien robot during the Sputnik era of the Cold War. Based on the 1968 book The Iron Man by poet Ted Hughes, the film is a marvel of heartfelt storytelling, with timeless themes of friendship, caring and self-determination.

See the movie on Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Giant-Jennifer-Aniston/dp/B001MZNW52

LP TRACKLISTING

Side A

1 The Eye Of The Storm † 2:29

2 Hogarth Hughes † 0:20

3 Creepy Music/Hogarth Investigates †† 1:29

4 Into The Forest † 3:32

5 The Giant Wakes † 1:23

6 Hogarth In Car/Sting For FBI Man: Suite †† 0:55

7 Come And Get It † 1:44

8 Shut Off Switch/Rock Tree: Suite †† 1:03

9 Cat And Mouse † 0:52

10 Train Wreck † 1:06

11 Magic Rebuild/Hand Underfoot: Suite †† 2:54

12 Chew Your Food ‡ 2:01

Side B

1 Amerika †† 1:22

2 Great Ride †† 1:13

3 We Gotta Hide † 0:48

4 His Name Is Dean † 0:46

5 He Can Stay ‡‡ 0:38

6 Eating Art † 0:41

7 Space Car † 0:57

8 Souls Don’t Die †† 4:06

9 Contest Of Wills † 4:33

10 The Army Arrives † 1:33

11 Annie And Dean † 1:17

12 I’m Superman †† 0:30

Side C

1 He’s A Weapon † 2:42

2 Giant Discovered † 4:27

3 Trance Former † 4:25

4 No Following † 4:01

5 The Last Giant Piece †† 1;06

6 Bedtime Stories † 2:25

Side D

1 End Credits: Suite † 8:22

2 Wild Tam-Tam † 0:18

3 Chew Your Food Pickup ° 0:43

4 Duck And Cover † 0:29

5 Early Demo #1 ° 2:39

6 Early Demo #2 ° 3:51

7 Souls Don’t Die °° 2:45

† Original soundtrack version

†† Film version 

‡ Original soundtrack version, mislabeled as “Hand Underfoot”

‡‡ Film version with alternate ending

° Not used in the film 

°° Early demo, Michael Kamen on Piano and Eric Clapton on Guitar

THE LOST CITY Original Motion Picture Soundtrack By Pinar Toprak Is An Exhilarating Score Filled With Old-Style Hollywood Adventure

One of my favorite composers who has made a musical splash on the film score scene is Pinar Toprak. Being a collector of scores, whether it be TV of film, I’m a huge fan of hers and she has quickly become an active and reinvigorating composer in Hollywood. Toprak wrote the fantastic scores for DC’s Stargirl on The CW, and SY-FY’s Superman prequel series Krypton.

Today, Variety reported: “on Sunday she (Toprak) will be onstage at the Dolby conducting the Oscar orchestra for Billie Eilish’s performance of “No Time to Die.” Details about Sunday are otherwise under wraps. It’s said to be a new arrangement of the Oscar-nominated James Bond theme, and Eilish’s co-writer and sibling Finneas is expected to be onstage too. Toprak couldn’t comment.“

Review: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2022/03/the-lost-city-2022-review/

La-La Land Records and Paramount Music has released Toprak’s original motion picture score to the Paramount Pictures action adventure comedy THE LOST CITY, starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Danielle Radcliffe, and Brad Pitt. 

The score soundtrack is available digitally from Paramount Music starting today (March 25, 2022), and on Limited Edition CD from www.lalalandrecords.com starting March 29, 2002. 

Also featured on the soundtrack are “Danza De Dos,” “Bolerito De La Isla,” and “Lágrimas Sin Fin (featuring lyrics by David Aguilar),” three new tracks written for the film by Grammy and Latin Grammy winning composer, arranger, producer and performer, Cheche Alara. 

In THE LOST CITY, brilliant, but reclusive author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) has spent her career writing about exotic places in her popular romance-adventure novels featuring handsome cover model Alan (Channing Tatum), who has dedicated his life to embodying the hero character, “Dash.” While on tour promoting her new book with Alan, Loretta is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) who hopes that she can lead him to the ancient lost city’s treasure from her latest story. Wanting to prove that he can be a hero in real life and not just on the pages of her books, Alan sets off to rescue her. Thrust into an epic jungle adventure, the unlikely pair will need to work together to survive the elements and find the ancient treasure before it’s lost forever. 

The film’s exhilarating original score bursts with full-throttle adventurous fun, action and romance. “Writing this score brought me back to why I fell in love with film scores in the first place,” says renowned composer Pinar Toprak, “The adventure, the romance, and most importantly the FUN. It’s been a pure joy paying homage to those classic adventure films I loved growing up while giving it my own contemporary signature. It’s my sincerest hope that this score, like the ones that inspired me as a child, will withstand the test of time as well.” 

Stream or Purchase: https://music.paramount.com/albums/the-lost-city/

TRACK LIST

1 – The Lost City of D
2 – Pinot Grigio on Ice
3 – Book Tour
4 – The Only Clue
5 – You’re Safe Now
6 – The Island
7 – Ruins Revealed
8 – People Eat Cake
9 – Gotta Go Up
10 – Highly Trained & Very Dangerous
11 – Contoured Scenery
12 – Hands out, Butt to Butt
13 – Alan Gets a Moped 
14 – Hammock Extraction
15 – Set Your World on Fire
16 – It’s Not a Metaphor
17 – Watch Your Step
18 – The Tomb
19 – Fairfax Escapes
20 – Dulcius Ex Asperis
21 – Got Your Back
22 – A New Adventure Beginning
23 – The Final Countdown
24 – Danza De Dos
25 – Bolerito De La Isla
26 – Lagrimas Sin Fin (feat. Cecilia Noel)
27 – Stage Mishap (Bonus Track)
28 – Book Trailer (Bonus Track)

Pinar Toprak is one of the most refreshing voices in music composition today with a diverse body of work spanning across film, television, and video games. She has composed for major superhero sagas like Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel, DC’s Stargirl, and SY-FY’s Krypton. She also scored HBO’s six-part docuseries McMillions, which earned her a 2020 Primetime Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score).” In addition, she has written music for Epic Game’s massively popular online video game, Fortnite. Away from the big screen, Toprak crafted the new main theme for Walt Disney World’s iconic EPCOT theme park, scored the celebrated 2021 Walt Disney Animation short Us Again, and wrote music for Christina Aguilera’s 2019 Xperience show in Las Vegas. Toprak was the recipient of the 2019 ASCAP Shirley Walker Award and also won the 2019 IFMCA (International Film Music Critics Association) Award for “Best Original Score for a Documentary Film” for her score to The Tides of Fate.

She had previously won two other IFMCA Awards for her work on The Wind Gods and The Lightkeepers which was on the Academy Award shortlist for “Best Original Score” in 2011. Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, Toprak began her classical music education at the age of five. After studying composition and multiple instruments at the conservatory she moved to Chicago to study jazz, before continuing on to Boston for a degree in film scoring from Berklee College of Music. She then moved to Los Angeles and earned a master’s degree at CSUN in composition at age 22.

Hildur Guđnadóttir, Natalie Holt, Rachel Portman, Stephanie Economou, Jennifer Hudson & Carole King Among The Society of Composers & Lyricists SCL AWARDS’ Nominees

The Society of Composers & Lyricists have announced the full list of SCL AWARDS’ nominees, to be presented the 3rd Annual SCL AWARDS for score and songs in visual media on February 1st at the Skirball Cultural Center (Covid permitting). Awards are presented in seven competitive categories: Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film, Outstanding Original Score for an Independent Film, Outstanding Original Score for a Television Production, Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production, Outstanding Original Song for a Comedy or Musical Visual Media Production, Outstanding Original Score for Interactive Media, and the David Raksin Award for Emerging Talent.

The evening hosted by Darren Criss will include musical performances from Grammy-nominated singers/songwriters of Bridgerton: The Unofficial Musical Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Grammy winner Judith Hill, and more. A musical tribute will accompany the spirit of collaboration award.

Full list of nominees below:

Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film

Nicholas Britell
Don’t Look Up

Alexandre Desplat
The French Dispatch

Germaine Franco
Encanto

Jonny Greenwood
The Power of the Dog

Hans Zimmer
Dune

Outstanding Original Score for an Independent Film

Jonny Greenwood
Spencer

Daniel Hart
The Green Knight

Alberto Iglesias
Parallel Mothers

Rachel Portman
Julia

Kubilay Uner
American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally

Outstanding Original Score for a Television Production

Christophe Beck
WandaVision

Nicholas Britell
Succession

Natalie Holt
Loki

Jung Jae-il
Squid Game

Cristobal Tapia de Veer
The White Lotus

Outstanding Original Song for a Comedy or Musical Visual Media Production

Kris Bowers & Siedah Garrett
“Together All The Way”
Dear White People

Nicholas Britell & Taura Stinson 
(w/Ariana Grande & Scott Mescudi)
“Just Look Up”
Don’t Look Up

Amie Doherty
“Fearless”
Spirit Untamed

Jamie Hartman, Jennifer Hudson, & Carole King
“Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)”
Respect

Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Home All Summer”
In The Heights

Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production

Jeymes Samuel 
(w/Shawn Carter & Scott Mescudi)
“Guns Go Bang”
The Harder They Fall

Billie Eilish & Finneas O’Connell
“No Time To Die”
No Time To Die

Rufus Wainwright
“Secret Sister”
Rebel Hearts

Diane Warren
“Somehow You Do”
Four Good Days

Diane Warren
“(Never Gonna) Tame You”
The Mustangs: America’s Wild Horses

Outstanding Original Score for Interactive Media

Germaine Franco
Kung Fu Panda: Land of Awesomeness

Hildur Guđnadóttir & Sam Slater
Battlefield 2042

Austin Wintory
Alien Fireteam Elite

David Raksin Award for Emerging Talent

Anne-Kathrin Dern
The Claus Family

Stephanie Economou
Jupiter’s Legacy

Joy Ngiaw
Blush

Spirit of Collaboration Award: Carter Burwell with Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

The Spirit of Collaboration Award presented to Oscar nominated composer Carter Burwell and Oscar-winning filmmakers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen; the three have collaborated on 17 films including Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, Fargo, and The Tragedy of Macbeth directed and adapted by Joel Coen.

Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” coming soon to theaters and Apple TV+

Past winners who went on to win Oscars include Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste for Soul as well as Hildur Guđnadóttir for Joker. The Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL) is the primary organization for professional film, television, video game, and musical theater composers and lyricists. With a 76-year history in the art of creating music for visual media, members include the top creative professionals working today. The organization is focused on education and addressing the creative, technological, legal, newsworthy issues affecting the music for visual media community.

For more information go to https://thescl.com/scl-awards

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: Symphonic Suite From John Williams’ Original Motion Picture Score Being Re-Issued In Black Vinyl

Varèse Sarabande Records is re-issuing the long out-of-print LP The Empire Strikes Back – Symphonic Suite from the Original Motion Picture Score by Academy Award-winning composer John Williams. Out of print since 1980, the record is pressed on 180-gram black vinyl and housed in a gatefold jacket featuring the original Star Wars paintings and notes. Available now from VarèseSarabande.com along with two limited exclusive versions: “Imperial Grey Marble” (Newbury Comics), and a Canadian exclusive on “Cloud City Orange” available only at Sunrise retail shops.

Order – https://found.ee/jw-esb-symphonic

Originally released to supplement and not compete with the 2-LP Motion Picture Soundtrack, this 1-LP release skillfully combines a “Symphonic Suite” that John Williams created for concert performance with new arrangements of other cues from the film score. The Empire Strikes Back has become not only one of Williams’ most iconic scores, but one of the most iconic film scores of all time. The LP comes in a gatefold jacket with the original iconic Star Wars paintings by William Stout, images of John Williams, and notes from author Ray Bradbury, composer and critic Christopher Palmer, and from the maestro himself. 

“The Suite, which I had specially written and adapted for concert performance […] had been skillfully augmented with other music from the film to form a unified whole. A great orchestra and Gerhardt’s opulent sound and dramatic phrasing combine to make a fine addition to a rapidly growing list of great recordings of film music.” – John Williams

In a career that spans five decades, John Williams has become one of America’s most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage. Mr. Williams has composed the music and served as music director for more than one hundred films. He has also served as music director and laureate conductor of one of the country’s treasured musical institutions, the Boston Pops Orchestra, and he maintains thriving artistic relationships with many of the world’s great orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mr. Williams has received a variety of prestigious awards, including the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honor, the Olympic Order, and numerous Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards. He remains one of our nation’s most distinguished and contributive musical voices. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A

  1. 20th Century-Fox Fanfare (0:21) 
  2. Main Title/The Imperial Probe (5:25) 
  3. Luke’s First Crash (2:29) 
  4. Han Solo And The Princess (4:26) 
  5. The Asteroid Field (4:12) 
  6. The Training Of A Jedi Knight and “May The Force Be With You” (1:56) 
  7. The Battle In The Snow (3:06) 

Side B

  1. The Imperial March (3:21) 
  2. The Magic Tree (3:38) 
  3. Yoda’s Theme (3:34) 
  4. The Rebels Escape Again (3:01) 
  5. Lando’s Palace, The Duel (Through The Window) (5:01) 
  6. Finale (4:39) 

Listen To First Two Tracks From Hans Zimmer’s DUNE Soundtrack “Paul’s Dream” And “Ripples in the Sand”

WaterTower Music has announced the upcoming release of three separate album releases of music from and in celebration of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ “Dune,” the highly-anticipated adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal bestselling book from Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Blade Runner 2049”). The film is scheduled to open around the world beginning September 15, and in the U.S. on October 22 in theaters and in the U.S. on HBO Max. All three albums feature the music of legendary composer Hans Zimmer.

Fans won’t have to wait for those album releases to hear music though, as Zimmer, a lifelong Dune fan, has authorized today’s release of two tracks:

LISTEN: “Paul’s Dream,” which is included on the album The Dune Sketchbook (Music from the Soundtrack)

LISTEN: “Ripples in the Sand” which is included on the album Dune (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5NPENYJdwcFMwMBlwyfw32?si=MoYV2MWsTBGlYKAN7li1AQ&dl_branch=1&nd=1

The album release schedule is as follows:

September 3rd will see the release of the digital album The Dune Sketchbook (Music from the Soundtrack), which is comprised of extended, immersive musical explorations of the “Dune” film score. Of significant note is that this album will be released in both Standard and Dolby Atmos Music configurations, and marks Zimmer’s first soundtrack released in Dolby Atmos Music – a listening technology he has wholeheartedly embraced for the music of “Dune.”

September 17th brings the digital album release of Dune (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), which will feature the iconic composer’s “Dune” film score. It, too, will be released in both Standard and Dolby Atmos Music configurations.

October 22nd is the digital release date for The Art and Soul of Dune, which is the companion soundtrack to the book of the same title, offering uniquely crafted versions of the film’s main themes curated by Zimmer to accompany the reader on their journey through this visually dazzling book, which was written by the film’s executive producer Tanya Lapointe and offers unparalleled insight and exploration into the film.

Knowing that Herbert’s novel was as much of a passion of Zimmer’s as it was his, “Dune” filmmaker Denis Villeneuve had hoped from the start to reunite with the celebrated composer, who collaborated with him on “Blade Runner 2049,” on this film and the two instantly bonded over it. “We agreed that the music would need to have a spirituality to it… a sanctified quality,” explained Villeneuve. “Something that would elevate the soul and have the effect that only sacred music can. And I believe that is firmly present in Hans’ score.”

Zimmer, who calls Villeneuve “one of the greats,” described their collaboration on the project. “I absolutely love working with Denis. He has an incredible imagination and offers so much heart and soul within the complexity of making a film of this magnitude, and our aesthetic is very comparable. Dune has always been very close to both of our hearts. The task was to figure out how we were going to interpret something we truly loved and admired, and invite the audience to come and have their own personal experience. That was, for us, the reason to make this film.”

“Hans spent months and months creating new instruments, defining, creating, and seeking new sounds, pushing the envelope.” Villeneuve added.

Indeed Zimmer took the approach that, since Dune was a different civilization, he would invent instruments to accompany that concept. One thing the two felt would hold true to any civilization, though, was the power of the human voice. “Denis and I agreed that the female characters in the film drive the story,” explained the composer. “So the score is based on mainly female voices. We developed our own language. The musicianship is extraordinary, and this is not your normal orchestral score.”

“It was absolutely beautiful,” Villeneuve stated, adding that, with respect to the additional two albums, “But then he continued to write music even when the movie was finished! He was still inspired and went on writing.”

On releasing his first Dolby Atmos Music soundtrack, Zimmer elaborated. “I was inspired to look at this music in a different way and to take the audience on of journey beyond the movie. To fully showcase these unique sounds and this soundtrack, I felt it must be available via an immersive technology that utilizes spatial audio. So, it was decided to deliver it in Dolby Atmos.”

Dolby Atmos Music goes beyond the ordinary listening experience and puts you inside the song in a spatial way, via a listener’s enabled headphones, revealing every detail of the music with unparalleled clarity and depth, so sounds seemingly come from all around a listener, similar to the audio experience of a cinema.


A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Oscar® nominee Denis Villeneuve directed Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ Dune. The film stars Oscar® nominee Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Oscar® nominee Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, David Dastmalchian, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, with Oscar® nominee Charlotte Rampling, with Jason Momoa, and Oscar® winner Javier Bardem. Villeneuve directed Dune from a screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Villeneuve and Eric Roth, based on the novel of the same name written by Frank Herbert. The film’s producers were Mary Parent, Villeneuve, Cale Boyter and Joe Caracciolo, Jr. The executive producers were Tanya Lapointe, Joshua Grode, Herbert W. Gains, Jon Spaihts, Thomas Tull, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert, with Kevin J. Anderson as special consultant. Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures Present a Legendary Pictures Production, a Film by Denis Villeneuve, Dune.

The film is slated to be released worldwide this fall, in theaters from 15 September internationally and in the U.S. on October 22 in theaters and in the U.S. on HBO Max; it will be available on HBO Max in the Ad-Free plan for 31 days from theatrical release. The film has been rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some disturbing images and suggestive material.

Interview With Max Aruj – Composer Of ICE ROAD, LANSKY And CRAWL

Composers wear so many hats when composing and depending on what they’re writing for, whether it’s for episodic TV, film, or video games, it can be a juggling act to get the scores and themes just right. These artists painstakingly put care, effort and hours into what music will accompany the visuals on the little or big screen.

Composer Max Aruj is one such musician.  Born and raised in Los Angeles, his previous release is Crawl, produced by Sam Raimi, and directed by Alexandre Aja and the video game Assassin’s Creed – Wrath of the Druids. Aruj recently composed the scores for Eytan Rockaway’s Lansky, in theaters, starring Harvey Keitel, and Jonathan Hensleigh’s The Ice Road, on Netflix, starring Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne, Amber Midthunder, Benjamin Walker, and Marcus Thomas.

Coincidentally both films were released on the same day, Friday June 25th.

I recently spoke with Aruj on what he’s learned from composer Lorne Balfe as well as his own unique sound for the alligators of CRAWL, building the musical foundation from the ground up for LANSKY and the long haul on composing for ICE ROAD.

THE ICE ROAD (L-R): BENJAMIN WALKER SCODELARIO-DAVIS as VARNAY, AMBER THUNDER ROSE MIDTHUNDER as TANTOO, MARCUS THOMAS as GURTY, LIAM NEESON as MIKE. CR: NETFLIX © 2021

WAMG: How does it feel to have these films debuting on the same weekend? And was that the game plan originally?

Max Aruj: First of all it feels great. After a year of far less interaction with everybody, friends and family, for both movies to come out on the same day, it feels like a coming out party to back to the world and enjoying movies. That wasn’t the plan originally as Ice Road was supposed to come out in August and then one day I got an email saying June 25th and I thought what a coincidence.

WAMG: What inspired you to be a musician when you when you were younger, was it marching band, or school orchestra?

Max Aruj: I started out by playing piano, jazz and classical, and then hanging out with my friends where we made a short film in high school about a group of jazz musicians, and I was in it where I was the worst actor ever and I did the music with my friend. I was also playing in rock bands with my buddies and, in my mind, it was the way a kid should get into music and having fun with friends. Sitting at the piano, trying to figure out how, and listening to music the old fashioned way.

The composer and writer-director Eytan Rockaway reunite for Lansky, having previously collaborated on the psychological-thriller The Abandoned.

In LANSKY, David Stone (Sam Worthington), a renowned but down-on-his-luck writer, has the opportunity of a lifetime when he receives a surprise call from Meyer Lansky (Academy Award nominee Harvey Keitel). For decades, authorities have been trying to locate Lansky’s alleged nine-figure fortune and this is their last chance to capture the aging gangster before he dies. With the FBI close behind, the Godfather of organized crime reveals the untold truth about his life as the notorious boss of Murder Inc. and the National Crime Syndicate.

WAMG: The film is in theaters and it has this wonderfully vivid and authentic 1980s look. How did you go about composing for this film as well as collaborating with the director?

MA: From the beginning Eytan wanted to use this palette to set this film apart as far as the score and I think he was absolutely right.   I utilized some 80’s, Vangelis colors as the musical palette, mixed with orchestra. This was a jumping off point as I had to compose themes for the movie, which are classically written, which are tuneful and melodic and we wanted those two worlds to merge. I wanted to create both a sense of darkness and sentimentality to capture both sides of such a complicated figure.  I wanted to make it feel epic like The Godfather.  I also leaned into his Jewish roots by including Jewish colors in the music to reflect Lansky’s identity.

Stream/Purchase: https://smarturl.it/Lansky

WAMG: Before we get to Ice Road, what’s your usual go to instrument when composing? What’s the first thing you hear when seeing the visuals?

MA: By nature I will first sit down at the piano. That’s always been the way to do it and to get ideas down and try things out, that’s my instrument, as I have been learning over the past few years, but when going over themes I have to step away from the piano and I just have to let it sit in my head. I will often go on a walk and whistle it, and then think, that chord change or that one note really bugs me and I know I can make it better and I’ll literally sing to myself to figure it out away from the piano. It’s important because if you’re a proficient enough instrumentalist, you can kind of improvise things sometimes faster than you need to when writing a theme. A theme has to have so much care put into it and given that you are going to repeat it so much you want to make sure that every element is just right.

In ICE ROAD, after a remote diamond mine collapses in northern Canada, a group of miners is trapped with only thirty hours of oxygen. A team of veteran ice road truckers is hastily assembled to come to the rescue. Mike McCann (Liam Neeson), along with his younger brother Gurty (Marcus Thomas), a gifted mechanic coping with aphasia, and Tantoo (Amber Midthunder), a fellow ice road expert whose brother is trapped in the mine, are recruited by Jim Goldenrod (Laurence Fishburne). The crew is tasked with the dangerous mission of driving across an ocean of thin ice in eighteen-wheeler trucks to deliver lifesaving drilling equipment before the oxygen runs out. Unbeknownst to them, there is another threat to their daring plan waiting to emerge from an unexpected place. Forced to conquer a litany of obstacles including stalled engines, cracking ice, and violent pressure waves, Mike and the team race to get to the mine before they end up beneath the ice.

WAMG: Let’s move onto your other film, Ice Road. My mother was a long-haul truck driver…

MA: Really?!

WAMG: …and she was a big fan of the show “Ice Road Truckers” and I know she would have loved Ice Road. Did I notice a music cue where the trucks have their own theme?

MA: Yes there are main themes that are recurring and you can hear throughout. Track 7 has this “hero” theme for Liam Neeson’s “Mike” character and the orchestral music over the truck action sequences and along with the “chugging” motif, yes, the Truck has its own theme.  The movie has a classic structure, so once we had the thematic tapestry nailed down, the rest of the film’s score flowed out. It is a challenge to gracefully shift from action to emotion multiple times over within one scene, but is so rewarding when the picture edit (Douglas Crise) and music go hand in hand. We recorded a live orchestra to get our strings soaring and the brass punchy. It’s a lot of preparation, but so worth it to take the score to the next level.

WAMG: These tracks are thrilling and really elevate the movie. For the songs in ICE ROAD, it’s all Country music. Did you know about these beforehand so that you could compose the score with these songs in mind so they could be woven in?

(All of the tunes in the film feature contemporary country stars interpreting classics of the form including Miranda Lambert’s take on Hank Snow’s “I’m Moving On,” Jason Isbell tackling “All I Do is Drive” by the great Johnny Cash, and Carly Pearce crooning the wistful Kathy Mattea number “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses.” And new classics of the form come from “Rubber Meets the Road,” which finds Brantley Gilbert teaming up with Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line and “We Got Fight,” a new tune written especially for THE ICE ROAD by Gary Le Vox of Rascal Flatts. A standout track on the album was recorded by Nikki Sixx, Rob Zombie and John 5, who joined together under the name L.A. Rats to produce an alternative/country/rock version of Johnny Cash’s iconic “I’ve Been Everywhere.”)

Stream/Purchase: https://smarturl.it/theiceroad

MA: From the beginning I always knew about this and interestingly enough the deal for the songs was done way before I was onboard. I think they thought it was an opportunity to bring some great country songs into the film and there are some huge artists and I’m honored to be alongside of them in the movie. Some of the songs were set while others were changing right up until the end so I had to change and be nimble and be ready to change the score, but that happens frequently. A song will be in there and then it’s not, but you hope to be in an adjacent key even with a last minute switch.

We recorded it at the end of 2020 and the editor, Nick Fitzgerald and I did a distanced listening session in my studio starting at around 3am in the morning and we edited for about the next nine or ten hours. He had just come on board so it was a great opportunity for him to get to know the score and I have worked with him many times.

WAMG: Moving on to another one of your scores, “Quinceañero”, the musical you did with Justin Floyd. Tell me how did you get to work on this project because I love the Latin themes that run through the movie.

The music is composed by Max Aruj and Steffen Thum, with lyrics by Antonio Sol, and songs performed by cast of the film. The album comprised of eight richly melodic Latin songs, including the film’s focus track “Ve El Momento” (“See the Moment”). The film recently premiered at Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF), as part of its Latinx Inclusion Series, in partnership with Netflix.

In the 20-minute whimsical musical, Gabriel is on the verge of his 15th birthday and dreams of having his own quinceañera, a tradition reserved for girls. When his father – steeped in tradition – sets himself against the quinceañero, the timid boy will have to rally his family to make his dream come true. (TRAILER)

MA:  The best thing about doing film scores is that you get to compose for all these different styles.

Having director Justin Floyd entrust us to bring his vision to life in a new style was both exciting and horrifying. But having an amazing team in Steffen and Antonio, made the process a blast. Additionally, writing a song like ‘Ve El Momento’ was a first – I never thought I’d get to do that, but here we are! I was taken aback when Justin called and wanted me on this project.  It was a challenge but I went to the piano and just started working on it and it’s something you do.

WAMG: I love creature features, always have, and one of my favorites is CRAWL. I just watched it the other night and I have to say when I originally read that Paramount was going to do a killer alligator movie, and then it turns out to be a lot of alligators, I was all in. JAWS is my absolute favorite film and you did for CRAWL what John Williams did musically for JAWS…  your great musical “growls” sound like an alligator.

When were brought onto the project by producer Sam Raimi and director Alexandre Aja?

MA:  I had been a musical professional out of college for 9 or 10 years and when a film like that comes along, and it’s just heaven. It was such a wonderful process. I got brought on very late in the game, I got this call and then before I know it we’re meeting with Sam Raimi and Alexandre Aja. It was a little bit scary but once we got going it was fantastic and they knew exactly what they wanted.

“We want a theme for the alligator that feels medieval and rather prehistoric,” they said, so we had to come up with this theme that you hear throughout and sometimes you hear it even before you see the alligator. We learned a lot about these techniques from JAWS and it was such a well-constructed movie. They we already pretty far in the edit and the movie was locked and we were just able to come in and write the music. They gave us very clear, fixed notes and great direction so we were able to have a blast composing for the movie.

WAMG: With both CRAWL and ICE ROAD you have captured musically what a truck sounds like and what an alligator sounds like, with just a couple of piano notes.

MA: Oh thank you, they were both great films to compose for!

WAMG: How do you like composing for video games as opposed to film? You’ve composed for the Assassin’s Creed universe for the recently released Wrath of the Druids. Scores now for video games and their themes aren’t just throw away music, they have a huge fan base and they’re grand scores.

MA: Yes and especially for a franchise and in particular for Assassin’s Creed and in my opinion, as I’ve worked with the team before, maybe the strongest video game music franchise because they put so much work into those scores and it shows. There is an overall feeling to the score for all the games and with each individual game it evolves. It’s the perfect way to approach the franchise and it’s a different process of working, but the goal is still to write an interesting and beautiful piece of music. With this score in particular there needed to be these ancient sounds and it’s hard to write I this style because once you do a harmony that’s too complicated it just doesn’t feel right.  It took me a month or two to get in the zone because at first my pieces just weren’t right, much discussion with the team and it took some time getting there. Through persistence and patience, we made sure it was a slight departure from the main theme with a new personality.

Listen on Spotify HERE.

WAMG: This past year you wrote additional music on HBO’s His Dark Materials. You’ve composed additional music on Mission: Impossible – Fallout for Lorne Balfe, and on The Crown, for Hans Zimmer and Rupert Gregson-Williams. I’ve spoken with Lorne many times, he’s one of many favorites and so funny. He like you also composes for video games.

MA: Yeah he’s great. I’ve worked for him for many years and have had an absolute blast. So much of what I’ve learned and done in just a few years and have accomplished is because of Lorne. I wouldn’t be able to do so many of the things I do in terms of creativity as well as a professional, if it weren’t for him. Being a film composer is so much more than writing one melody and then stepping away when you’re done. With each movie and even with a video game it’s like writing a symphony – it’s not just 12 singles – it’s an hour of music that’s all connected and needs to evolve. To do multiple projects a year takes a lot of work and focus and after working with someone like Lorne, you learn how to actually do that.

WAMG: Tell me about your upcoming project, the documentary DOES MY VOTE COUNT.

MA: It’s all about the 2020 election and my friend, Emily Karlsson, directs. The documentary is made up of interviews with activists, voters, and politicians in different parts of the country, navigating the uncharted territory of an election during a pandemic, all while seeking to find out what it takes to make the American voter count in 2020. The music is comprised of State’s tunes and American hymns and weaving them into the score, so I’m really excited about that one. It should be released in 2022.

WAMG: With all that you have going on, what’s on the horizon for you?

MA:  I have been working on some songs with some friends so exercising some other artistic muscles. It’s very different, you might spend some time on a score but an artist might spend months on a song and it’s a different approach to music making, especially when there are lyrics and singing and I’ve learned that an artist can’t be rushed. It just doesn’t work for them whereas a film composer is conditioned to be rushed and it happens in the business. It’s a different tempo when working with an artist and it’s a good feeling.

WAMG: You’re also a board member for Vox Artivism, a non-profit organization providing music education through project-based learning experiences for kids. I really think this is wonderful. Are you afforded the time to get into the classroom or go to the schools to talk about the importance of music education, because this sounds like a great organization?

MA: Yes it is and it is run by my friend Brianne and I think when things fully open back up I would love to go into the classroom. I have done a couple of things at my former high school in the past and I hope once Fall rolls around I can get into the classroom because kids love music and the surest thing I know how to do to get people fascinated with music is to play them a scene in a film without music, talk about it, and then with the music. It’s the clearest demonstration of movie magic I know.

Listen to Max Aruj‘s scores on Spotify HERE.

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaxAruj and on Instagram HERE.