Atticus Ross – We Are Movie Geeks

SOUL – Review

So on the big day what do you plan on doing after the presents under the tree have been unwrapped (or as with my household, discovered as you enter the living room from your bedroom)? I mean after having breakfast or brunch, what’s next? How about opening a really wonderful gift via modern entertainment tech? In those pre-Pandemic days, Christmas afternoon and evening was one of the busiest times for the ole’ multiplex. Now several areas have shuttered their theatres, while many folks are still skittish about heading to ones still open (at least till those vaccines become more accessible). And so the fine folks at Disney are making the newest release from their subsidiary Pixar available to watch at home through their streaming service. But this is no “cutie-pie” family flick romp. No, this is one of the studio’s most ambitious efforts, pondering mortality, destiny, talent, and all that’s part of everyone’s SOUL.

The soul at the heart of this story belongs to temp inner-city grade school band teacher Joe Gardner (voice of Jamie Foxx), who really longs to be a jazz pianist. After the ear-splitting practice ends, the school’s principal gives him some good news along with his paycheck. He’s now a full-time member of the faculty. Joe half-heartedly thanks her and rushes off to share this with the one person who will be thrilled about this permanent job: his mother Libba (Phylicia Rashad), who runs a neighborhood dress/tailor shop. She’s been telling him to get “steady” employment for years. But just then Joe gets a momentous phone call from a former student, now called Curley (Questlove). He’s the drummer for the highly respected Dorothea Williams jazz quartet, which is now a trio after their pianist dropped out of tonight’s “gig”. Could Joe run down to the club for a brief audition? Of course, Joe is a blur as he dashes away from the shop. He’s a bit intimidated by Ms. Williams (Angela Bassett), but she’s impressed enough. Leaving the club, Joe’s floating on a cloud…until he falls…through an open manhole. When he opens his eyes he’s now a fuzzy blue blob on an inclined moving walkway ending in a bright white light. The other “whatzits” tell him that they’re “old souls” headed for “The Great Beyond”. A now panicked Joe starts hurtling in the opposite direction because he’s got the big jazz “set’ that night. He makes his way to “The Great Before”, the home of “new souls” who can go to Earth and get a body once they’ve found their purpose or “spark”. Through the counselors (all named Jerry) he learns that each new soul is assigned to an old soul as a mentor. Hmm, maybe he could grab a “back to my body” pass that way. Joe grabs the ID badge of a Nordic professor and is given the oldest and most difficult of the new souls, number 22 (Tina Fey). After an encounter with some “mystics without borders” Joe finds a portal back home, but 22 accidentally takes the plunge. This begins a mortal mix-up causing calamity on both the physical and spiritual worlds.

A superb voice cast expertly compliments and even enhances the astounding visuals. Foxx is at his endearing best as Joe, a true everyman hero who often evokes the spirit of classic comedy icons. And he’s one of the few mature human protagonists of Pixar, though more excitable than Carl from UP and Bob Parr from the INCREDIBLES series. We hear the defeated resignation in his voice as he endures the band practice which quickly dissolves as one gifted trombonist momentarily lifts his spirit. Foxx conveys the quick shifts in Joe’s emotions, his nervous ticks, and unbridled joy in expressing his musical gifts. He has a surprisingly effective partner (who’d have thought of this comedic team) in Fey who balances her great “wiseacre” snark with a sour pessimism and a mischievous streak (you can’t turn your back on 22). There are some great supporting turns by two acting icons. Rashad and Bassett are tough taskmasters to Joe with Libba trying to bring him back to reality and Dorothea full of cool detachment as she demands his best. UK “chat show” host Graham Norton is a loony, loopy delight as the head “mystic’ always in the “zone”, Moonwind. Big kudos to the various versions of counselor Jerry (Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Wes Studi, Fortune Feimster, and others) and especially Rachel House as the “soul counter” Terry (“It doesn’t add up!”) who adds an extra layer of suspense and urgency to the frantic finale.

One of the frustrations of the Pandemic (although really minor compared to the loss of life and jobs) is the inability to see the incredible artistry of the various craftspeople projected on a huge screen (oh, for some IMAX please). Yes, it’ll look great in your home, I’m sure, but to be emersed in these created worlds would be pure film lovers’ bliss. Yes, both worlds are spectacular. The many scenes set on the city streets (thinking Brooklyn) capture the hustle and bustle in mind-blowing detail with crowded sidewalks and lurching traffic. But then the “soul scape” is truly out of this world with rolling hills and structures that defy space and gravity. Against these marvelous backgrounds are triumphs of character design. The “souls” (old and new) are part puffy clouds and cotton candy with a hazy “wispy” outline that still seems to have the proper “weight”. And somehow they work with the linear look of Terry and the Jerrys, two-dimensional beings that almost fold in on themselves who invoke the styles of Miro, Calder, and Picasso. But the human designs are just as delightful. Joe’s settling into “pear-shaped” middle age with his “bowling pin” body shape with little break between his head and neck except for this bump of a chin. We do get a funny animal character with the plump “support feline” Mr. Mittens who almost rolls from place to place. One particular standout character is Dez the barber whose head appears to be screwed into his buff T-shaped athletic build. All of these wonders are brought together by Pixar’s powerhouse Pete Doctor (of UP and INSIDE OUT) and co-directed by Kemp Powers, and both also wrote the nuanced script with Mike Jones, which delivers the laughs and “feels” while addressing so many adult (not “R” rated stuff) concerns and themes. Am I my talent? If I can’t get my dream job, then what? With the film’s setting in the world of jazz, the producers wisely got the piano superstar Jonathon Batiste to be Joe’s fingers and to augment the entrancing score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Some of the subject matter dealing with morality may be a bit heavy for the lil’ ones, but they’ll be entranced by the vivid visuals and the sweet playful “new souls”. At a time when lots of empty-headed slapstick promotes itself as family fare, Pixar again proves that true “all ages” entertainment doesn’t have to be “dumbed down” to the lowest denominator. It’s not merely a great animated film, but a great film, period. This is a gift that will propel your heart and SOUL.

4 Out of 4

SOUL streams exclusively on Disney+ beginning Christmas Day

WAMG Talks To LOVE & MERCY Score Composer Atticus Ross

Paul McCartney has called “God Only Knows” his favorite song of all time. In an interview with David Leaf in 1990 he stated,

“It’s a really, really great song — it’s a big favorite of mine. I was asked recently to give my top 10 favorite songs for a Japanese radio station … I didn’t think long and hard on it but I popped that (God Only Knows) on the top of my list. It’s very deep. Very emotional, always a bit of a choker for me, that one. There are certain songs that just hit home with me, and they’re the strangest collection of songs … but that is high on the list, I must say … God Only Knows’ ‘ lyrics are great. Those do it to me every time.”

Opening this weekend is the film, LOVE & MERCY. It presents an unconventional portrait of Brian Wilson, the mercurial singer, songwriter and leader of The Beach Boys. Set against the era defining catalog of Wilson’s music, the film intimately examines the personal voyage and ultimate salvation of the icon whose success came at extraordinary personal cost.

To create an original score that incorporated Wilson’s work but stood on its own, the
filmmakers brought in composer Atticus Ross, who won an Academy Award (along with Trent Reznor) for THE SOCIAL NETWORK. “Working with Atticus was exciting,” says director Bill Pohlad. “We envisioned the music that goes on in Brian’s head as a big part of the movie. Choosing the right person to create a score that delivered on that idea was an important decision.”

Made with the full cooperation of the musician and his wife, LOVE & MERCY offers a neverbefore- seen glimpse of Wilson, the boy genius who co-wrote such ebullient pop hits as “Surfer Girl” and “Fun, Fun, Fun” and the game-changing masterpieces “Good Vibrations” and “God Only Knows” before disappearing from the public eye for years.

Actors Paul Dano and John Cusack share the role of the troubled musical virtuoso who defined the “California sound” with sumptuous harmonies and visions of endless summers of surf and sand.

Spanning more than three decades of Wilson’s life, the film reveals the darker and more complex story that lies beneath the music’s sun-kissed surface and his redemptive relationship with Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks), all in the context of his unparalleled musicianship.

I recently discussed with Ross the importance of his score for this very intimate story of Brian Wilson as well as the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” and what melodies did, and didn’t, make into the much loved song.

WAMG: The film is so well done and while both John Cusack and Paul Dano don’t resemble Brian Wilson, they both captured the essence of the musician. I really loved it.

Atticus Ross: I did too! I’m very proud to be involved with it. I really enjoyed working with Bill (Pohlad) and we’ve become good friends through the process. I’ve had enough experience to know when you’re dealing with someone who has a real vision and Bill had a clear vision right from the start. It was such a pleasure to work with him.

WAMG: When were you brought onto the film?

AR: I met with Bill way before they started shooting. I was sent the script by my agent, Brian Loucks. He’s a real man of taste and he kept telling me it was such a good script and that I should read it. I felt like maybe it was out of my wheelhouse. But I did read it and agreed with him. Then I had an idea that there’s this mythology because you know Beach Boys music – it’s hard not to be a fan of “Pet Sound” music.

There almost a cliché aspect to “Pet Sounds” and it’s hard not to be a fan when you’re a musician. I had heard rumors over the years that there was this material that had been recorded but never released. When I went to see Bill, I said what I think would be interesting is if Brian Wilson gave me all his material, I could sample it and make the score that supports the story. There isn’t any point in the story that Brian isn’t present in one form or another. His voice is always there in the songs, even if it’s buried somewhere.

The original idea for the score was a bit more radical in what I had imagined – more like “The Grey Album” where you can’t recognize a source at all. I started off what that but it didn’t resonate with everybody, until I made it clearer and weaved Brian’s voice into it. It was a really interesting process and I probably wouldn’t do it again. It was such a lot of work.

Director Bill Pohlad

WAMG: How did you conceive the LOVE & MERCY score to make it the Brian Wilson movie without it becoming the Beach Boys movie – there’s such a harmonic balance between the two?

AR: There were two things. One is my brother was heavily involved and I couldn’t have done it without him, just purely in the hours that it took. There are scenes that just fly by that are maybe two minutes, like when Brian (Paul Dano) is lying on the hood of the car, and he’s working on “Good Vibrations” – we wanted it to feel like the music was coming into his head. Doing that piece took like ten days of solid work to get it perfect.

We also found going through the tapes there was a lot of cuts with only four tracks because that was all that was available, so everything needed to be timed – but it all clicked.

What was interesting on the “God Only Knows” tapes was there were some melodies that are beautiful that aren’t in the final version of it. When he’s lying on that car, we actually included them in there. It became this collage, but it was a long process. It’s hard when you’re trying to do storytelling to work someone else’s music into it and to keep it true.

To me, on one level, people seem to think of the Beach Boys as this very happy bunch when in fact it’s a very dark, real film. There’s great joy and triumph in the story that you come to love the film and that’s Bill’s triumph.

WAMG: Tell me about the dining room dinner scene after they’ve toasted Brian for his success with “Good Vibrations”? The clattering percussive noises with the silverware and glasses convey he’s in a bad state of mind.

AR: That was another thing that took ages to get right. It was a mixture of his original music and sound design with knives and forks and we built this cacophony of sound. We used this at the beginning of the film as well. It divided itself into original composition, sound design and reinterpreted Beach Boys songs. There are some intense scenes that give way to the emotional context of the film – regardless if you’re a music fan or not. I didn’t know how deep Brian’s story ran.

WAMG: The film reveals the darker and more complex story that includes Wilson’s battle with mental illness and drug abuse, as well as his years under the influence of his therapist. (Eugene Landy – Paul Giamatti).

AR: Before I started I interviewed some people who were around at the time – some of the engineers. They said everything was literally monitored. If you made a phone call, it was monitored. If you said something to Brian, Landy would ask what you said to him. It was extreme. The film isn’t taking license.

According to people I spoke with, it’s not even close to being as extreme as it was. There were bodyguards around all the time – it was bizarre. And to have Melinda come in to do what she did. It’s an incredible story about one of the greatest musical minds. He’s brilliant.

WAMG: Did you want to meet Brian Wilson?

AR: I didn’t want to hang out with him, but I have met him in passing. I was very concerned that everything we did had a purpose – that it never ventured into something he would find distasteful. At the same time, in the same way the film doesn’t pull any punches, I wanted to make sure that it was an honest score. From a musical standpoint, he’s a genius.

In addition to Ross’ score, Brian Wilson contributed an original song to the film, appropriately titled “One Kind of Love.” Featuring Wilson’s trademark soulful harmonies, the song is an ode to the woman who changed his life.

“It’s about Melinda and me,” he says. “She is my one love and the song is about the way we fell in love and the way we are in love. Love is timeless in the same way great music is timeless and this is an expression of that.”

LOVE & MERCY opens Friday, June 5

loveandmercyfilm.com

Top 15 Scores/Soundtracks of 2014

Jerry Goldsmith, PLANET OF THE APES (1968) Nominee for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture

By Michelle McCue and Melissa Thompson

As 2014 comes to a close, we take a look back at some of the best movie music from this past year. The backbone of any movie, audiences heard rocket engines roar, traveled through LEGO worlds and made spiritual connections all thanks to the musical vision of the composer.

In a mix that was soulful, haunting and fun, this year’s soundtracks covered a range of emotions, from light to dark, to atmospheric and assaultive.

Our Top 15 scores wouldn’t be complete without an honorable mention…

Michael Giacchino – DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

The story about the birth of a civilization and “restart” for the planet Earth was no more prevalent than with the emotional reality of composer Michael Giacchino’s score. Director Matt Reeves’ sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes found its musical language through the empathetic sounds of the apes in the environment Caesar has created for them.

1. Hans Zimmer – INTERSTELLAR

Making his fifth collaboration with filmmaker Christopher Nolan, composer Hans Zimmer steered clear of any musical expressions he’d explored in the past with the director, and invented a whole new palette for the film with the earthy yet elevating notes of an organ.

We went for a spectacular adventure on a journey into the universe and Zimmer’s score gave humanity’s mission to the stars a very primeval quality.

2. Alexandre Desplat – THE IMITATION GAME, GODZILLA and THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

Three of the best scores this year, six-time Academy Award Nominee Alexandre Desplat’s music was heard by audiences throughout 2014.

Desplat developed one of his most unusual scores for THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL – one played entirely without traditional orchestral instruments. Instead, he brought in a host of Central European instruments, including balalaikas and the cimbalom, a type of hammered dulcimer common to Eastern European gypsy music.

With THE IMITATION GAME, the composer took us to the Bletchley Park codebreaking centre and inside the Enigma machine. Desplat may see his first Oscar win with his beautiful score to the Alan Turing biopic.

Listen on SoundCloud HERE.

Lastly with the great force of GODZILLA propelling the action and keeping the tension high, Desplat made a big sonic impact with the music. “I’ve never done a monster movie before, so coming to this with more than a hundred musicians—double brass, double horns—allowed me to open the frame of my imagination to another territory, and that’s very exciting.”

3. Jóhann Jóhannsson – THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

Filled with a charming score, composer Jóhann Jóhannsson’s music for director James Marsh’s THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING was a mix of orchestral instruments and synthesized sounds giving the story of astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde an ethereal, lovely sound.

Read our interview with Jóhannsson HERE.

4. Atticus Ross & Trent Reznor – GONE GIRL

David Fincher returned again to work with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (THE SOCIAL NETWORK, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO) for the surging undertow to GONE GIRL.

Trent Reznor said, “In terms of the palette of sounds what’s unique on this one is that we used a more organic, less synthetic soundscape. We didn’t want it to feel too slick so we used a lot of interesting homemade equipment. There are moments where the rhythm is just me tapping on a wooden box so it feels repetitive but drifts around a bit like a human heartbeat.”

5. Antonio Sánchez – BIRDMAN or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

Drums, cymbals, sticks, mallets and rods were used for the percussion heavy score in director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s BIRDMAN or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance. Four-time Grammy Award winner and composer Antonio Sanchez effectively sets the pace and rhythm to convey Riggan Thomson’s (Michael Keaton) tonal tightrope between comedy and pathos, illusion and reality.

Read our interview with Sánchez HERE.

6. John Powell – HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2

Composer John Powell’s fantastic soundtrack on HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 was filled with emotional triumphant orchestral pieces and a resounding chorus making it one of our favorites scores of the year.

Read our interview with Powell HERE.

Listen on SoundCloud HERE.

7. Henry Jackman – BIG HERO 6, THE INTERVIEW and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

Jackman had three big scores in 2014.

He composed a grandiose action score for North Korea’s favorite film – THE INTERVIEW. While building on his previous collaboration with Evan Golderberg and Seth Rogen on THIS IS THE END, Jackman scored the film as if it were a classic action-blockbuster to ground the film’s comedic moments. Jackman also created a score that celebrated the comic-book style action of BIG HERO 6, while weaving in the original music from American rock band Fall Out Boy.

But none was more epic than Jackman’s contemporary take on his superhero score for CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER. Up next for Jackman is Kingsman: Secret Service and Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War.

Read our interview with Jackman HERE.

8. Steven Price – FURY

Just as Price did on his Oscar-winning score for GRAVITY, where the sounds of radio waves were incorporated into the score, the British composer was able to find a distinctive voice for the music of FURY by using unusual and unconventional instruments in a fusion with the orchestral, choral and solo writing featured throughout. The daunting sounds put the audience inside the WWII tanks alongside Brad Pitt and his crew.

Read our interview with Price HERE.

9. Marco Beltrami – THE HOMESMAN

Marco Beltrami’ s created a rustic sounding landscape in director Tommy Lee Jones’ THE HOMESMAN. Alongside his work on SNOWPIERCER, THE GIVER and THE NOVEMBER MAN in 2014, the Oscar-nominated composer’s score for THE HOMESMAN evoked the desolation of the homesteaders by drawing out the essence of the wind with an innovative wind piano that contained 175 feet long wires.

Read our interview with Beltrami HERE.

10. James Newton Howard – MALEFICENT and THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1

The sweeping emotions and volatile moods of THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 and MALEFICENT are evoked not only in the performances and visual designs but in the music, which once again is driven by an original orchestral score from eight time Oscar nominee James Newton Howard. The music for both films cover the whole breadth of experience from scenes of epic action to moments of epic heartache and intimate poignancy.

Howard also composed the score for Dan Gilroy’s NIGHTCRAWLER and Edward Zwick’s PAWN SACRIFICE.

11. Hanan Townshend – THE BETTER ANGELS

Directed by A.J. Edwards, executive produced by Terrence Malick with a beautiful score by Hanan Townshend (TO THE WONDER), THE BETTER ANGELS music took a poetic approach to Abraham Lincoln’s childhood in the harsh wilderness of Indiana.

12. EDGE OF TOMORROW – Christophe Beck

The composer created a score that captured the suspense, the action and the fun of Cage (Tom Cruise) and Rita’s (Emily Blunt) extraordinary journey in director Doug Liman’s awesome EDGE OF TOMORROW.

Read our interview with Beck HERE.

13. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY – Tyler Bates

Combining a rich orchestral score with familiar rock tunes, composer Tyler Bates’ score for director James Gunn’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY was one of the most popular of the year.

The soundtrack featured classic 1970s songs like Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling,” “I’m Not in Love” by 10cc, Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love,” and The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb.”

Bates also composed the score for the heart-pounding revenge thriller JOHN WICK starring Keanu Reeves.

Read our interview with Bates HERE.

14. A MOST VIOLENT YEAR – Alex Ebert

Another beautiful score from composer Alex Ebert (ALL IS LOST), the haunting music for director J.C. Chandor’s A MOST VIOLENT YEAR transported audiences into the treacherous yet stunning landscape of NYC, 1981. Ebert’s score uses piano, synth, and percussion to capture the tension and emotional pressure faced by Oscar Isaac’s Abel Morales, as he fights to protect his business and family.

Displaying his versatility, Ebert also recently composed the score for Disney’s animated short FEAST, which is currently being shown in theaters prior to BIG HERO 6.

A Most Violent Year (Original Music From and Inspired By) by Alex Ebert by Nyc1981 on Mixcloud

15. THE LEGO MOVIE – Mark Mothersbaugh

Brick by Brick, composer Mark Mothersbaugh’s fun score for THE LEGO MOVIE

Filmgoers went along for the hilarious ride with Emmet, Wyldstyle, Vitruvius, Lord Business, Unikitty, Batman, Benny the Spaceman and Bad Cop/Good Cop and it truly was the most AWESOME time at a movie theater this year!

Read our interview with Mothersbaugh HERE.

Listen as The Hollywood Reporter discusses with Marco Beltrami (The Homesman), Danny Elfman (Big Eyes), John Powell (How To Train Your Dragon 2), Trent Reznor (Gone Girl) and Hans Zimmer (Interstellar) the process behind scoring the top films of the year.

Audio/Visual: THE BOOK OF ELI

I’ve been hearing a lot about this soundtrack. The film itself I’m not exactly excited about. I’ve never been a Denzel Washington fan and while I like Gary Oldman, I get the feeling this is going to be another of his indistinct antagonists that, while better performed than most, feels like a rehash of every villain he’s played before. I do enjoy post-apocalyptic film but there doesn’t seem, judging by the media released, to be anything new or exciting about this flick. The main draw seemed, before I’d heard about the score, to be finding out what the deal was with the titular Book.

But, as one of my fellow Movie Geeks was twittering about how good the score was, my curiosity was piqued. When I discovered it was composed and produced by none other than Atticus Ross, I became officially excited.

I am listening to it right now and am not the least bit disappointed.

Atticus Ross, a name few of you are familiar with (I imagine), has a history with the Hughes, having scored several episodes of the TOUCHING EVIL TV series and making the music for their segment of NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU. If you know Ross from anything, it’s probably his longtime collaboration with Trent Reznor. Ross is credited on just about every Nine Inch Nails album made, so it can be said that he is as much a part of the industrial music icon as Reznor is. Given this, and the fact that he has worked with just about everybody, from Pink to Korn, it’s exciting to hear that he crafted a soundtrack to something as dark and epic as BOOK OF ELI.

And what a piece of work. What’s most surprising about this music is how very bleeding edge it is. Ross makes no apologies for his fixation on electronics; every song is at least graced by whirring, creeping noises that summon to mind the very images I imagine the film would present visually. It’s not lacking in grace; many of the songs are sweeping, powerful, and moving, but what’s truly impressive is how very deep the compositions are. Layers upon layers of varying samples and instruments all weaved together seamlessly. There’s much to be said for simplicity, but Ross is nothing if not a deft conjurer of appealing and appalling sound so here he brings that to the table in spades.

Listening closer, it is very difficult to grasp just how detailed and unnerving the work here is. Ross is extremely brave, utilizing electronic noise and booming symphonic awe in equal doses. Jonny Greenwood did something close to this in THERE WILL BE BLOOD, but he was constrained by a period setting. In the apocalyptic scenario of BOOK OF ELI, this eerie and haunting soundscape is perfect.

And I get the feeling this is going to end up being a heavily repeated score, because its bravado and intensity really makes it a joy to listen to. It grabs your attention and, unlike what I expected, stands out in a way that I seek in the best film scores. I cannot recommend this score enough. Thanks to Jeremy for bringing it to my attention.

Share this:

LOVE & MERCY opens Friday, June 5

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: