DreamWorks Pictures’/Fox 2000 Pictures’ upcoming dramatic thriller directed by three-time Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg (“Saving Private Ryan,” “Schindler’s List”) and starring two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks (“Forrest Gump,” “Philadelphia”), has been titled BRIDGE OF SPIES.
In addition, 12-time Oscar nominee Thomas Newman (“The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Saving Mr. Banks”) has been signed to score the film, as John Williams’ schedule was interrupted and he was unavailable to score the film due to a minor health issue, now corrected.
John Williams. 86th Academy Awards, The Oscar Concert
A dramatic thriller set against the backdrop of a series of historic events, BRIDGE OF SPIES tells the story of James Donovan (Hanks), a Brooklyn lawyer who finds himself thrust into the center of the Cold War when the CIA sends him on the near-impossible task to negotiate the release of a captured American U-2 pilot.
Screenwriters Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen have woven this remarkable experience in Donovan’s life into a story inspired by true events that captures the essence of a man who risked everything and vividly brings his personal journey to life.
The film will be released in theaters nationwide on October 16, 2015.
Williams, whose credits include “Stars Wars: The Force Awakens” and the “Harry Potter” films, will join Spielberg on his next film, “The BFG,” beginning later this year, continuing their unprecedented collaboration which they have enjoyed for over 40 years.
Newman has scored many films for DreamWorks, including “The Help,” “Road to Perdition” and “American Beauty,” the latter two for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score.
Thomas Newman. 86th Academy Awards, The Oscar Concert
BRIDGE OF SPIES also stars three-time Tony Award winner Mark Rylance (“Twelfth Night,” “Jerusalem,” “Boeing Boeing”) as Rudolf Abel, a KGB agent defended by Donovan; Scott Shepherd (“Side Effects”) as CIA operative Hoffman; Academy Award nominee Amy Ryan (“Birdman,” “Gone Baby Gone”) as James’ wife, Mary; Sebastian Koch (“A Good Day to Die Hard”) as East German lawyer Vogel; and Academy Award nominee Alan Alda (“M*A*S*H,” “The Aviator”) as Thomas Watters, a partner at Donovan’s law firm.
Fox 2000 Pictures co-financed BRIDGE OF SPIES with DreamWorks in association with Participant Media, and will distribute internationally. Disney will handle domestic distribution. In addition to directing, Spielberg will produce the film with Marc Platt (“Into the Woods,” “Drive”) and Kristie Macosko Krieger (“Lincoln”), with Adam Somner (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), Daniel Lupi (“Her”), Jeff Skoll (“The Hundred-Foot Journey”) and Jonathan King (“Cesar Chavez”) serving as executive producers.
The screenplay is by Matt Charman (“Suite Francaise”) and three-time Academy Award winners Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (“No Country for Old Men,” “Fargo”).
THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL is the second installment of the star-studded British comedy that follows a group of British retirees who decide to spice up their lives in magical India.
In theaters on March 6, 2015, the sequel was once again directed by John Madden, best known for his acclaimed movies Shakespeare In Love (Academy Award winner for Best Picture, 1998), Proof (based on the eponymous Pulitzer Prize winning play, 2005) and The Debt.
The beloved first film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movie proved to be an international success, grossing over $136 million worldwide.
The renowned cast has reunited for the film including stars Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup, Tina Desai, Diana Hardcastle and Lillete Dubey. Additional cast making their debut include Tamsin Greig, with David Strathairn and Richard Gere.
The soundtrack for The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is available on February 24, 2015 via Sony Classical.
Thomas Newman, one of the most respected composers in the movie industry, once again composed the original score. With an illustrious career of over 30 years, Newman has scored more than 70 feature films. Coming from a prominent musical dynasty – his father was the renowned composer Alfred Newman, and singer/songwriter/composer Randy Newman is his cousin – Thomas Newman has thus far been nominated for 12 Academy Awards and has won an Emmy Award, 2 BAFTA Awards and 6 Grammy Awards.
Newman has composed the scores for many other notable films, including American Beauty, Skyfall, Erin Brockovich,The Good German, Finding Nemo and Wall-E for Pixar as well as The Horse Whisperer, The Help and The Iron Lady.
Newman’s vibrant and inspirational score for THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, masterfully evokes the Indian musical textures and ensures an elegant and delightful musical journey.
“Tom’s ability to penetrate the soul of a film is unmatched; In the two Marigold films, Tom’s group of collaborators expanded to include some extraordinary Indian players and vocal soloists, creating a musical and cultural synthesis that has produced two ravishing and interlocking scores: atmospheric, surprising, thrilling, funny, haunting and entirely sui generis”, says director John Madden.
Now that The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is full up with its long-term residents, co-managers Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) and Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) have a dream of expansion, and they’ve found just the place: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. With plans underway, Evelyn and Douglas (Judi Dench and Bill Nighy) venture into the Jaipur workforce, wondering where their regular breakfast dates will lead. Meanwhile, Norman and Carol (Ronald Pickup and Diana Hardcastle) navigate the swirling waters of an exclusive relationship, as Madge (Celia Imrie) juggles two veryeligible suitors, and recent arrival Guy Chambers (Richard Gere) finds a muse in Sonny’s mother, Mrs Kapoor (Lillete Dubey) for his next novel. As his marriage to Sunaina (Tina Desai), the love of his life, quickly approaches, Sonny finds his plans for the new hotel making more claims on his time than he has available. Perhaps the only one who may know the answers is Muriel, the keeper of everyone’s secrets. As the big day nears, family and guests alike find themselves swept up in the irresistible intoxication of an Indian wedding.
Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, OKeh, Portrait, Masterworks Broadway and Flying Buddha imprints. For email updates and information visit www.SonyMasterworks.com.
Track list
1. Discretion
2. Second Best Exotic
3. Knees Then Names
4. Chai
5. Catnip
6. Ye Ishq Hai – performed by Shreya Ghoshal
7. Busy Pensioner Bee
8. Nimish & Abhilash
9. Roll Call
10. Already Gone
11. Soft Hiss of Treachery
12. Completely Lethal
13. Balma – performed by Shreya Ghoshal & Shriram
14. The Fun Never Starts
15. Sagai
16. Mumbai
17. Unreasonable Behavior
18. The Brilliant Bits
19. Aaina
20. Bringer of New Things
21. Aila Re Aila – performed by Daler Mehandi & Kalpna Patowar
22. Scorpions
23. Shaadi
24. Reservoirs of Affection
25. Wedding
26. Jhoom Barabar Jhoom – performed by KK, Sukhvinder Singh, Mahalaxmi Iyer & Shankar Mahadevan
After the success of THE BEST EXOTIC MARIOLD HOTEL, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup, Diana Hardcastle, Tamsin Greig, Tina Desai and Lillete Dubey are back for the sequel.
Listen to a preview of Thomas Newman’s score here:
Opening nationwide on March 6, check out this new featurette “The Story,” from Fox Searchlight Pictures’ THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL.
Now that The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is full up with its long-term residents, co-managers Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) and Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) have a dream of expansion, and they’ve found just the place: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. With plans underway, Evelyn and Douglas (Judi Dench and Bill Nighy) venture into the Jaipur workforce, wondering where their regular breakfast dates will lead.
Meanwhile, Norman and Carol (Ronald Pickup and Diana Hardcastle) navigate the swirling waters of an exclusive relationship, as Madge (Celia Imrie) juggles two very eligible suitors, and recent arrival Guy Chambers (Richard Gere) finds a muse in Sonny’s mother, Mrs. Kapoor (Lillete Dubey) for his next novel.
As his marriage to Sunaina (Tina Desai), the love of his life, quickly approaches, Sonny finds his plans for the new hotel making more claims on his time than he has available. Perhaps the only one who may know the answers is Muriel, the keeper of everyone’s secrets. As the big day nears, family and guests alike find themselves swept up in the irresistible intoxication of an Indian wedding.
Directed by John Madden with a screenplay by Ol Parker, love blooms again when THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL opens in theaters on March 6, 2015.
THE JUDGE brings two-time Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr. (CHAPLIN, TROPIC THUNDER) and Oscar winner Robert Duvall (CRAZY HEART) together for the first time on the big screen.
In THE JUDGE, Downey stars as big city lawyer Hank Palmer, who returns to his childhood home where his estranged father, the town’s judge (Duvall), is suspected of murder. He sets out to discover the truth and along the way reconnects with the family he walked away from years before.
Catch the first trailer below for the film that bows during the upcoming awards season.
The film also stars Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga (THE CONJURING) and Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton (SLING BLADE), and is directed by David Dobkin (WEDDING CRASHERS).
The film also features Vincent D’Onofrio, Jeremy Strong, Dax Shepard, Oscar winner Melissa Leo, Leighton Meester, Ken Howard, Emma Tremblay, Balthazar Getty, David Krumholtz, Sarah Lancaster, Grace Zabriskie and Denis O’Hare.
RDJ’s wife, Susan Downey (the SHERLOCK HOLMES films) serves as a producer on the film.
Dobkin’s behind the scenes creative team includes Oscar-winning director of photography Janusz Kaminski (LINCOLN), production designer Mark Ricker (THE HELP), editor Mark Livolsi (THE BLIND SIDE) and costume designer Marlene Stewart (TROPIC THUNDER). The music is by 12-time Oscar nominee Thomas Newman (SAVING MR. BANKS).
From Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures,THE JUDGE is scheduled for release on October 10, 2014.
For the first time as part of its annual Oscar Week events, the Academy will present a live “Oscar Concert”celebrating this year’s nominated scores and songs on Thursday, February 27, at 8 p.m. at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
The program features an 80-piece orchestra performing suites from each of the nominated original scores, conducted by their composers.
They include:
William Butler and Owen Pallett, “Her”
Alexandre Desplat, “Philomena”
Thomas Newman, “Saving Mr. Banks”
Steven Price, “Gravity”
John Williams, “The Book Thief”
Prior to each piece, the respective composers will participate in a brief onstage conversation with film critic and radio host Elvis Mitchell about creating their scores.
The concert also will feature this year’s nominated original songs, including “Let It Go” from “Frozen,” performed by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and “Happy” from “Despicable Me 2,” performed by Jill Scott. Other special performers and guests will be announced on www.oscars.org.
Contributed by Melissa Thompson and Michelle McCue
The sets. The hair and makeup. The cinematography. The story. The sound. All of the work of talented crafts people are pulled together under the very heart of any good movie – the score.
With the Academy Award nominations on Thursday, January 16, looming like the drumline at the head of a marching band, we thought we’d have a look back at some of the finer scores of 2013.
Listen and watch a handful of Hollywood’s leading composers discuss the art of scoring a film in The Hollywood Reporter’s round table discussion. With one hundred fourteen scores from 2013 vying for nominations in the Original Score category for the 86th Oscars, we suspect some of these names will be announced .
Honorable Mention: INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS from T Bone Burnett.
The soundtrack for INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS transported us to another time and place. The documentary feeling of the film stems from the Coens Brothers decision to shoot and record the music live with no playback and we joined right in the folk-song revival.
For more on the music, read a Q&A with T Bone Burnett HERE.
1. GRAVITY – Steven Price
For Alfonso Cuarón’s thriller, Price created a groundbreaking score, blurring the lines between electronic and organic sounds, incorporating a wide range of elements, from glass harmonicas to string and brass sections. The score captures the on-screen emotion and vacuum of space as another character in the film and left our hearts pounding.
American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mike Patton, best known as the lead singer of the alternative metal/experimental rock bands Mr. Bungle and Faith No More, has composed a brooding and emotionally charged original score. Patton’s music guides the viewer through this multi-generational drama, linking characters, time periods, and locations with a harmonic convergence of jazz, folk, rock, blues and classical.
Patton’s score features an eclectic selection of music including selections by Arvo Part and Ennio Morricone.
3. ALL IS LOST – Alex Ebert
In a film so devoid of dialogue, this great musical score assumed special importance. Director J.C. Chandor turned to acclaimed singer-songwriter Alex Ebert, leader of the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, to compose the film’s score—his first such project.
“It was sort of a shocker in some ways,” says Ebert. “It’s amazing that J.C. would have that kind of faith in someone who hadn’t scored a film.”
Ebert says Chandor initially asked him to deliver very subdued materials, drones and low notes that sustained over scenes. He also specifically requested that the instrumentation avoid piano. That was challenging for the composer, who had already written some pieces on piano, but he understood Chandor’s reasoning.
“The piano has this inherent emotion to it,” he says. “We didn’t want anything that was ’emotion in a can’ or ‘tension in a can.’ But eventually I started taking more chances, and after some back and forth with J.C., we landed in this middle spot that I think was perfect.”
“It’s about beauty,” he says. “It’s emotional and everything that comes along with life and death, and nothing less. I think that’s the primary subject of humanity—and it’s something that you might want to stay away from because it would be overdramatic. But this dude’s in the middle of the ocean on a raft. Let the music be emotional because it is emotional. We followed the movie’s lead.”
The very emotional score from Alexandre Desplat’s PHILOMENA broke our hearts. We laughed and cried from beginning to end with Philomena Lee’s heart-wrenching story.
5. OBLIVION – Anthony Gonzalez, M83, Joseph Trapanese
The score was one of the best of 2013 and an intregral part of OBLIVION’s sci-fi landscape.
Jackman displays versatility in capturing both the intense, desperation and terror in the story of Captain Richard Phillips’ hostage situation with Somali pirates as well as the humanity of the circumstances. Hitting the right musical balance of drama and intensity was a challenge in minimalism for Jackman, so as not to manipulate the audience.
7. NEBRASKA – Mark Orton
A member of the bluegrass folk collective Tin Hat, Orton’s vibe for Americana music was sought out by director Alexander Payne. Horns, acoustic strings and organ are some of the primary elemental instruments fueling the musical emotion to this story, capturing both the vast landscape and people of the flyover states. Orton, a graduate of the Sundance Filmmaker Institute, also scored the music to the 2014 Sundance premiere Drunktown’s Finest.
A celebrated musician and former member of the platinum-selling group Simply Red, Pereira sings to the hearts of children through his scores for Despicable Me 2. The sequel, which follows the further adventures of the notorious spy Gru, Pereira created specific themes for the new characters, specifically 1960s romantic comedy tones for his love interest Lucy and Latin-mariachi rhythms for the evil El Macho.
9. SAVING MR. BANKS – Thomas Newman
Newman has composed music for nearly 100 motion pictures and television series and has earned 11 Academy Award® nominations and six Grammy® Awards. His score goes hand-in-hand with the back story of Walt Disney and PJ Travers making of MARY POPPINS and left us looking for tissues by the film’s end.
10. FROZEN – Christophe Beck
The second of Disney’s movies that showed young girls it was okay to be their very own heroes!
11. RUSH – Hans Zimmer
With their collaborations on blockbusters from The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons to more intimate projects such as Frost/Nixon, director Ron Howard and Hans Zimmer, a Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy Award® winner, once again joined forces for the sounds of RUSH.
Balancing the racers’ simple desires with their frenetic-yet-controlled behavior on the track was a challenge for Howard and Zimmer as they created the soundtrack to the film. The composer captured the spirit of the Formula 1 world.
12. EPIC – Danny Elfman
The rousing score for The Leaf-Men. Enough said.
13. PACIFIC RIM – Ramin Djawadi
Okay, so maybe it didn’t live up to everyone’s expectations, but hot damn if the score to PACIFIC RIM wasn’t one of the coolest of 2013. Made us want to suit up as Jaeger pilots and make a last stand in our ‘Gipsy Danger’.
14. WORLD WAR Z – Marco Beltrami
Animal skulls and teeth combined with percussion add to the tension of utter panic and anxiety in a world being overrun by a Zombie pandemic.
Giving you the sense of dread and desperation, Jóhann Jóhannsson’s score for PRISONERS left us with aches and chills over a parent’s worst nightmare.
We couldn’t end our list without a quick mention for composer Alan Silvestri’s music for THE CROODS. While the film score conveyed beautiful themes and resonated on a deeper level than words could ever say, we were fans of how Silvestri combined the Abbey Road Orchestra and the USC Trojan Marching Band… especially the percussion section!
The concept of fate in cinema is one that’s been around for ages, even longer if you consider it’s prevalence in literature and longer yet when you consider that storytelling itself is nearly as old as the conscious man himself. So, this raises the question of how one makes a film about fate that’s not been done before, or more precisely… how to do it well?
Writer and first-time director George Nolfi had his head in the right place with THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, given that it all began with Philip K. Dick. The film is adapted from Dick’s short story called “Adjustment Team” and carries the trademark science-fiction fingerprint of the late, beloved genre author. The film toys playfully with the idea of there being a creator, or more accurately a controller in this case, and a special breed of beings tasked with enforcing that creator’s plans.
Matt Damon (HEREAFTER, INVICTUS) stars as David Norris, a young up-and-coming politician with a penchant for being a loose cannon, but powers beyond his perception have special plans for him. The Adjustment Bureau is determined to see these plans come to fruition. Enter the girl… Elise Sellas — played by Emily Blunt (THE WOLFMAN, SUNSHINE CLEANING) — is a talented ballerina with a predetermined future of her own, but what neither of them know upon meeting and falling in love, is that fate will work to keep them apart at any cost.
Nolfi had previously written screenplays for TIMELINE, OCEAN’S TWELVE and THE SENTINEL, but his best-known work is likely THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM. Intentionally or not, BOURNE has it’s influences seeping through into THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, and I don’t just mean with it’s shared star. The SteadiCam action and feel of controlled chaos in the film make it impossible not to recall Damon’s super-soldier-on-the-run trilogy, but this also isn’t detrimental to the story. This essence of following Norris in real-time in his mad dash to prove he is in control of his own life, collides successfully with the breaks in reality as The Adjustment Bureau defies the laws of physics as we know them, giving the sense of something surreal in the real world.
While the premise may sound cheesy or sappy on it’s surface, Nolfi managed to do a great job keeping the pretentious nature of such a story at a minimum, never taking itself too seriously, but also staying firmly rooted in reality. Special effects are used sparingly, only as absolutely necessary. To make up for the lack of high-dollar visual extravagance, the film employs some subtle visual queues and a well-planned color palette to help lead the audience through the shifting emotions and conscious progression of David Norris. Likewise, the original music from Thomas Newman plays a significant role in carrying the proper tone thought out the film; high-tempo pace with low-key undertones.
Damon and Blunt played off each other well. Damon upheld his more typical Bourne-esque persona, but it works here. Anthony Mackie (THE HURT LOCKER), who plays a troubled Bureau Agent named Harry, gives yet another understated performance that hits a nerve. John Slattery (MAD MEN) plays Richardson, the Bureau Field Agent in charge of Norris’ case, and serves as both a friendly conflict to Norris and a pitch-perfect source of comic relief.
In addition to a handful of well-placed and enjoyable celebrity cameos, Terence Stamp (THE LIMEY, GET SMART) appears in an extremely fitting surprise role that fans of his career should greatly appreciate. Overall, THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU feels awkwardly familiar, but coincidentally this adds to the effect of a story about accidentally stumbling upon the truth behind fate and free will.
