It’s been 30 years since Ernie Hudson starred in Ghostbusters and even today, he’s still working non-stop. After all, he has the tools and he has the talent, right? He’s also got a heart as big as Texas and Hudson’s latest role finds him starring in Gallows Road. Bill McAdams Jr.’s film is a modest effort, but one filled with a lot of heavy issues. Religion, anger, abuse, etc. it’s all in there, but it’s ultimately about compassion and acceptance. As the tag line says, God forgives…Can you? In the film, Bob Collins (Ernie Hudson) finds his faith tested when a night of racially motivated violence takes the lives of his…
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Interview…Film Composer Patrick Doyle Weaves Magic for a Whole New Generation with ‘Cinderella’
If you visit the site often, or know me personally, you know that I love film…but I love film scores a whole lot more. Our “Composer Series” has become a larger part of the site, and it has been incredibly rewarding being afforded the opportunity to speak with those who have created some of the most iconic and indelible themes of the last half century. Case in point. When we spoke with Patrick Doyle last year, we discussed his and Kenneth Branagh’s efforts to reboot the Jack Ryan franchise. His hybrid approach to the tech-thriller score was an exercise in tension and excitement, and everything you could want in a…
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Interview…Composer Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) on the Emotion Behind the Adrenaline in ‘Run All Night’ and ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
When it comes to working in the film industry, and if you happen to be a talented and in-demand composer like Junkie XL, 16-to-18 hour days are the norm. Suffice to say, a composer’s work is never done but they also need to carve out time for necessary levity. A bit of a practical joker when it suits him (just ask his then assistant and now good friend Sam Estes about the in-office pranks), Tom Holkenborg has put his stamp on the music world with his bombastic drum kit and adrenaline-themed cues. He also knows how to help the director get to the heart of their story. Whether it’s a segment or two in The Animatrix,…
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Interview…Film Composer Mark Adler on Robert Kenner’s ‘Merchants of Doubt’
Mark Adler brings to his work as a composer a broad background in both film and music. At 16 he created an award-winning animated short which the New York Museum of Modern Art acquired for its permanent archive collection. A year later, he was the recipient of an American Film Institute grant for his original screenplay. He studied piano privately for fifteen years, and was initially a music major. His return to music followed graduation from film school at UCLA, where he studied film scoring with David Raksin. The 1980s were a renaissance for documentary film in the San Francisco Bay Area and Mark was soon scoring many of those projects. During…
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Interview…Sound Designers/Composers Sam Estes and Michael Hobe
When it comes to music as a profession, composer Robert O. Ragland might have said it the best, “The film composer has two main pressures…time and quality“. Sam Estes and Michael Hobe can certainly relate to all the hurdles in the creative process. They have seen their fair share of films, TV shows and video games and learned from the best in the industry while working as composers and sound designers at Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions. Following their time there, they went on to produce private sound design and samples for the likes of Danny Elfman, Michael Giacchino, Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg), and Christopher Lennertz. Sam specializes in taking a…
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Video Interview…’My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn’ Director Liv Corfixen
Editor’s Note: This interview has been republished in conjunction with the theatrical and the VOD release on February 27, 2015. It originally posted with the rest of our reviews and coverage at Fantastic Fest this past September. Fantastic Fest is a festival where anything can happen. Further, while there, you can meet just about anyone including one-of-a-kind filmmakers like Nicolas Winding Refn. To calm your nerves, no, he wasn’t there promoting a new film (though he is working on one). In fact, this intense and uncompromising auteur is the subject of his wife’s film. Directed by Liv Corfixen, My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn is a very personal making-of documentary that…
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Interview…Composers Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson Bring New Life to the Old-Fashioned Spy Game in ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’
When it comes to larger-than-life comic book universes playing out on the big screen, both Henry Jackman and co-composer Matthew Margeson are the reigning champions of super hero themes and kick-ass action sounds. Kingsman: The Secret Service tells a story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined, but promising street kid into the agency’s ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius. While they intended to make this score their own, they still included a fair amount of hat tips to the likes of John Barry, and David Arnold. Well, Kingsman is a movie about the spy world so some things can’t be helped. It’s a…
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Interview…Film Composer Ilan Eshkeri on the Emotional Depth and Makeshift Magnificence of ‘Black Sea’
Kevin Macdonald‘s Black Sea, which hits U.S. theaters this week, features top-notch acting and, like the submarine, is air-tight, but music is also another highly effective component to the thrilling story. In addition to pulse-pounding sounds and pensive themes, British composer Ilan Eshkeri also adds a thick layer of humanity to the story about about greed, hard metals and icy depths. Best known for his film scores to Stardust, The Young Victoria and Kick-Ass, as well as his collaborations with recording artists and his concert work Eshkeri’s career is notable for its diversity; recently Eshkeri scored Still Alice starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart, 47 Ronin starring Keanu…
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Video Interview…Director Kevin Macdonald on the Intensity and Authenticity of ‘Black Sea’
Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) takes the helm for Focus Features’ ultra-tense submarine thriller Black Sea. Part heist film, part white-knuckle thrill ride, Kevin’s film is as engaging as it is claustrophobic. We got to sit with Macdonald to talk about the story and his experiences shooting the film. Now one thing to note, before every interview there’s always a little down time during the tech check. So I decided to drop an impromptu Russian accent on the unsuspecting director when the camera crew were adjusting the curtains behind him. Not sure it will help me obtain a part in Black Sea 2, but it sure got a…
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Interview…Composer Reinhold Heil Discusses Scoring Helix for Syfy
Reinhold Heil is a German-born, L.A.-based Golden Globe nominated film and television composer. Prior to Reinhold’s career as a film composer, he was well known throughout Germany and Europe for his monster synth chops. At 21, he became a fixture in the Berlin music scene as the keyboardist of a popular jazz funk fusion band, marrying jazz, rock, and electronica into a sound all his own. Soon after, Reinhold toured Europe as the keyboardist, co-producer, and co-writer of the legendary German punk band The Nina Hagen Band and later Spliff, one of Germany’s most popular rock bands of the 1980s. Reinhold was also a prolific music producer. “99 Luftballoons,” which…
