To those in the know, Layer Cake is the landmark British crime drama of the 21st century. Since 2004, it has continued to impress audiences, and for two solid decades it is still going strong, gaining new fans as it finds its lane along with other captivating and gritty stories of narrative quicksand like The Game. It’s clever, complex, serious as cancer, but also one entertaining ride book-ended with one of the best opening sequences and closing shots of all time. To the fans out there, you’ve helped make it resonate. To those yet to be initiated, welcome, you are in for a treat.
The film had a proper release in the UK on October 1, 2004, and unless you caught it during the festival run, it didn’t land stateside until June 3rd of the following year. In 2005 it was quite overlooked and didn’t get the warm welcome it deserved, so it took some time to really catch on.
If you stop and think about it, twenty years is a really long time. Whether it is a person, a building, an automobile or, in this case, a major motion picture, a lot of change can happen in that amount of time – technology, politics, fashion, medicine, public concerns & opinions. Yet the beautiful thing about film is that once picture is locked and the movie is out in the world, it’s a timestamp that will forever hold the images, story, characters and music in place. Forever. Some age well, others aren’t as lucky.
To the delight of film fans and, more specifically, those who helped craft this stunning film, Layer Cake has become immortal, even helping launch the likes of Daniel Craig into superstardom as the world’s most famous gentleman spy.
This focused and intense Brit crime drama (an adaptation of J.J. Connolly‘s popular novel), the ultra-cool tale of tiered crime confection follows an unnamed, mid-level “businessman whose commodity happens to be cocaine.” Played brilliantly by the above-pictured Craig, XXXX is the smart type trying to get out of the game by staying focused on following his own rules. When a few things nudge him away from his guidelines, things go a little bit slightly turbo, and this narrative sinkhole all but swallows everyone involved. It’s a lot like that saying, “I don’t have to be quicker than the bear. I just have to be quicker than you.”
Matthew Vaughn – the overly talented and visionary producer turned director – chose this quaint feature to be his debut. Taking the helm, he set out to deliver the world something more serious than Guy Ritchie’s first two films (of which he produced). Now the key to success in a creative endeavor is knowing one’s strengths. So it was important for Vaughn that he, in his own words, “didn’t want to make Lock Sock 3.”
Moreover, Vaughn doesn’t fancy himself a funny man or comedic director. All the same, those waters would be tested a just bit in later films like X-Men: First Class, Kick Ass, and his Kingsman series. But, true to himself, he stayed in his lane. The result of which is a small-scale, bold and unflinching gangster yarn for the ages as the quantity and diversity of seedy characters set in this back door world of illegal drugs do approach almost Shakespearean levels. While there’s an epic happening at the periphery, the short burn length of the tale intensifies the tension as the leads find themselves in fast-paced and claustrophobic pressure-cooler situations.
Narrative is one thing, acting horsepower another, and both of those are channeled through Vaughn’s strong visual lens. Yet the fourth horsemen of this beloved film is the music. A combination of source music/needle drop, and some pensive driving cues help make the world of XXXX feel tangible. It’s a little too close for comfort as Craig dances his way through the series of steps he himself took or the times he’s had his hand forced.
The soundtrack is an enjoyable mix of the above-mentioned varieties, and to deliver the goods, the film score was composed by two very talented musicians. The first is Lisa Gerrard (of the band Dead Can Dance) who became endeared to the film world with her haunting and emotional vocal contributions in Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning film Gladiator through its Oscar-winning score from Hans Zimmer.
The second is Ilan Eshkeri who, at 26, was tasked with giving the story a pulse to make the world of Layer Cake feel even more full bodied, and dangerous than its synopsis would let on. The driving guitars and flurry of strings echo the heart-pounding excitement (nearly becoming an anthem), while the drones reflect the near hopelessness of being under the thumb of Eddie Temple (played by the incomparable Michael Gambon). Lastly, the anguished trumpets sound a kind of battle-wary recollection of all the events that narrowly got XXXX through the whirlwind gauntlet of the past 100 minutes.
The two musicians share the credit on the soundtrack although they actually never worked together; it was Gerrard who started the project and Eshkeri was brought in later to balance out the vocal work and fill any gaps. He was also asked to contribute some music for areas that weren’t working…and needed to do it in about two weeks. The result of this does feel like two totally different ideas. But if you’ve seen the film, they blend together quite perfectly underscoring the times when XXXX is totally underwater as well as the times he surfaces.
What was done in Layer Cake seemed to set the stage for future films that Vaughan would direct. You can hear a lot of these elements resurrected in part in Henry Jackman’s score to the above-mentioned X-Men prequel and the Taron Egerton/Colin Firth-led film about well-mannered, well-dressed super spies.
It is important to note that shortly after Layer Cake Eshkeri worked with Vaughn on Stardust and Kick-Ass, but then walked away from Hollywood to focus on personal projects which include ballets, art exhibitions, documentaries, and music for the International Space Station. As fate would have it, those personal pursuits actually brought his career path back to Hollywood. C’est la vie?
We’ve been a fan of Ilan‘s work for years, and have had him on the site numerous times to talk about his projects. But this one has always held a special place in our heart. So, to help celebrate twenty years of Layer Cake, we were so happy to have Ilan pull back the curtain and tell us what went into crafting the well-placed sounds. Vaughn likes his needle drop, but for every “Hayling” or “Ordinary World” there’s a “Drive to Boatyard” or “Aria”; there’s enough space that exists in the film where Eshkeri and Gerrard could really make their presence felt here and beyond.
Ilan is a great friend of the site. We always love having him back, and today we get into much of that as well as the topic de jour. Layer Cake has, since the Fall of ‘05, stuck with us like chewing gum. We hope you enjoy this chat as we go into the WABAC machine to revisit his themes of the film as well as the discussions, mindset, and personal musical tastes that helped him craft the acoustic blanket for this spectacular story that is cooler than cool.
