Hollywood Music Workshop celebrates its 10th Anniversary this year, and part of the festivities outside the classes in the workshop include a live concert in association with Warner Brothers at the Casino Baden, featuring iconic film music performed by the Synchron Stage Vienna Orchestra under the baton of Joe Kraemer and Conrad Pope. The set list is chock full of iconic film scores from Warner Bros. films and brings the sounds of Max Steiner, Erich Korngold, Ennio Morricone and John Williams (to name but a few) to the Baden concert hall. The program will also include original music by Joe Kraemer and Nan Schwartz. I just returned from L.A. (where I spent some time at the WB studio), and as Casablanca is…
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Interview…Temuera Morrison on Sci-Fi Roles and His ‘Warriors’ Roots
When you need a rugged and hard-hitting actor in film circles, the list isn’t very long when it comes to raw, unbridled energy. You probably think I’m talking about the Christian Bales or Daniel Day-Lewises of the world, but not today. I’d like to turn your attention to Temuera Morrison who is not only a very powerful and seasoned actor, but someone who you can see existing as their character, not just portraying one. Tem, as they call him, got noticed back in the ’90s with a little picture called Once Were Warriors. Since then, if you needed rough and tumble, Tem was your man. He caught George Lucas’ eye,…
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Interview… Reel FX’s Jose Sebastian Gomez on ATK PLN, Commercials and Creative Direction
If you live or work in the Dallas area, the fact that business is booming is probably not news to anyone. Yet, as much as the many cranes are putting up buildings and apartments at breakneck speed changing our skyline, you might be unaware of other trades hard at work to produce world-class products and adding to the notoriety and culture of the metroplex. One such company is Reel FX – Dallas’ own big-league animation studio. Now whether you knew what goes on in that non-descript red brick building in Deep Ellum or not, the caliber of digital wizardry therein produces commercial and feature length animation that sets the standard…
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Interview…Joonas Suotamo on Playing Chewbacca in ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’
For the third time in as many years, Finland’s own Joonas Suotamo dons the iconic Wookie get-up to continue playing Chewbacca in a galaxy far, far away. Suotamo, at 7 feet, certainly has the height to play the famous walking carpet, but how about his acting chops? Well, if you somehow thought Chewie was still being played by Peter Mayhew, then you can thank Suotamo’s thespian background for the seamless performance. We got to sit with Suotamo (who has a very Star Wars looking name) to discuss the role, the gestural and non-verbal delivery, his inspirations, and his hard to pronounce last name. I fell in to the trap inadvertently referring…
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Interview…’Supercon’ Director Zak Knutson on Celebrity and the Limits of Comedy
Filmmaker, documentarian, and pop-culture aficionado, Zak Knutson’s newest endeavor is the convention-based comedy, Supercon. It’s a movie featuring four less-than-famous personalities who, so fed up with the titular convention’s greedy promoters, attempt to emulate a robbery perpetrated (successfully) by other geekcentric convention goers. Let’s just hope lighting can strike twice, for their sake. Knutsen co-wrote and directs the feature, and easily draws on his deep knowledge of fan culture (and can claim being good friends with Kevin Smith for more than a decade). As such, this was right up his alley. Enjoy the highlights of our time with Zak. GoSeeTalk: The film starts off with the text, “based on a…
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Interview…Carl Thiel Composes Big Themes for Small Town Heroes in ‘Lazer Team 2’
Austin-based composer/musician Carl Thiel is a great friend of the site, and we love chatting with him about his film scores. An accomplished musician in his own right, Carl has made a name for himself working with Robert Rodriguez and on many films under the Troublemaker Studios banner and the El Rey Network. In past interviews, Carl has talked to us about doing work outside that umbrella s flexing his other musical muscles. Now you can take the man out of genre films, but you can’t take the genre film out of the man. As such, Carl is getting to try some new things with his score to Lazer Team 2, the…
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Interview…Aussie Director Shane Abbess on the Nostalgic and Collaborative Framework Behind ‘The Osiris Child’
It’s been almost one full year since Shane Abbess’ Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child made its world premiere at Fantastic Fest late September 2016. Whether there was something in the air at the fest, or simply the joy of seeing this retro styled sci-fi spectacle on the big screen among hundreds of genre fans, I can’t tell. But I loved Abbess’ film (check out our glowing review here), and when I say that, when the film ended, I was screaming for more, that’s not some witty outro – I was literally screaming for more. And if you love ’80s inspired action epics, and ones that have a great story and…
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Interview…Brian McNelis Discusses Vinyl Releases at Lakeshore Records and Experiences in the Music Industry
Thanks largely to a trip to Record Store Day in 2014, I have become an increasing fan of soundtrack releases on vinyl…and I’ve never looked back. You may have your own go-to retailers, and while a significant portion of my collection is comprised of Mondo titles, Lakeshore Records (the independent music division of Lakeshore Entertainment) remains a notable force that issues some of the most vibrant, stunning, and downright bad-ass releases you’ve ever seen. We spoke to the company’s Senior Vice President of Music and Soundtracks, Brian McNelis, about his day-to-day with Lakeshore. As you might expect, after scanning through the hefty number of releases on the Lakeshore Records website,…
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Interview…Mondo’s Brock Otterbacher on Design, Collaboration and Pop-Culture
Growing up, I’m sure those of you in the design community (myself included) lived and breathed LEGOs, building blocks, or the various action figure play sets. Sure, they’re toys, but they probably were a catalyst (subconscious, maybe) to get myself and my coworkers into the industry we’re in today. As an Interior Designer, I now deal with actual buildings, materials, and components, but there are creatives who haven’t strayed too far from their childhood toy box. John Lasseter, and Jorge R. Gutierrez come to mind, but I recently spoke with an individual who is still pretty much a kid at heart. Brock Otterbacher is one of the Creative Directors at…
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Interview…Aesop Rock Injects ‘Bushwick’ with Haunting, Gritty and Emotional Hip-Hop
Lakeshore Records recently released the original score to Bushwick, which was scored by underground hip-hop pioneer Aesop Rock. His first ever film score, Bushwick-Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a mind-bending collection of instrumental tracks providing an exhilarating beat-heavy backdrop to the Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott directed thriller starring Brittany Snow and Dave Bautista. Building on the rapping style of eccentrics Kool Keith and Del the Funky Homosapien, Aesop Rock (AKA Ian Bavitz) became one of the hottest MCs in the post-millennial underground. With seven albums, five Eps, production credits and appearances in film and television, Aesop has made an indelible cultural impression since the late ‘90’s. Rock is celebrated for his…
