For most of this year, we’ve been getting ready for the upcoming season of Stranger Things. We’re still more than a week away, but one thing that took our mind off the wait was the chance to speak with David Harbour. That’s right, Police Chief Jim Hopper himself was in Dallas as part of a press event to promote the show. While in the Big D, he was treated to some of the best baseball and BBQ we could offer. Hey, it’s the least we could do. Thanks, Dallas, for making David feel at home. He’s already a pretty laid-back guy (I spent close to an hour with him in…
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Exclusive: Interview…Composer David Newman to Conduct 20th Anniversary Concert for ‘Galaxy Quest’
Next month, the San Diego Symphony will put on a live–to-picture performance of Galaxy Quest, the classic sci-fi comedy from 1999 starring Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Sam Rockwell and Tony Shaloub. What’s that you ask? Why would a symphony play the music to a comedy? Well, two reasons: One, it’s really great music to a really fun film. Two, it’s really great music written by David Newman. These days, orchestras know they have to inclusive – they can’t be exclusive – and there’s no benefit to being closed-minded. Orchestras used to just play the same canonical works, but now they have really embraced the popularity and the artistry…
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Interview…Composer Miles Hankins on the Musical Backdrop to ‘Long Shot’
Award-winning composer Miles Hankins boasts a diverse body of work spanning the entertainment industry. He most recently co-composed Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron’s romantic comedy, Long Shot with Marco Beltrami. Additionally, Miles received a Sports Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Direction on the HBO documentary series Being Serena and was recently honored at the awards ceremony in New York. As an exceptionally creative independent composer, Miles has collaborated with Beltrami on several critically-acclaimed scores including A Quiet Place, which received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score, Marvel’s Fantastic Four, Sony’s The Shallows, and Columbia Pictures’ The Night Before. In addition to film, Miles scored CBS’s primetime series, 3…
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Interview…Composers Ryan Taubert and Benjamin Botkin Channel John Williams for ‘Blockbuster’ Podcast
From Epicleff Media, Blockbuster Podcast tells the true story of how Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and John Williams re-invented escapism at the cinema and forever changed the experience of going to the movies. It was an adventurous and nebulous time in the ‘70s when these visionary directors took their first step into a larger world. And their movies weren’t half bad either. What helps make this podcast so vibrant and immersive is the original score composed and produced by Ryan Taubert (above L) and Benjamin Botkin (above R). Having to write music for this series was already a challenge, but having to do it in a way that embodied the spirit of John…
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Interview…Matt Schrader on Immersive Audio and Pioneering Podcasts with ‘Blockbuster’
From director Matt Schrader and producer Kenny Holmes comes Blockbuster, a six-part, 2.5-hour immersive audio series that traces the young friendship of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas — before Jaws and Star Wars — and before anyone knew their names. It’s a story that took place a half century ago — authentically recreated in striking detail by leading voice actors, award-winning sound designers, and with a sweeping original score. Also, this series features the most advanced sound design ever created for a podcast. Over the course of six months, the Epicleff team utilized prominent, award-winning voice actors from the animation and video game industries, captivating three-dimensional sound design from Motion Picture Sound Editors-nominated designer Peter…
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[TFF Interview]…Drew Denny on ‘Momster’, Bank Robbers and Narrative Ambitions
One of the noteworthy shorts playing Tribeca Film Festival this year is Drew Denny’s film, Momster. This female-led action-packed drama was created by the talented Writer/Director and her crew, led by all female department heads. The short itself was done as a proof of concept for something Drew wants to make into a feature. Essentially, it’s a kick-ass prequel and you’ll definitely want to see where this goes. While only 10-minutes and change (including credits), what’s impressive about Momster is that just a few seconds after hitting play, you feel like you’re dropped right in the middle of a Quentin Tarantino narrative. It’s that engrossing. Whether working for a major network,…
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The Matrix Revisited: Composer Don Davis Reveals Secrets from His Score to Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of ‘The Matrix’
Editor’s Note: This post contains the introduction to an article I wrote specifically for The Hollywood Reporter. It was a great honor to work on a post about a film, and film score so dear to my heart. In this retrospective, composer Don Davis plugs back in to recall the lengths he took to satisfy the Wachowskis’ exacting vision. Click here to read the full article. Twenty years ago, The Matrix blew audiences away with its ground-breaking, generation-defining style. That was in tandem with substantive themes that were esoteric yet accessible. For every Hong Kong-styled wire fight, there was an equally engaging reference to Plato. One integral component to the success of…
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Interview…Joe Kraemer on the Score to ‘The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot’
Over the last 23 years, composer Joe Kraemer has seen his fair share of stories. His resume is full of everything from short films to Hallmark Channel flicks to the biggest Summer blockbusters. But his latest might be the most complex project to date. The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot really is a unique film. In a way, it’s literally the title and, yet nothing like; it sounds like a Troma film, or a Roger Corman movie, when it has more in common with what you’d get from Frank Darabont, or Robert Zemeckis, without it feeling like a throwback. We’re fans of the music Kraemer wrote for…
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Interview…Composer Roger Suen on the Varied Musical Palette of ‘Ms. Purple’
Composer extraordinaire, Roger Suen, has lent his expertise to numerous feature films, television series and documentaries. A Southern California native, Suen studied music composition as an undergraduate then graduate student at UCLA and CSUN. Suen’s diverse music portfolio includes scoring additional music for Guillermo Del Toro’s four-time Oscar winning film The Shape of Water, Netflix’s five-time Emmy-nominated series Daredevil, and Marvel’s Emmy-nominated series, The Defenders. Through his mastery of orchestral composition and modern electronica, he has created heart-pounding additional music for blockbuster films such as Oscar-nominated X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, and The Nice Guys. This year, Suen provides the score the modern Asian-American drama film, Ms. Purple, which…
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Interview…Composer Federico Jusid on the New Sound of Netflix’s ‘Watership Down’
Award-winning composer, Federico Jusid, is a multifaceted artist with many titles including concert pianist, conductor, and film and theater producer. He is best known for scoring the Academy Award-winning Best Foreign Language film, The Secret in Their Eyes, which Federico composed with Emilio Kauderer. Earlier this year, Federico completed the score for “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman’s drama, Life Itself, starring Olivia Wilde and Oscar Isaac. His other recent work includes scoring Spanish dramas such as, Loving Pablo, starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, A Twelve-Year Night and Ola de crímenes. Federico recently scored Netflix and BBC‘s re-imagining of the childhood classic, Watership Down. Federico’s orchestral score is accented by electronic sounds and metal instruments which reflect the…
