A gifted musician in his own right, film composer Nathan Johnson creates such unique musical soundscapes for every movie, short film and project to which he’s attached. This year he composed the score to Don Jon, which is Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s modernized interpretation of the iconic thief of hearts. With a sound and style that’s so varied and diverse, Johnson’s scores have given such a unique atmosphere to films like Brick and Looper. We got to chat with Nathan about his work on Don Jon, his process working with different directors and so much more. Below are the highlights of our time with him. ——————————————————————————————————————————— – An interesting take on the fabled Don Juan DeMarco, Don Jon…
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Interview…(Part II) Film Composer Carl Thiel Talks More Music, Robert Rodriguez and ‘Machete Kills’
Award-winning music writer/producer and film composer Carl Thiel was born into a European family and raised in Mexico City, Carl was exposed to a rich and wide variety of cultural experiences and musical styles from a very early age. As a young boy, he would listen to his father (a Swedish immigrant with a doctorate in music) play Mozart and Bach on the piano, while his older siblings would play Beatles and Carpenters albums. His mother, a perpetual student of the spiritual and healing arts and the daughter of German and Austrian immigrants, shared her love for Strauss and Vivaldi, as well as meditation and inspirational music. Immersed in the huge metropolis,…
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Interview…Jim Mickle On Religion, Horrror Taboos, & Writing What You Know In ‘We Are What We Are’
As you might be able to ascertain from my review of Jim Mickle’s We Are What We Are, I really, really dug the film – it’s a serious breath of fresh air in an October that’s bizarrely lacking in horror releases (in fairness, the Carrie remake opens next week, but I have a feeling that’s going to be scary for reasons other than its horror beats). Cannibal fare might be relatively niche even in horror, the most niche genre umbrella of them all, but every element that makes up the film’s whole plays in a way that’s universally pleasing; gorehounds don’t get to claim exclusive dibs on what Mickle has done…
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Interview…(Part I) ‘Machete Kills’ Composer Carl Thiel Discusses Collaborating with Robert Rodriguez
Film composer Carl Thiel is an award-winning music writer/producer. Over the course of his career he’s worked with a multitude of musicians and personalities including Willie Nelson, Bob Schneider, Los Lonely Boys, John Debney, and Del Castillo to name just a few. Carl currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Texas Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and frequently volunteers his time to teach and work with high school and college students across the state during educational events. But it’s his collaborations with visionary director/filmmaker Robert Rodriguez that occupy a large portion of his resume (he’s even a member of Robert Rodriguez’s pet project band Chingón). In the last decade Carl has lent…
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Interview…Joseph Gordon-Levitt Talks ‘Don Jon’, Jersey, & the Ritual of 35mm
After returning to acting following his post-3rd Rock From the Sun hiatus, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s star remains on the rise, and yet it’s impossible to argue that he’s still growing up. Part of that stems from the smart choices he’s made following his second coming – he’s picked a blend of independent projects and more commercially available films, ranging from Brick to Inception – but more than anything, it’s because of Don Jon, his latest production and his first stint directing and writing on a feature-length movie. Anchoring his film in New Jersey, Gordon-Levitt steps in front of the camera to bring his hero, a modern take on that classical literary…
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Interview…Robin Foster on Scoring Sean Ellis’ ‘Metro Manila’
British composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Robin Foster may draw inspiration from bands like Radiohead and composers like Ennio Morricone but really he has a style all his own. What he calls “cinematic post-rock” is a mesmerizing and dreamy mix of electronic loops, and airy synths that are driven by waves of guitars. His close collaboration with Oscar nominated British writer/film director Sean Ellis has lead to soundtracks for prestigious global brand names such as Hugo Boss and Kenneth Cole and last year he composed the score to Ellis’ feature film, Metro Manila. The action thriller recently won the highly prestigious Audience World Dramatic award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in January 2013 where…
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Interview…Film and TV Composer John Swihart Discusses Scoring ‘How I Met Your Mother’
CBS’ wildly popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother is nearing its end and kicks off its 9th and final season this evening. Prior to the premier of tonight’s episode we got to chat with the show’s composer John Swihart to talk about his work on the show. In addition to How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM for short) his other credits of more than 40 films include Youth in Revolt, Employee of the Month, For A Good Time Call… and Napoleon Dynamite which was his breakout project. John has been playing music from a very young age and his early influences are across the board ranging from Miles Davis, Gershwin, Stravinsky and…
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Interview…Jason Lapeyre & Robert Wilson Talk ‘I Declare War’
Do you remember being twelve? Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson do, and they want you to share in their reminiscences with I Declare War (read Marc’s review here and mine here), a cinematic reverie that’s all about the clouds hovering just above the bright spots of childhood. It’s also a film where twelve year olds run around with automatic weapons and rocket launchers, but don’t worry; that’s just their imaginations talking. Sticks and balloons become assault rifles and grenades in their variation of capture the flag, where death can be conquered after counting to ten steamboats (unless you get pasted with one of those grenade first). Turns out that the real harms…
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Interview…Film Composer Elliott Wheeler on ‘The Great Gatsby’ Soundtrack and Scoring Mad Max ‘Fury Road’
Elliott Wheeler is a Sydney based composer, producer and founder of Turning Studios. Classically trained, he studied composition and brass studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and Philosophy at Sydney University. Since then, he has worked continuously as a screen composer and producer across a broad spectrum of genres from studio releases to film, documentary, commercials, and theatre. For over a year he worked on the soundtrack for Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby, collaborating on material from all of the film’s artists, from Jay Z, Florence + the Machine, Lana Del Rey, Jack White, will.i.am, Bryan Ferry and his Jazz Orchestra, Emile Sande and Kid Koala, Fergie, Q Tip…
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Home Grown Texas Talent Interview Series – Writer/Director David Lowery on ‘Ain’t Them Bodies Saints’
In our last Home Grown Texas Talent interview (HGTT for short) we talked with local writer/director Derek Presley about his work and his latest short film which was screened at the Festival de Cannes. Today we speak with another talented individual whose passion for shorts and a focused narrative has made him an overnight sensation and his latest feature one of the most talked about films of 2013. So if you haven’t caught any of the buzz surrounding his film Ain’t Them Bodies Saints then there’s still time to get on the band wagon. We have a feeling this is going to be a major player come awards season. So…
