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The Best Music in Film
Neil LaBute
(Possession, The Shape of Things)
- S&S: What is your favourite film soundtrack music and why do you like it so much?
- "Although I don't employ music as often as some of my contemporaries, I certainly am a fan of soundtracks and the general use of music in films. There are any number of great composers and soundtracks that have effectively utilised other kinds of music as well (pop songs, traditional, etc.) but since you ask for 'favourite,' I would probably have to say Gato Barbieri's score for Last Tango in Paris (1972). Wonderfully moody, perfectly calibrated to the images, just a delight to listen to, on screen and off. One section of that soundtrack in particular mean a lot to me--when I was scoring In the Company of Men (1997) by phone with a Canadian composer, I would play a tape of it for him so that he could hear the snarling, roaring saxophones that i wanted to punctuate our film."
- S&S: In what ways does music best enhance a film?
- "I love music when it's used as a counterpoint to the image--the beautiful frenzy of Michel Legrand's music in Jacques Demy's Bay of Angels (1962) (gorgeous sounds as we watch compulsive gamblers) or Kubrick's use of "we'll meet again" at the end of Dr. Strangelove (a heart-warming classic used against images of nuclear devastation). Obviously, music can be used amazingly well in many contexts, but I love when it is used in an ironic way by a filmmaker."
- S&S: Which film either has music that you wished you'd written or is one you would like to rescore and why?
- "I've probably utilised no music more effectively than music in my work, although i recently loved being able to liberally sprinkle Elvis Costello's acidic pop throughout The Shape of Things (2003). I also had a blast using Apocalyptica's cello version of Metallica's Enter Sandman at the beginning of Your Friends & Neighbors (1998)--I think that music signalled that something interesting was about to happen. probably the best piece of scored music I've been associated with was a fifteen minute arrangement by Gabriel Yared for Possession (2002). It is a section of the film where present-day scholars read letters from two Victorian poets, which are visualised during the same sequence. Gabriel had to essentially write two scores and aurally weave the two together. it's a very beautiful, satisfying passage for me. A tight, precise blend of music and image."