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The Best Music in Film
David Holmes
(Composed the music for Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight)
- S&S: What is your favourite film soundtrack music and why do you like it so much?
- "There's so many.... John Barry's score for Midnight Cowboy (1969), Klute (1971) and Marathon Man (1976), composed by Michael Small, De Sade 70 (1969), music by Bruno Nicolai), Once upon a time in America (1983, music by Ennio Morricone), Pierre Bachelet's music for Histoire d'O (1975)...contemporary films would be John Brion's music for Punch-drunk Love (2002), Nathan Larson's for Tigerland (2000), Love Liza by Jim O'Rourke (2002), Angelo Badalamenti's music for Mullholland Dr. (2001), Mark Mothersbaugh's for The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)..I could literary go on all day, but I gotta say that my favourite at the minute would be The Conversation (1974) by David Shire. But it's not just the score! It's the overall treatment of sound, which in a way I would also consider music, especially in the case of The Conversation (1974), were the sounds heard by the surveillance equipment almost feel like part of the score."
- S&S: In what ways does music best enhance a film?
- "When it's used properly and you don't feel your emotions manipulated by the director, emotion, atmosphere, mood, etc... there's music that matches every situation or time in our life. So in a film where real life is often emulated you gotta reverse the situation & try to imagine what you can hear & feel, if you were in that position. I hate films that are bombarded with 70 piece orchestras that are far to loud. Sometimes subtlety and silence can be a great thing."
- S&S: Which film either has music that you wished you'd written or is one you would like to rescore and why?
- "The love scene between George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight (1998)"