In Contention

Tag: Howard Shore

  • TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The crafts of ‘Doubt’

    Tech Support at In ContentionThose fortunate enough to have caught John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt” in its original Broadway run were almost unanimous in their praise for it.  When Shanley announced his intention to bring the play to the screen — starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Viola Davis, no less — many were skeptical of his ability to transform the very theatrical piece into a cinematic work.

    Cinematographer Roger Deakins, production designer David Gropman, costume designer Ann Roth, film editor Dylan Tichenor and music composer Howard Shore all had pivotal roles in making that happen.  Shanley, despite his acclaim as a playwright and screenwriter, had only directed one previous feature film.  And “Joe Versus the Volcano” is hardly considered a masterpiece of cinema.  Deakins nonetheless recalls that the director came to the set with very concrete ideas of what he wanted, and did not come across as inexperienced at all.

    “He knew what he wanted to see and turned to me to realize it,” he says.  Tichenor adds that, despite having written the play, Shanley was “not overly precious about his work, which was good as we had to cut a lot out.”

    Gropman already had a brief history with Shanley, having worked with him on an off-Broadway play in the 1980s.  “There was never a moment where experience was an issue,” he says of the director.  And while she had not worked with Shanley before, Roth, who also cut her teeth on theatrical productions, acknowledges she could work together easily with him because of their shared background.

    “There are some film directors who just use actors as part of visual scenery,” she says, adding that, conversely, theater directors tend to start with the actor and then build the scenery from around him or her.

    (more…)

  • THR’s film music composer roundtable

    Alexandre DesplatI’m a few weeks late getting to this.  The Hollywood Reporter just isn’t one of my frequent visits anymore (sadly).  But the trade’s annual Oscar Roundtable series is in full swing and the recent composers session makes for a fascinating read.

    The composers who participated were Alexandre Desplat (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Danny Elfman (“Hellboy II,” “Milk,” “Standard Operating Procedure,” “Wanted”), Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (“The Visitor”), A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”) and Howard Shore (“Doubt”).  Here’s an excerpt that stood out to me:

    Kaczmarek: Well there is this great era of composers that we always site, like Herrmann and (Erich) Korngold. But as much as I like bold strokes and the great scope of that era, it is, in a sense, useless today because we can’t write that way. As much as I admire that craft, we are living in different times. There is a much more subtle language being used now.

    Rahman: I am so much in love with scores that have great melodies, but nowadays if you have a great melody they say, “Oh, it’s distracting from my film.”

    Shore: Film music is changing all the time. From year to year, the styles are changing, and frankly, they are all of interest. I find it an interesting, fascinating process seeing this art form evolve over a hundred years. I think this year is the 100th anniversary of film music. If you look at the history of it, and where we are in it, it’s such a young art form steeped in music tradition. It started with classical music and then opera and then evolved into the great scores of the ’30s, the experimentation of the ’50s and ’60s. It has just been an interesting process. Film music is a fascinating art form and there is still great work to be done. We have the benefit of all these great works of the past to build on, and there is a future ahead.

    Desplat: The field is so wide open in front of us. That’s why I like to create music for movies, because you can try anything.

    Check out the rest here.

    Meanwhile, over at Variety’s Award Central (in full swing as well this season), various writers get some face time with the year’s music branch hopefuls.  The section is kicked off by this Jon Burlingame feature on the music of “Australia.”

  • Shore steps in for Glass on ‘Doubt’

    Howard ShoreI came across a post recently at Film Score Monthly that indicates Howard Shore has taken up scoring duties on John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt.”

    So I checked over at the film’s IMDb page, and sure enough, Philip Glass has been stricken from the record there.  But no mention of Shore either.

    Alright, so I shot producer Scott Rudin an email and he tells me yes, Howard Shore has been brought on to work on the film’s score.  Glass’s schedule unfortunately did not fit with Shanley’s Manhattan Theater Club rehearsal dates, so the production had to make a change.

    All this could be seen as an upper or a downer depending on how you felt about Glass and his minimalist approach being initially married to the film’s deeply serious subject matter.  But I think Shore has the goods, too.

    I like Shore.  I think he always does amazing work, but more often than not, it services the material rather than transcending or overpowering it, and that can certainly be considered a plus.  His most memorable work, of course, is also his only Oscar-nominated work: Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” franchise.  But he has always added something special to the tension and eeriness of David Cronenberg’s films, so perhaps he can bring something special to the table in “Doubt.”

    Keep an eye on this space for the new “Doubt” trailer, by the way.  It will debut sometime this afternoon and we’ll get it up ASAP.  And as always, catch up on all the latest at the film’s buzz page here.