Justin Hurwitz, Babylon composer, on La La Land and why he chose to stay clear of 1920s Jazz
For director Damien Chazelle The composer Justin Hurwitz, not much has changed since they attended Harvard together — at least not when it comes to how they work together.
Hurwitz tells EW that much of it “remains the same as it was when we were 20” in terms of him playing the piano, doing little demos, and then emailing them back and forth. This is ahead of the new collaboration. Babylon.
Never mind the fact that they’ve both since won Oscars — Best Director for Chazelle and Best Original Score and Best Original Song for Hurwitz, both for 2016’s La La Land — and seen their careers skyrocket since their work on 2014’s Whiplash.
Hurwitz states that every film, which is their fifth collaboration, marks a “different creative journey”. This was especially true for Hurwitz. BabylonA sprawling epic about the rise of a group of characters who struggle to survive in the midst of great Hollywood upheaval of 1920s Hollywood. Then silent films were transformed into talkies. It runs for three hours and twenty-five minutes, but there’s a four-hour earlier cut.
Scott Garfield/Paramount; Presley Ann/FilmMagic
“Damien sent [the script] Hurwitz recalls, “To me in fall 2019”. “And around that time, he was like, ‘Heads up — this is going to be, like, a four-hour movie.'”
After the credits were over, the film featured just over two hours worth of original music, which is more than twice as much music Hurwitz has ever written for one project.
The composer looked to surprising places for inspiration. Hurwitz insists that he did not draw inspiration from 1920s jazz, even though the film’s opening scene is set in 1926. “We knew we didn’t want ’20s jazz — it’s just familiar,” he explains. We’ve heard it many times. It’s kinda quaint, but it’s a little too tame. This movie is not for the faint-hearted.
Instead, he and Chazelle listened to a lot of rock ‘n’ roll, house music, and EDM — basically, anything that makes you want to get up and dance. Hurwitz recalls that he was listening to music with dance hi hats. He was also listening to music that had rises or drops that built anticipation and then surged into dance moments. “Those were my most inspiring moods.”
Fans La La Land There may be some shared elements between the two tracks. Hurwitz says it is his own: “There are not actual quotes from La La LandHowever, there were cues that were aiming for a particular feeling. These could be a bittersweet or melancholy feeling. “And I’m the same composer, and my musical grammar remains the same.”
Sonia Recchia/Getty Damien
But if the audience wants to make the comparison, he’s fine with that. He said, “I always appreciate that when you hear just a handful of notes or measures and know that it’s John Williams, that’s Thomas Newman. Because they have identities, they have sounds.” “So I believe that it is a good thing to have an identifiable voice but that you don’t want repeat yourself. This is the line that you have to follow.
His work is on Babylon Hurwitz feels ready to be part of the Oscar conversation once more, but he swears that “nothing feels as a moment of pure brilliance when he’s writing.” He laughs and says “It’s all about bashing my head against a piano or the computer.”
The bittersweet theme for Manny & Nellie, played by Margot Robbie and Diego Calva in the film, was a particularly difficult track to crack. He finally came up with a mix of three pianos, one upright, one slightly detuned for an extra touch, and one beautiful Steinway. Hurwitz is proud to have other tracks like “Call Me Manny”, “Voodoo Mama” and “Damascus Thump.” All of these can be listened to here. heard here with the rest of the soundtrack.)
That’s it. Babylon Hurwitz has completed his concert and plans to perform more live concerts next year.
He said, “I love going about and performing our score, very often to image.” “I just turned Whiplash This is the kind of show you want. I have a lot more. La La Land Next year will have shows like those, and I’m so excited to be back in front audiences and share my movies and scores with people.”
And what’s his next movie project? “It’s probably what Damien will do next.”
Similar content: