Film
Whiplash In Concert At Barbican Hall (AllAboutJazz)
Studying at a music conservatoire can stifle an aspiring young jazz musician, and to inhabit for a moment the world of the Whiplash baddie Professor Terence Fletcher, there are times when one might wish it stifled more of them. But no one, surely, would condone the catalogue of abuse inflicted on the freshman drum student attending the fictitious New York music school in director Damien Chazelle’s 2014 movie. Indeed, the basic premise of the film is fantastical, for any contemporary educational establishment aware of such gross and bullying behavior would have paid off the faculty member and compensated the student faster than one could say non-disclosure agreement. Even ballet schools, the last practitioners of the sort teaching-by-tyranny depicted in Whiplash, had changed tack by the early 1990s, here in Europe at least.
Anyway, engage suspension of disbelief. Chazelle made the movie and now pianist Benoit Sourisse and drummer Andre Charlier have turned Justin Hurwitz’s soundtrack into the platform for a concert, with their Multiquarium Big Band following with precision every baton stroke and drum beat on the screen behind them. Multiquarium debuted on record in 2016 with the excellent Multiquarium Big Band (Gemini). Check “L’Afrobeat Improbable” on the YouTube below and hang on in there until 2:26 when the titular groove kicks in. Their follow-up, Remembering Jaco (Naïve, 2020), should appeal to everyone with fond memories of the bassist who turned Weather Report into a posturing stadium act.
The 18-piece Multiquarium Big Band was devastatingly good and their in-your-face, perfectly synchronized performance of Hurwitz's score raised by several notches the intensity of what was already a compelling movie.
Hurwitz…proved himself at home with the music in his soundtrack for Chazelle’s La La Land (2016). He also has what might be called a jazz sense of humor, having written and produced a dozen episodes of the razor-sharp TV series Curb Your Enthusiasm. His work on Whiplash has authenticity. But how is the audience meant to approach the Multiquarium presentation? As a celebration of the music? As an opportunity for fans of the movie to enjoy it from a new perspective? As a geekish exercise in synchronization of sound and vision?
The questions became irrelevant once the Barbican show began. The 18-piece Multiquarium Big Band was devastatingly good and their in-your-face, perfectly synchronized performance of Hurwitz’s score raised by several notches the intensity of what was already a compelling movie. It is to the stage designer’s credit that big, loud and lit though Multiquarium were throughout the film’s 106-minutes running time, one soon ceased to be aware of their presence. Attention remained focused on the screen behind them.
Full story available via AllAboutJazz here.
Cutting Edge’s White Stork Music Enters Partnership with Touchdown Films (Billboard)
Cutting Edge’s White Stork Music division, the publishing company founded by U.K. composer Tom Howe, has entered a partnership with U.K. production company Touchdown Films. White Stork will now provide Touchdown with finance, world-class music services and access to White Stork’s catalog of music for current and future productions. White Stork retains intellectual property rights to its original music composed for Touchdown’s slate of projects.
Full story available via Billboard here.
Cutting Edge Media Music Cuts Music Rights Deal With Anton On Starry Thrillers ‘All Fun And Games’ And ‘Mother’s Instinct’ (Deadline)
“We are thrilled to be working with Sebastien [Reybaud], John [Zois] and the Anton team again on two incredible new projects,” said Cutting Edge Group COO, Tara Finegan. “Anton Production is committed to the top notch global production of creative content and we’re proud to be their partners.”
Cutting Edge Media Music has inked a deal with Anton, which will have it invest in the company’s films All Fun and Games and Mother’s Instinct, in exchange for the corresponding rights to the films’ original scores. The deal comes following two successful collaborations with Anton Production on the Searchlight horror-thriller The Night House and the disaster pic Greenland starring Gerard Butler.
All Fun and Games hinges on the premise that there’s a strange element of cruelty embedded in kids’ games—Flashlight Tag, Hangman, Simon Says—and sometimes it’s taken too far. The horror-thriller marking the first joint production for Anton and AGBO follows a group of siblings who find themselves in a game with a demonic twist. Asa Butterfield (Sex Education), Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things), Keith David (Greenleaf), Annabeth Gish (The Fall of the House of Usher) and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (Pinocchio) star in the pic, which Eren Celeboglu and Ari Costa are directing from their script co-written by J.J. Braider. Production kicked off in Canada in April.
Mother’s Instinct is an early ’60s-set psychological thriller that follows Alice (Jessica Chastain) and Celine (Anne Hathaway), best friends and neighbors living an idyllic, traditional lifestyle with manicured lawns, successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life’s perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia then combine to unravel their sisterly bond and a psychological battle of wills begins as the maternal instinct reveals its darker side. The English-language remake of Olivier Masset-Depasse’s award-winning Belgian film Duelles, marking the feature directorial debut of renowned cinematographer Benoit Delhomme (The Theory of Everything), will also star Josh Charles (We Own This City) and Anders Danielsen Lie (The Worst Person in the World).
Cutting Edge Media Music is a financing and investment company with expertise in music for film, television, games and more. The company also operates as a publisher and record label and has provided a range of music services to over 1000 feature films, TV shows, musical theatre productions and games. Notable projects to which it has contributed these services include Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The King’s Speech, Moonlight, Drive, Star Trek: Discovery, Fury, John Wick, Sicario, Whiplash, Hacksaw Ridge and The Walking Dead; such Broadway shows as Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia and My Fair Lady; and such games as Sunset Overdrive, Assassins Creed Valhalla, Red Dead Redemption and Cyberpunk 2077.
Anton is the global content provider that has been behind projects ranging from global kids and family fare such as Paddington and Shaun The Sheep, the animated feature Fireheart, and Around The World in 80 Days to genre franchises such as His Dark Materials, the aforementioned Greenland and its sequel Greenland Migration; McMafia, The Night House and Choose or Die; as well as director-driven titles such as Both Sides of the Blade, Gentleman Jack and The Pursuit of Love.
Full article available here.
Cutting Edge Media Music Cuts Slate Partnership Deal With Asbury Park Pictures (Deadline)
Cutting Edge Media Music has inked a slate partnership deal with Asbury Park Pictures, which will see it fund five of the company’s films, in exchange for the corresponding original music publishing rights. Cutting Edge’s latest deal comes on the heels of its successful, multi-year slate partnership deal with Thunder Road, of which Asbury Park is an expansion launched by Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee.
The first films under CEMM’s new deal with Asbury Park Pictures are Sophia Banks’ action-thriller Black Site, starring Jason Clarke, Michelle Monaghan and Jai Courtney, which will be released via Redbox Entertainment on April 29, and the Nelms Brothers’ action-thriller Red Right Hand, starring Orlando Bloom and Andie McDowell, which is currently in production and will also be distributed by Redbox.
“We at Cutting Edge continue to invest with standout creatives and producers in Hollywood,” said Cutting Edge Group CEO, Philip Moross. “During the last decade we have been in business together, Basil and his team at Thunder Road have consistently been among the best. I am very excited about the next chapter, with Asbury Park.”
“Philip, Tara and the team at CE were with us at the beginning as we built Thunder Road,” added Iwanyk. “Now we look forward to their help and guidance in making Asbury Park the most successful low-budget action label in the world.”
Cutting Edge Media Music is a financing and investment company with expertise in music for film, television, games and more. The company also operates as a publisher and record label and has provided a range of music services to over 1000 feature films, TV shows, musical theatre productions and games. Notable projects to which it has contributed these services include Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The King’s Speech, Moonlight, Drive, Star Trek: Discovery, Fury, John Wick, Sicario, Whiplash, Hacksaw Ridge and The Walking Dead; such Broadway shows as Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia and My Fair Lady; and such games as Sunset Overdrive, Assassins Creed Valhalla, Red Dead Redemption and Cyberpunk 2077.
Iwaynk’s Thunder Road Films partnered with Redbox Entertainment to launch Asbury Park Pictures in 2020.
Full article available here.
Cutting Edge Media Music Secures Original Music Rights to The Queen Mary (Deadline)
X-Men and Star Trek orchestrators Jason and Nolan Livesay have signed on to compose the score for the forthcoming horror film The Queen Mary, with Cutting Edge Media Music securing the original music rights from White Horse Pictures and Imagination Design Works.
X-Men and Star Trek orchestrators Jason and Nolan Livesay have signed on to compose the score for the forthcoming horror film The Queen Mary, with Cutting Edge Media Music securing the original music rights from White Horse Pictures and Imagination Design Works.
The film directed by Gary Shore (Dracula Untold) and starring Alice Eve (Belgravia) and Joel Fry (Cruella) is a psychological horror-mystery exploring three interwoven stories, covering the violent disintegration of two families onboard the ship of the same name in 1938 and present day. Brett Matthew Tomberlin is producing for Imagination Design Works, with Thorsten Schumacher for Rocket Science, Lars Sylvest, and Nigel Sinclair and Nicholas Ferrall of White Horse Pictures.
Rocket Science is also handling worldwide sales. The film’s soundtrack will also feature Nashville rising star, Tiffany Ashton, who performs the end-credit song, a darker rendition of “It Had To Be You” produced by Tommee Proffitt.
Full article available here.
CUTTING EDGE AND BLANTYRE CAPITAL COMMIT $125M TO ACQUIRE FILM AND TV MUSIC RIGHTS (Music Business Worldwide)
UK-based Cutting Edge Music Holdings has partnered with affiliates of London-based investment firm Blantyre Capital to acquire music publishing rights owned by composers who write music for film and TV.
The partnership has committed an initial $125 million to the strategy and a third (33%) of this sum has already been invested in music rights for productions aired by what Cutting Edge says are major networks and streaming platforms.
The four catalogs of rights purchased to date include what Cutting Edge says are successful franchises with productions broadcast on networks / streaming platforms including: Fox, FX, ABC, CBS, Disney, Paramount, HBO, TNT, Warner, NBC Universal, Hulu, Starz, Netflix, Amazon and Apple.
Blantyre manages long-term committed capital in excess of €1.6 billion (approx. $1.8bn) on behalf of institutional investors including public and private pension plans, endowments, foundations, and family offices.
Founded in the UK in the early 2000s, Cutting Edge operates as a financier, publisher, and record label.
Led by founder and CEO Philip Moross, the company provides a range of music services to such films and TV titles Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The King’s Speech, Moonlight, Drive, Star Trek: Discovery, Fury, John Wick, Sicario, Whiplash, Hacksaw Ridge, and The Walking Dead; Broadway shows Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia, and My Fair Lady; and triple-A video games such as: Sunset Overdrive, Assassins Creed Valhalla, Red Dead Redemption and Cyberpunk 2077.
Cutting Edge’s divisions include Lakeshore Records (Soundtracks), Music.Film (Film & TV Music Licensing Platform), Broadway Records (Musical Theatre), Cutting Edge Music Publishing (Music Publisher), and White Stork (Custom Music House).
The firm reports to have published and released the music for over 400 feature films, TV shows, and games.
CEG’s previous musical theatre releases include Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia, and The Lightning Thief.
Cutting Edge also operates a wellness label, myndstream, which is home to artists who it says have collectively amassed billions of streams across Spotify, Apple, Pandora, and Amazon.
Back in 2018, Concord Music acquired movie soundtrack and score label Varèse Sarabande from Film Score Records, an investor group led and managed by The Cutting Edge Group. As part of the deal, Cutting Edge itself became a client of Concord Music, which started to provide distribution, marketing, and label services to the firm on a worldwide basis.
Read full article here
Cutting Edge Music Holdings And Blantyre Capital Team For $125M Acquisition Of Film And TV Music Rights (Deadline)
One-third of the total investment has been earmarked for projects on major networks and streaming platforms. While specific names of projects and talent were not immediately made available, the companies said multiple franchises are part of the transaction. Titles are part of the slates of networks, studios and platforms including Fox, FX, ABC, CBS, Disney, Paramount, HBO, TNT, Warner Bros, NBCUniversal, Hulu, Starz, Netflix, Amazon and Apple.
Cutting Edge Music Holdings and London-based investment firm Blantyre Capital have joined forces for a $125 million acquisition of music publishing rights owned by film and TV composers.
Cutting Edge, which was founded nearly two decades ago in the UK and now has offices in New York and LA, has become a player in film and TV financing via its stakes in music. The company has become known for its moves in independent film, closing deals in 2018 for films like After the Wedding, starring Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore. With streaming sending music catalog valuations sky-high and setting off a scramble for rights, the company has aligned with pre-eminent composers and other creative partners.
Over the past decade, Cutting Edge has been involved with more than 1,000 films, TV shows and games. The company provides a range of music services to such film and TV titles as Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The King’s Speech, Moonlight, Drive, John Wick and The Walking Dead. Its Broadway roster includes Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia and My Fair Lady. Video games have included Sunset Overdrive, Assassins Creed Valhalla, Red Dead Redemption and Cyberpunk 2077.
Read full article here
Best Film and TV Scores of 2021 (IndieWire)
Both of Greenwood’s latest scores are spectacular (even the eight seconds of original material he contributed to “Licorice Pizza” stands out from the rest of PTA’s killer soundtrack), but “The Power of the Dog” wins by a snout because its music feels less ornamental and more intimately expressive than the funereal acid jazz and corrupted organ partitas that form the bars of Princess Diana’s gilded cage.
Radiohead-obsessed cinephiles have spent the past 16 years or so foaming at the mouth about how their favorite band’s virtuosic multi-instrumentalist has casually developed a side gig as one of the most essential film composers of the 21st century
Campion has a long history of getting the best out of world-class composers like Michael Nyman and Mark Bradshaw, and she does so again in her dagger-like frontier drama by encouraging Greenwood to create his own syntax of menace — seductive but threatening.
The work that resulted from that free rein falls somewhere between “Phantom Thread” and “There Will Be Blood,” combining repressed French horns, a mechanically detuned piano that plays along with Kirstin Dunsts’ performance in broken time, and a cello masquerading as a banjo in order to sew together a Western soundscape that’s constricting tighter in the middle while fraying along the edges. And then, in the transcendent “Psalm 22,” that tension resolves into a new and delightfully violent lightness that lingers under your skin long after the movie is over.
Read full article here
‘Being the Ricardos’ Composer Daniel Pemberton on Crafting an Orchestral Score With Nostalgia and Wonder (Variety)
Pemberton (a best song Oscar nominee for Sorkin’s last film, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”) wrote music for a 70-piece orchestra evocative of the era, and based primarily on a single theme, “with a bittersweet melancholia to it, but also an element of aspiration and dream.”
“A big overarching theme has become relatively unfashionable,” Pemberton says, referring to the fact that many contemporary directors shy away from strong melodies and big orchestras. “I felt this was a beautiful canvas to reintroduce that idea.”
Daniel Pemberton’s score for Aaron Sorkin’s “Being the Ricardos” is unlike anything he’s written to date — a surprising choice for this think-outside-the-box composer, but one that would fit comfortably in the 1950s milieu of the film itself.
Pemberton toiled on what eventually became more than 65 minutes of music for the story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz battling bad press, relationship issues and troublesome network executives, all while continuing to produce TV’s popular “I Love Lucy.”
“I wanted to find a different way to represent the energy of that world, the writers, the pace, the tension of the show,” Pemberton says.
His biggest challenge turned out to be the flashback sequences. “It took a long time to get that tone right,” he says, as Sorkin didn’t want to play any of that for laughs or nostalgia. “We have to see Lucy thinking, working things out, letting the audience understand the process she goes through. I re-scored that scene about 20 times.”
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Gustavo Santaolalla Discusses Finch Soundtrack (The Playlist)
As you can hear in the title track, “Finch,” the score for the film is just as epic and beautiful as you’d expect from a feature helmed by Miguel Sapochnik and starring Tom Hanks about a man venturing out into the post-apocalypse with his trusty dog and his newly created robot companion.
Santaolalla is no stranger to composing incredible scores. He’s one of the rare composers to actually win back-to-back Oscars, thanks to his work in 2005’s “Brokeback Mountain” and 2006’s “Babel.”
“The possibility of composing and playing for such a wonderful film as ‘Finch’ was an immediate source of inspiration,” said Santaolalla. “The unusual combination of characters and the mix of suspense, action, humor and tenderness laid out a canvas full of possibilities – from big, powerful action scenes to intimate moments where the emotions of the story and characters take over. Working once again with David Campbell as an orchestrator allowed me to move seamlessly from large orchestra to chamber-sized pieces. In this particular moment we find ourselves living, the music for ‘Finch’ has become very special to me. Happy that finally I can share it with all of you.”
Read the full article here.
