FILM WORK updated OCTOBER 2005

I kinda operate in two worlds, both equally vile in their respective ways : I’m talking about the music industry and the film industry.  You might say this:  by night I am (well ok was) a charismatic rock and roller,  and by day I’m a reclusive film composer, which means I’m the guy who does the music you hear when you’re watching a movie that tells you if what you’re seeing is supposed to be scary, funny, sad, or none of the above. These days I’m more into the filmwork than the rock, and here’s why: it’s something I can picture myself doing honorably into the twilight of my years (as opposed to trying to get a pair of leather pants up over my fat ass in some dressing room in Munich on some soggy Tuesday night) Plus: it’s way more lucrative (nice!), and plus it enables me to wear my pajamas all day and lock myself in my cozy home studio. In this manner I don’t have to deal with frightening stuff like other people, except via phone, fax or email......my shrink says this is both good and very very bad. I am working on this problem and will keep you updated.

10/24/03: my new medication seems to be working ; i’m able to leave the house now and do the grocery shopping

2/14/04: I’m shrink-shopping

3/20/04: I’ve given up

4/20/04: I’m back in therapy but my shrink keeps falling asleep. What should I make of this?

6/6/04:  I confronted my shrink about her falling asleep, and feel proud of myself for that.

10/6/04: Been traveling too much for therapy. Avoidance tactics anyone?

1/2/05: Well, how does one maintain a consistant thereputic program when one travels so much? I’m back at it......my shrink seems to be doing her level best not to fall asleep.

4/26/05: zzzzz

7/10/05: zzzzz, fuck it it’s summer

9/11/05: mommy ?

Funny thing, I’ve started to do psuedo-academic stuff re film scoring, lectures etc. I actually enjoy that stuff. Cos of this, and because I get so many requests for info on how to get into this line of work, I’m adding a couple of tips here, in this new section.

---------------------

NATHAN 'S GUIDE TO GETTING INTO FILMSCORING, PARTIAL AND ONGOING, BEEOTCH!

---------------------

I should mention that with the exception of the films that aren’t out yet, you can buy these films HERE.

Anyhoo have a look at some of the films I’ve worked on, both on my own and with my old band:

THE WOODSMAN            (click HERE and HERE for music)

has been released holiday season 2004, comes to u courtesy of some of the folks who brought you MONSTER’S BALL, the plot centers around a pedophile attempting to overcome his inclinations, and reengage in the world after 12 years in prison. I won’t lie to you: this was a tough one, but it was all worth it: the film has garned some great reviews, and was selected for competition at Sundance 2004, where it was sold to the folks who distributed last years “MONSTER”. Mos Def is in this one, what a fantastic actor, and Kevin Bacon turns in a pretty killer performance. I just kept waiting for him to cut footloose and kick off his Sunday shoes, but in never happened though I followed him around going “nowny nowny nowny” , I’m sure he gets that all the time. As I’ve mentioned several times (hey I’m entitled) I did win an award at Cannes this year for my work on this film, so maybe that means it doesn’t suck. Again I relied heavily on the skills of my violinist friend Asa H. , and a nasty old Echoplex.  I wrote and recorded the central theme on a classical guitar with three busted strings; sometimes i reckon you don’t need all six. They have me in the “For Your Consideration” bin for the Oscars, as if (nominated to be nominated to be nominated.) Anyway writer/director Nicole Kassel is a talent to be watched, no doubt. DVD available now.

PALINDROMES;          (click HERE for music)

Another one from Todd Solondz , so you have the general idea. I happen to think it’s some of his best work, he takes massives risks here and pulls off stuff I don’t think I’ve ever seen done, including swapping out the actor for the main character every 10 minutes; for some reason it works beautifully. I got to rip off the ROSEMARY’S BABY soundtrack, collaborated again with my wife Nina, always a pleasure; plus it was the first feature I did almost entirely on the laptop with which I write you now, at the now defunct Globe Studios, overlooking the Meat Packing District in New York City in it’s final days. Once a strange, nasty, and wonderful area, it’s now one big high-end designer outlet mall like everything else. Anyhoo, PALINDROMES has been very well recieved at the usual round of festivals, and apparently it’s been sold, thank God, as Todd paid for it himself , thus risking total financial annihialtion.  Balls. Thank god somebody already bought it and put it out, and the film is at this writing enjoying a critical blowjob in it’s theater run thus far, as is only right. This is perhaps the film , taken as a whole, of which I’m most proud to have worked on.

LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG:            (click HERE for music)

a lovely film with John Travolta all fat and drunk (read: Oscar-ready) , as well as the painfully beautiful Scarlett Johansson. Scarlett was up for a Golden Globe on this one, but no go. Well-written, beautifully shot, literary, composed of small gestures. Me and the longsuffering director Shainee Gable pulled this one out of our asses as we had very little outside help, and a lot of external static; lo, we prevailed. An example: a certain LA based producer, whom I will not name, wrote me an email detailing how exactly, in his opinion, I was ruining this film and by extention John Travolta’s shot at an Oscar nomination with my shitty music. Anyway he just didn’t fucking get it.  You can imagine my pleasure when the first review of the film (the Hollywood Reporter) called my work “masterful.” In your face, suit! See, if you got no vision, you can’t dig me. I’m a modernist, motherfucker! I operate from the future! As mentioned elsewhere, there's a soundtrack out for this one, and the DVD is available for rent or purchase. The music is minimalistic guitar-based stuff, very american, it feels good to be back to that approach, feels a bit like:

BOY’S DON’T CRY:                          (click HERE for music)

the first one I did all on my lonesome: a tough one for me as my first outing, but the final result I daresay is pretty brilliant and I love director Kim Pierce to death. I did most of it on pretty crappy equipment, and I had one guitar, one amp (an old Gretsch amp I borrowed from this dude Jim Dunbar; fuck, I love that amp , it was falling apart, maybe late-50’s and like 6 watts.......and I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called......Jim where are u and do u want to sell me that thing?) , and a keyboard. The film as most of u know is based on a true story: I took a song that was a favorite of the real-life Lana called “BLUEST EYES IN TEXAS” and made it a theme of sorts that runs throughout the film. My wife sings at the end, not a dry eye, etc.  Kim’s taking her time but she’ll come back at you with another one soon.

6-1-04: Jim, I need that fucking amp for LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG. C’mon, I’ll buy you a root-beer float.

DIRTY PRETTY THINGS:                    (click HERE for music)

This one kicked some box-office ass (well, by my standards) in the US, that’s always nice.

Directed by the esteemed Stephen Frears, (DANGEROUS LIASONS, HIGH FIDELITY, MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDERETTE) this is an unique thriller about set in modern London.  PRICK UP YOUR EARS , one of Stephen’s early films, was one of 3 or 4 films that changed the way I thought about the movies so as you might guess I was honored to be invited along. Unlike HIGH FIDELITY, this film is more of a direct descendant of his early work. The music here is a mish-mash of melodic retro-Ambient (in the Enoesque sense; I brought my full analog arsenal to bear on this one), a fragmented nylon-string guitar motif,  and harsh, lo-fi beats. The only aspect of my score here that I’m not that into is the use of the marimba, which every producer and their little sister wants to hear since goddamn AMERICAN BEAUTY reared it’s head......poor Thomas Newman, the guy has probably had to rip himself off many times over since he did that film, cos everybody wants to hear it. Two solo violinists are featured as well; a brit named Gavin and a swede named Asa, whom I’ve worked with many times before. A soundtrack saw a limited release on Cube records in the UK, which can perhaps be purchased HERE

TIGERLAND:                               (click HERE for music)

This was my first Hollywood production, directed by the veteran heavy-hitter Joel Schumacher....I was a wee bit intimidated at first, but as it turned out, Joel was and is a good guy and allowed me space to do my thing.

Funny story: I knew I needed some Asian-inspired music for this one. Now I recalled hearing a fellow playing this thing called an Er-hu (a Chinese, two stringed violin: lovely haunting sound) somewhere in the New York City subway system, so I went on a quest to find him. Find him I did (after like a three week search) at the 34th st. N/R stop, middle aged, sitting on a milk-crate, just ripping away....I approached him and it became quickly apparent that the dude, who I came to know as Guan-Ru-Li, spoke no English, so we had to stand there awkwardly and wait for some more Chinese folks to pass by who could possibly translate. The first likely cantidate, an elderly Chinese woman, came by, he approached her; but she was from a another province and couldn’t speak his dialect.....she then started screaming at him: “Stupid! You gotta learn speak english stupid!”....he snarled back at her, but then we were rescued by some passing students who spoke his language....we communicated through them, I got him (and his whole family) down to my studio, sang him some melodies upon which he improvised, then cut up everything in the computer, had my man and drummer Kevin March improv some drums over the Er-hu, and voila! Movie music. I tried to call Guan-Ru-Li when Tigerland premiered in New York.....but whoever answered the phone just hung up on me.  He’s still out there though.....look for him if you’re ever in the vicinity of Penn Station, and listen to him play. And don’t forget to tip.

LITTLE FISH:                               

Ah I enjoyed this one quite a bit.....is this perhaps the easiest-going project I’ve been on? I think so. I dig Australians, man. In this case here the director was a Sydney-based fellow names Rowan Woods, just the sweetest guy you can imagine. He had done a kind of gritty/ streety film called THE BOYS , and this would be his 2nd feature. Odd, I did the whole thing and never met anybody associated with the film , though I was in constant contact with them....they were editing over in Sydney, I was working away at my joint in Sweden, and via the glorious In-ter-net we were able to shuttle stuff back and forth, never to come in actual contact. Such is our world. Well: the film itself stars Cate Blanchett who for once isn’t playing some elf-queen or costume-drama-period thing; instead she gets to actually speak in her natural accent, wear a track suit,  and act her age, playing a character in rough circumstances trying to get her shit together. Oh forget, Cate’s always great, isn’t she? Re the music itself, I challenged myself to stay away from the low synth drones that seem to sneak into almost everything I (and a lot of my contemps) do , opting instead for instruments that occupy the higher registers: celeste, chimes, harp, dulcimer etc. Course I fucked em up a little sure cos I gotta be me, but it’s a pretty pure sound and I dig it.  Hope to work with Rowan again. And no, it wasn’t painful to have Cate to look at every day for several months running, she’s got such a complex and fantastic face, in a strange way I felt like I was constantly seeing different takes of the same scene though I only had one copy of the film to work with, it was a bit spooky.

STORYTELLING:                       

What have I done to deserve to work with such great directors? Todd Solondz: “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and “Happiness” are two of my top ten films, ( though I tried to watch “Happiness” the other day and couldn’t take it).....imagine my joy when I got to work with the guy who made em. STORYTELLING is in two parts, of which I did the first and my mysterious Scottish collegues Belle and Sebastian did the second. I leaned heavy on my Mellotron, threw down some nice loops and once again gave a shout to my wife (who was knitting next door) and had her lay down some atmosphere on the mic. Go see this movie and remember that I’m not responsibile for the content.....blame my friend Todd, the sick twist.

5/20/03: The Belle and Sebastian record of the same name is NOT the soundtrack to this film, though it might contain a couple of their tracks from the film. No comment on their liner notes. Don’t buy it thinking you’ll get the main titles theme, because you won’t: that piece of music will be included on my upcoming film-music compilation and I’d rather you buy that instead.

PROZAC NATION:                                   (click HERE and HERE for music)

The “film of the book”. Music done in Sweden.....me , a guitar, a piano, and an old Crumar analog: plus a killer violin player named Asa (the “A” at the beginning of her name has a little circle over it.). The director’s a sweetheart named Erik (deep breath) SKJOLDBJAERG. Would I bullshit you? That’s my boy’s name! I spent two months with my man and I still can’t pronounce that shit. Embarassing.  Great guy, Norwegian ; directed the original version of recently-remade INSOMNIA.....so I got to spend some time in Oslo, which was lovely. I got to watch Christiana Ricci be “depressed”.....less lovely. BUT I got to score the immortal Jessica Lange, upon whose brilliance greater minds than mine have waxed poetic.  The film has finally come out in some sort of limited release,  and I guess it’s been aired on the Lifetime network for all you ladies. I don’t usually say this, but I really like the music I did for this one. The DVD is out as well it seems, worth getting.

summer 2005 : Is Miramax (re) releasing this thing? Seems like it though not sure

VELVET GOLDMINE:                              (click HERE for music)

I’ve been blessed in the sense that I’ve worked with some very smart directors: Todd Haynes is one of them (if you haven’t seen “SAFE”, rent it tonight fool!) Most recently,  his “breakthrough”  film FAR FROM HEAVEN rocked the box-office. Looks like Todd has arrived in a big way). VELVET GOLDMINE is loosely based on David Bowie in his early 70’s (Ziggy Stardust) incarnation.....Todd had intended on using Bowie’s stuff for the movie, but at the last minute, David opted out , leaving Todd in a lurch.....me and my band and a lot of other folks were enlisted to write songs in that style, which was a blast for us cos we grew up on that stuff. The song “Hot One” is one of which I’m particularly proud......also features kick ass rock from the likes of Thurson Moore, Mike Watt, Thom Yorke and members of Elastica, Spacehog, and Placebo. u should not be a big loser and go buy the soundtrack..... HOT ONE in fact has taken on new meaning in my life, and is the name of my new band , as well as my corporate identity.

FIRST LOVE LAST RITES:                                (click HERE for music)

The first feature I was involved with.....this one was directed by my friend and roomate Jesse Peretz......you know him as the Grammy-award winning video director of such stuff as the Foofighters “Learning to Fly”.......he wishes u knew him as a serious film director, but so far he hasn’t been so lucky in that area; but he will be. He’s one of my best friends and is responsible for getting me into this business: for that I’m forever indebted to him. Anyway: my band and I got together a great group of singers to do our original songs for the film, including Jeff Buckley, Liz Phair, Matt Johnson of The The, Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander, my girl and Cardigan Nina Persson, and ex-X man John Doe. Now John Doe was my rock and roll hero.....the day he came into town to sing my song I actually puked from sheer nervousness (a first for me), but everything went great after that. These songs were written in about two weeks by me and my man Craig Wedren, and I’m proud of all of them. If u can find the record, purchase that shit straight away, cos it’s really good. Plus it brought me and my wife together so it has special personal value for me, but that’s none of your goddamn business anyway, so carry on. Jesse and I are gonna be working on a new one this Fall.

HIGH ART:                                                        (click HERE for music)

a film from yet another brilliant director I’ve been fortunate enough to work with, Lisa Cholodenko.....did it with Shudder To Think, but really it was me and my friend Craig sitting in our respective home studios trying to wring good shit out of our crappy equipment.....there’s much to be said to limitations of course and i think HIGH ART is a case in point. Craig’s stroke of genius: let’s sample crystal glass tones and take it from there. He set the tone and I pitched in with some funkiness and quiet guitar stuff.....I like the end titles song too called “SHE MIGHT BE WAKING UP” and I wish i’d recorded it properly. Her latest film is LAUREL CANYON, which was scored by my old SHUDDER TO THINK collaborator Craig Wedren.

LE CHATEAU:                                                  (click HERE for music)

Again my pal Jesse Peretz, kicking it on the digital video tip.....a fucking funny movie. My boys Paul Rudd and Rom Malco lay down the comedy.....I did this one in my second home Malmo, Sweden in colaboration with a smart cat named Patrik Bartosch, who’s in a band called Eggstone......we aped 60’s french stuff and once again I called upon my wife to smooth things out. I ate lots of these Swedish chocolate balls during the course of this recording, which up until the late 90s were refered to as “Nigger Balls”: I found this offensive and unbelievable but when u consider the fact that there weren’t any black people in Sweden (Don Cherry being the exception; oh and i think Gil Evans lived in.....wait that was Denmark and plus he’s not black) until around that time we as hip Americans can forgive their cultural ignorance. Anyway the chocolate balls taste really good! (PS:  1/20/03: came and went in the theaters; typical: but you can buy the DVD)

PHONE BOOTH:                                        (click HERE for music)

4/03: Another Joel Schmaucher joint: I learned a little about Hollywood on this one. I worked on this bitch for a year or so......and in the final analysis the studio (Fox) inisisted that my stuff didn’t make the protaganist appear “sympathetic” enough, nor did I keep the suspense up to a degree they were happy with, so they dumped 75% of my work and sent me on my merry way. I don’t mind: they still paid me an almost pornographic amount of money, with which I bought a car and a lot of other stuff. Thanks, Fox! Its release was held up for a spell by that sniper episode in DC.  It appears PHONE BOOTH is a bit of a hit worldwide, if the bootleg market in Thailand is any barometer. 

Actually I got a look at the cue sheet from Fox and it seems like they’re using about 60% of my music. I wouldn’t know as I haven’t watched it.

6/6/04 : I watched it, there’s very little music I recognize in there. Do I take it off my resume? After two years of work? Nah.

10/5/05: yeah off it goes, I don't want anyone thinking I did all that shitty music.

LILJA 4-EVER:                                          (click HERE for music)

My first project with a Swedish director, the brilliant Lukas Moodyson, whose first two films, SHOW ME LOVE and TOGETHER are must-sees, as is this one. LILJA is beautiful and hardcore, and deals gracefully with the some heavy issues, specificly   sex-trade and slavery in Eastern Europe, the statistics on which are staggering and only getting worse.....I’m proud to be part of this film and believe that Lukas is one of the best filmakers working today, anywhere. It came out (and went) in NYC, and I’m afraid it didn’t get the wider audience it deserves ; but time will be kind to this beautiful film, I believe.

THE MOTEL:

can be seen at Sundance 2005....a lovely film by first time director Mike Kang, and produced by Miguel Arteta (THE GOOD GIRL, CHUCK AND BUCK). It concerns a Chinese family who run a fleabag by-the hour motel, and follows the young son through his development in this bent environment. Just about all of this I did on a vibraphone (turned off so you get no vibrato) which, annoyingly , people have assumed is a marimaba. It’s not,  goddamit! Aside from the sunny jammy acoustic guitar moments this was a tremendous exercise in restraint for me, as most of the music is nothing more that the vibraphone , and a tiny percussive element. I did most of the recording in Sweden, and completed it ( thereafter sinking into a deep inexplicable depression) in Los Angeles, at this dank by-the-hour hip-hop studio above a flower shop on Melrose.

AFTERMATH:                     

Directed by our Danish friend Paprika Steen (who appeared as an actor in films like THE CELEBRATION) , this is an intense bit of work about  a couple coming to terms with the death of their child. My wife Nina and I made a cover of REM’s LOSING MY RELIGION for the end titles, and it’s a shame very few people outside of Scandanavia got to hear it; so please find the above MP3.

ALWAYS MORE TO COME.......