“I did more research for this movie than any movie I’ve ever worked on,” says ‘The Green Knight’ composer Daniel Hart on Writing Music for Medieval Fantasy on Sir Gawain (Dev Patel) and his quest to find the main character as part of a deadly game. He had never written music for this genre before, so he thought, “It’s going to be an adventure. And I felt like it needed to feel musically authentic in some ways. Watch our exclusive video interview with Hart above.
Preparing for ‘The Green Knight’ involved “researching instruments and musical styles from the 15th century…and on top of that I wrote a lot of Middle English lyrics.” Hart wanted these lyrics to sound like the original poem, which was written in the 14th century, “so I read a lot of Middle English poetry and listened to people recite Middle English poetry… Because often when I I was writing lyrics, it was the sound of a word that appealed to me as much as the meaning of the word itself.
“The Green Knight” was written and directed by David Bassey. Hart composed the scores for all of Lowery’s feature films, which ranged in style from “The Old Man and the Gun” to Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon” and required equally different music. “I love being a chameleon,” he said of the variation in his compositions from film to film. “There are so many different styles of music that I’m obsessed with, and so many that I’ve been blessed to learn and then play over the years.” But there is a common element in the music because Lowery’s films all explore “the fragility of existence, the vulnerability of what it is to be human and to be alive”.
Now, Hart finds himself on the Oscar list for Best Original Score, a first for the composer. “‘What?’ That was my reaction, I think. And then after that, “Awesome,” he says of being surprised at the good news. He admits it’s “intimidating” to be among “a lot of very great music by a lot of great composers”. But creating this score was “like being a kid in a candy store. All the things that I wanted to do to create the sounds for this movie, I have to do.
Make your Gold Derby predictions now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone or Android (Google Play) devices to compete against legions of other fans as well as our experts and editors for the highest prediction accuracy scores. Check out our latest betting champions. Can you then top our estimated rankings? Always remember to keep your predictions up to date as they impact our latest racetrack odds, which are terrifying chefs and Hollywood stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak out and share your opinions on our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders hide out every day to follow the latest awards rumours. Everyone wants to know: what do you think? Who do you predict and why?
Comments are closed.