Rahman composes for Kurtzman-directed Spielberg production
thanks to AlexAdams..
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A couple of days after launching the music of Ek Deewana Tha at the Taj Mahal, music maestro AR Rahman confirms his next big collaboration. He has teamed up with top screenwriter Alex Kurtzman and acclaimed Hollywood producer-director Steven Spielberg for the former’s directorial debut, Welcome To People (WTP).
Kurtzman has earlier been involved with big projects like Mission: Impossible III (2006), Transformers, Star Trek and Cowboys & Aliens among others. He has written the screenplay of this new film with regular collaborators Roberto Orci and Jody Lambert.
“Yes, I have just finished the soundtrack for WTP,” confirms Rahman. “It was great to work with Kurtzman, who is a top screenwriter in Hollywood, and have Spielberg backing it. I really had a great experience working on the film.”
Three years ago, Rahman had created history by winning multiple Oscar awards – among other illustrious trophies – for his super-successful soundtrack in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.
After the film’s success, Rahman has worked on Hollywood projects like Couples Retreat (CR, 2009) and Boyle’s 127 Hours without much success, but he’s excited about the new “soundtrack-oriented” film.
Spielberg“WTP’s music is a bit different from CR and 127 Hours. It’s much more emotional and dramatised. I have really enjoyed the process. I think it’s going to release early next year,” explains Rahman, adding that he is trying very hard to divide his time between family, Hindi films, Hollywood, Tamil cinema and other things.
“People must understand that now, due to time constraints, things can’t be like they were earlier. And since I am doing very few films, I want to do them satisfactorily with no deadline pressure,” says the maestro.
Interestingly, some time ago, Spielberg had stated that he wanted to work with Rahman. “I have heard interesting compositions of Rahman and would love to work with him in the near future,” the iconic filmmaker had said.
WTP stars Olivia Wilde, Elizabeth Banks, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chris Pine and Mark Duplass. The story is about a man who is tasked with delivering $1,50,000 of his deceased father’s fortune to a sister he has never met.
December 24, 2011 at 9:49 AM
Wow, this is big! Even if I regard his ‘international’ outings with mixed feelings. I’d much rather have him focus on purely Indian soundtracks. Because not many of these projects offer enough of a challenge to put out something truly edgy or scintillating. Not that I blame him at all for wishing to explore a wider global scene. But I haven’t seen an extraordinary result come out of this so far barring Slumdog (which was a very Indian affair) and Warriors of Heaven and Earth where again more than the entire score I liked the key song here a lot. Here it is (though the sound isn’t great on the youtube):
this incidentally remains my favorite of all his international collaborations, a brilliant piece:
December 24, 2011 at 10:15 AM
I think his score for 127 Hrs was great, and contributied a lot to the film’s impact.
December 24, 2011 at 10:16 AM
forgot about this.. yes this was indeed a good score. Just love Acid Darbar here but there’s other good stuff too.
December 24, 2011 at 3:32 PM
Rehmans juggernaut continues unabated
for real superlative talent–nothing comes in the way….
no chance, no luck, no connections–pure merit