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Versión en español
 The
film Monster has not only given us the opportunity to realize
that Charlize Theron is more than a pretty face, it also gave
us a surprise in terms of its music. A vibrant composition that moves
easily between melody and atonal sound, BT's music is one of
the best things from this film. As always, we contacted his agent in
hoping we could interview this groundbreaking "new" composer,
and here is the result. Thanks from here to the ever helpful Ray
Costa.
Seville April the 2nd. 21:30 (Local Time)
A distant bell rings...
BT: Hi, who's this?
BSOSpirit (BS): Hi Brian, this is Sergio,
the interview you had set for today...
BT: Oh, hi, Man! How are you doing?
BS: Fine thanks, and you?
BT: Fine too.
BS: First of all I want to thank you for taking
the time to do this interview; I know how busy you're these days...
BT: No need in that, it's a pleasure...
BS: Then, ready when you're...
BT: Start shooting! (laughs)
B S:
(laughs) Well, how did you were involved in Monster?
BT: I started on Monster really early, which is, you know,
sort of a dream thing for a composer... To start on a film before
the whole thing is completed... And it's very rare for a composer
being attached before anything has begun...
BS: Yeah, very rare indeed...
BT: Basically Patty Jenkins approached me and wanted me
to take a look at the script... So I took it on a plane I was taking
that evening, and at the middle of reading it I found myself uncomfortably
weeping... So I told to myself "this is a music I have to do"... So
I took my laptop and began writing initial sketches of what the music
should be like... And a few weeks later I was having meetings almost
daily with Patty and Charlize in discussing what would
ultimately become the 45 minutes of music I would write for the film...
And it's a fantastic project that was originally recorded in 5.1...
And involved so many people who wanted to accurately tell this woman's
story... It was amazing to be involved in this movie...
BS: And how is to work in a movie from the
very beginning? I mean, how do you come with music by only reading
the script?
BT: Well, this was a very inspiring material and the difficult
thing was not composing but deciding which music of the huge amount
that I originally composed will ultimately be put on the picture...
But it was a very enriching process because from the very beginning
I was focused in writing a very emotional and sad music in trying
to evoke Ellen's victims and Ellen herself, and Patty was
always directing me in the opposite way, telling me to write a harder
music to describe Ellen... And that exactly was what the film
needed!!! (laughs)
BS: (laughs) One thing that one can appreciate
listening to the music you composed for Monster is all the
background you have had... Beginning with your classical music formation...
BT: That's cool; I appreciate you saying that...
BS: Well, thanks (laughs)
BT: (laughs) Well, that's something which people usually don't
pick up... Because everybody will say... "Your classical background
and blah,blah,blah...."
BS: (laughs)
BT: You know what I'm saying, don't you?
BS: Yeah, and since I have a similar background
(I have been listening to classical music since my childhood) I
can tell when somebody has been influenced by it...
BT: As I already have said, I DO APPRECIATE THAT...
B S:
Thanks again...
And from that background to the point when you start to compose the
electronic music for which you're most known, how can you mix those
two aspects of your, lets' say musical life, and come with a score
that moves between the most tender sounds (the theme for Ellen and
her lover)...
BT: Are you referring to the wheel theme?
BS: Yeah, of course... And on the other hand
you write the brutal music that we hear on the first kill (the scene
where Ellen is brutally raped)... How can you do that?
BT: it's funny that you have mentioned those two pieces because
I was going to talk about them (laughs)
BS: (laughs) No Kidding?
BT: (laughs) Not at all... Well, those were two pieces of music
that wrote themselves without any complication, firmly opposing the
opening sequence (when we hear Ellen talking about her childhood
and so)...
BS: Yah, I remember...
BT: That was SO HARD to write, I wrote like five or six versions
of the same theme all of the very sad; and Patty kept telling
me "no, you have to write hopeful music for that intro"... And it
was very difficult for me to change my mind into composing that...
BS: I would say you successfully did it...
I think the music for that scene perfectly describes all the illusions
and hopes that the character has at the beginning of the movie when
she's telling the audience what she wants to be and so...
BT: Thanks, I appreciate that; and Patty was very instrumental
in achieving that sound telling me not to look at the images but listening
to what she is saying... So that I did! (laughs). Patty wanted
to avoid what for example happened in Boys Don't Cry music...
In Boys Don't Cry you know from the beginning that something
awful is going to happen and Patty wanted her movie (and the
music) to kept telling you that as awful as the situations could become
for Ellen, ultimately everything would go right, they might
go away with it, they will find a way out of it... And then >wham!<,
what the fuck you were thinking?...
BS: Yeah, the movie does that a few times...
BT: Aha, and the first rape scene, because it was so visually heavy...
Well, the music wrote itself in a way that I wanted to improvise that
cue... AQnd that's what I did... In my garage with my synthesizers...
And we did it in one take (and I'm not exaggerating), and the piece
was from then modified here and there with the addition of two guitars....
But the mood was achieved in that first take... And I wanted the music
to essentially create a crescendo to the point when she shoots him,
but Patty told me to make that crescendo to the moment when
she finally drops the gun... So you see... Patty was very,
very instrumental for me to achieve the kind of sound that I finally
achieved for the movie because she had so clearly in her mind what
the tone and the music should do to the audience...
B S:
And what about the other theme, the one for the lovers?
BT: Well, that theme gave me more than a headache because I keep
telling to myself "How am I going to wrap this relationship musically?"...
But it turned out all my troubles went away and ultimately it was
very easy to write... A 5 note theme that came naturally once I obliged
my mind to stop thinking and left it move in whatever way it wanted
within a pentatonic scale... And once I got it I played it to Patty and
she told me "I don't know how you have done it, but that's absolutely
perfect!!" (laughs)...And all I could say was "Wow" (strongly laughing)
BS: (laughs) That must be a great feeling...
BT: The greatest of it all (laughs)
B S:
Ok, Brian, I think that's a perfect ending for the interview.
Thank you very much for your time.
BT: Thanks to you for your accurate questions. One last thing...
BS: Yeah?
BT: On which part of Spain are you?
BS: Oh, in the south, in Seville...why?
BT: And that's anywhere near Ibiza?
BS: No, I'm afraid not... But you've intrigued
me, why do you want to know?
BT: Well, I'm playing there at the summer and it could have been
great if we could have meet, but well, perhaps when you come to Los
Angeles...
BS: Yeah, that would be a long time from now,
but who knows...
BT: Yeah, who knows? Take care. Bye
BS: Bye
For more info on composer BT, visit http://www.btmusic.com
Interview carried by Sergio Benítez
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