So this post will be decidedly shorter than my previous screening post about Iron Man 2 since there's not really a ton to tell, even if equally awesome. Fantastic Fest is a film festival that happens every year for the past 6 or so years in Austin, TX. It was created by Tim League, CEO and founder of the Alamo Drafthouse, and Harry Knowles, founder of Butt-numb-a-thon Film Festival and Aint it Cool News. The idea is that Fantastic Fest is a genre festival, specializing in action, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, thriller, etc genre films from all over the world. I was unable to attend the whole thing this year, but I did get a chance to attend the opening night gala premiere of Let Me In, the American "remake" of the Swedish vampire film, Let The Right One In. I placed remake in quotation marks because director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) didn't approach the film as a remake of the Swedish version, but as an adaptation of the same book both films are based on. I think he made the right decision, as obviously the two films will be the same in plot, but felt different in a lot of ways as well. On with the show!
So first thing that happened was Tim League took the stage to do some goofy stuff and kick off Fantastic Fest, all fun. Then Matt Reeves joins him and starts the intro to the film. Soon he was joined by none other than the great composer Michael Giacchino (LOST, Up, Star Trek, Ratatouille, The Incredibles, M:I:III) , who, as anyone who knows me knows, is my current favorite film composer. To me, this guy is the legitimate heir to John Williams' throne. If that sounds like hyperbole, I will just say that after you listen to his scores, especially for Star Trek, Up, LOST, and Let Me In, you'll know what I mean. So Giacchino tells us he has a surprise, then introduces these folks....
The Texas Boys Choir and their conductor and piano accompaniment came on stage and performed a live rendition of an overture from Giacchino's score. Beautiful, haunting stuff. They left the stage and the film begins. My full review of the film will be up shortly, but needless to say, it's one of the best films of the year and the finest American horror film in years.
After the film was over, Tim came back on stage, and introduced Matt Reeves, Elias Koteas, Michael Giacchino, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Dylan Minnette, and Jimmy Pinchak for a brief Q&A session.
(left to right: Matt Reeves and Elias Koteas)
(left to right: Michael Giacchino and Dylan Minnette)
Just like at the Iron Man 2 screening back in April, it seemed like I was the only person with the balls to start off the questions, so my question got answered first. I asked Giacchino (after embarrassingly gushing about his scores) what it was like to go from bombastic scoring of big blockbusters and Pixar films to something more creepy, atmospheric, and subtle. He gave a somewhat vague response about how ironically he can't deal with blood and such, so scoring for a very bloody horror film was a different experience for him, but he knew that as long as he drew from an emotional context that the beautiful story provided, he could do it. Vague indeed. There were a couple other questions I can't remember.
After everyone dispersed, I managed to get Giacchino and Reeves to answer a couple more questions and autograph this limited edition Mondo Tees designed poster for the film
(Michael Giacchino's autograph)
(Matt Reeves' autograph)
I asked reeves what it was like to go from the large scale, yet shaky-handheld "lost tapes) style of Cloverfield (a film I'm on the record of being a big fan of) to something much more stately and traditionally filmed like Let Me In. We chatted for a couple of minutes about how this was actually the kind of film he's always wanted to make, and that both films share some stylistic parallels in that they both take place form the point of view of these normal people (Cloverfield dealing with the college kids, Let Me In from the POV of the 12 year old boy Owen) and hwo through that, you get this sense of the main characters being caught up in something bigger than them unexpectedly, with no idea how to handle such circumstances. Fascinating stuff, wish I could have talked with him longer. Maybe a full length interview could be arranged later.
In any case, a really fun time, and my review of the film will be up soon. Until then, have at it in the comments section.
4 comments:
Way to go!!! I am so proud of you for getting your questions out there. In situations like that, you cannot hold back. When will you ever be in a place with all those awesome people again? NEVER. So you did the right thing. And that poster is TOO AWESOME. I am so jealous of you and Austin!
First of all, I'm jealous lol
Second, you're not wrong in saying Giacchino is one of the best film composers to come along who continues to write with a full orchestra and not just a bunch of lame synth'd up scores. A lot of the people up here, and I'm sure in the business, have also held him as today's John Williams. He's really a remarkable talent, and honestly, aside from the scores he's done recently, which you noted above, I think one of his most undervalued scores was for The Incredibles. It's stunning. K, that's all I'll say on that haha I could geek out for hours...
By all means Matt, geek out. I'm not a professional musician, but my passion for film scoring is pretty epic. I'm glad I know someone who is as passionate about it as I am. Maybe one day we can work together on a film. :D
yeah man that would be awesome. I'm always looking for films :)
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