Lukas Dhont, Valentin Hadjadj Discuss ‘Coward’ Score, and Edward Berger, Volker Bertelmann Talk About Music for ‘The Riders,’ Starring Brad Pitt — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Lukas Dhont and composer Valentin Hadjadj will discuss their score for 'Coward,' a World War I drama Dhont first pitched as 'a musical about the repression of emotions,' featuring on-screen archival war songs reimagined with a contemporary pop approach.
- Hadjadj prefers composing before shooting starts, working from the script's story rather than the image, while Volker Bertelmann takes the opposite approach, coming in late to score a nearly finished cut to feel 'inside the film.'
- Bertelmann and director Edward Berger, now on their sixth collaboration, are scoring 'The Riders,' starring Brad Pitt in a film set for release next year that Berger describes as 'an inner journey' calling for 'fragility and tenderness.'
- Bertelmann has already delivered 25 themes for 'The Riders' after screening a rough cut, with the score intended to 'give voice to whatever is driving' Pitt's character through his 'descent' and 'liberation.'
- Bertelmann won an Oscar for his reverb-heavy score for 'All Quiet on the Western Front,' another Great War film that, like 'Coward,' took a modern sonic approach to period material.
Why it matters: The WSA Film Music Days conversations spotlight a rare contrast in working methods between two top European director-composer partnerships — Hadjadj's pre-shoot, script-driven process versus Bertelmann's late, image-driven approach — both arriving at contemporary scores for World War I material. Their next projects include a major Brad Pitt vehicle from Berger, giving the score industry a window into how award-winning composer-director chemistry is built and sustained across multiple films.
Ask SkimNews
