Sometimes you read something (and even report on it) and then you totally forget about it. Today we read something on Anne Thompson’s blog where she said, Danny Boyle originally wanted Jack White of the White Stripes to score, “Slumdog Millionaire,” but he couldn’t because he was unavailable at the time.
We knew this because we actually wrote about it briefly, waaay back in the day and back then it didn’t sound like a bad idea, in fact, abstractly, it’s a very cool concept. Boyle is obviously a big fan, and White makes some very interesting music.
But now that we’ve seen “Slumdog Millionaire,” and witnessed the fast-paced and energetic Indian music of A.R. Rahman, well no offense, but White’s retro-primitivism would have been incredibly unsuited for the material (though to be fair, Boyle wanted him to collaborate with some popular Indian musicians). Sure, maybe the energy of the film could be conveyed via power and stomp, but White man’s blues rock for a movie set in India?
Hmm, we don’t think that odd juxtaposition would have worked as much as we love it when Boyle makes bold cinematic choices. Maybe for another project Danny, but we’re really glad this one didn’t come to pass.
