….it’s an educated guess at best. In an interview with NME, the former Blur guitarist revealed he’s currently at work on a soundtrack album for a forthcoming Brit “freak thriller” that’s coming out “relatively soon”. Of course, the cheeky bastard declined to name the film so we’re going to start the speculative ball rolling.
Graham Coxon says the album will sound like “Pink Floyd with fangs” and goes on to say that:
“They [film producers] gave me some themes to play with, famous old nursery rhymes and folk songs that I wanted to muck about with. I came up with 13 or 14 tracks, so about 45 minutes of music – it’s a weird, strange kind of album.”
That actually sounds pretty cool. Ever since this news floated online last week we’ve been turning over what the film he could be working on might be and we think Mark Romanek’s forthcoming “Never Let Me Go” is a fairly solid guess.
The film, which is already in the test screening phase, is a futuristic thriller that takes place at an elite English boarding school where a trio of students find out they are actually clones created for the sole purpose of organ donation. ‘Freak thriller’ right? The setting of the film, coupled with its science fiction background seems like its the right fit for fractured, moody nursery rhymes. Moreover, given director Mark Romanek’s extensive music video background, we could see him being more comfortable working with individual songs, rather than a traditional score.
But until we know for sure, this is all just a guessing game. Anyone else have some thoughts (or insider info)?
In other Blur news, the band have announced a documentary entitled "No Distance Left To Run" will open in cinemas in the UK on January 19th 2010. Filmed during their sort of comeback tour in summer 2009 and directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace.
A trailer is on the bands website http://www.blur.co.uk
'Brit freak thriller' doesn't exactly sound like the novel version 'Never Let Me Go'.
It's got to be some other movie.
'Never Let Me Go' is not so much a thriller as it is a drama where these people suspect there was something different about there childhood, and then they begin to understand.
I agree completely with SK, if "Never Let Me Go" is a thriller, then Romanek has completely ruined the novel's soul. It is much more a quiet sci-fi drama. It would be wonderful with this score, but I have a feeling that "freak thriller" may not be a right fit…
If you've read the script, you know that "Never Let Me Go" is not a thriller. It is much more "freak" euro indie drama. Unless Coxon heard the word "clone" and jumped to the conclusion that he was scoring "The Island 2", I would suspect he is working on another project.
Oh, and the clone thing is a bit of a spoiler for those who haven't read the script or novel so you might want to rethink your description of the project. Its like giving away the Janet Leigh death in "Psycho". It doesn't ruin the whole movie, but it evaporates all tension from the first act. If you read the studio logline for the project, you will see that they carefully step around revealing this detail. I would suspect they are trying hard to support this film for what it is (a drama about a group of friends sorting their lives under the cloud of an inevitable destiny) rather than create a false impression that it's some sci fi thriller for quick first weekend ticket sales. No one shoots a gun. No one make a run for the border. No one uncovers a conspiracy. It is much smaller than that.
It would be a shame if the marketing department actually manages to get this one right but the indie film bloggers kill it anyway. The script is fantastic. I have high hopes for the finished project.
While agreed, "Never let Me Go" is not a thriller of any sort, that's just Coxon's take. What he describes, "nursery rhymes and folk songs" which could be like pastoral lullabies are very much in keeping with the tone of that script.
Him describing the cloning thing as "freaky" might be just a British thing.
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Discussing why the characters of 'Never Let Me Go' are the way they are is not really a spoiler, I would say.
I think the amazon.com book description mentions it, and maybe even the back cover of the book alludes to it but I'm not sure now. It's definitely not discussed in the novel until later on, but it never feels like a "twist" in the plot or a big secret. It's like the characters new all along they were different but just needed to hear it exactly.
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I hope the marketing doesn't give it away, but anyone who finds out on the internet or from friends shouldn't feel like the movie is ruined.
Wouldn't that be the first guess anyway?
But I haven't read the script so I'm interested to see if it goes in a bit of a different direction than the novel. I wouldn't mind either way, and I think they'll pull it off with that cast.
wait…Janet Leigh dies in "Psycho"??? dude, spoiler much!!!