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Fan Rant: Wrong Soundtrack for the Wrong Trailer

by Elisabeth Rappe Nov 29th 2008 // 1:03PM

Filed under: Drama, Universal, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips



Hollywood, please. Leave The Fountain's soundtrack alone!

Somehow, in the course of my writing, I neglected to ever watch the Frost/Nixon trailer, something now rectified thanks to it being attached to Australia. I was into it right up until a familiar theme started playing ... and then I just felt an inexplicable disgust. I wondered what, exactly, Ron Howard (or whoever at Universal put together the trailer) was thinking. Why on earth would you use The Fountain for that movie? What about the music is appropriate for the mood and story you're trying to convey? (A similar problem plagues Mansell's Lux Aeterna piece from Requiem for a Dream -- for every trailer that uses it beautifully, like The Two Towers, there's one that just cheeses it up, like Babylon A.D.)

I confess, I have a weird, protective feeling towards this soundtrack. It's one of my favorite films and scores, one I listen to constantly. I'm convinced that even if you didn't see the film, or hated it, Clint Mansell's score is music enough to stand on its own -- something few soundtracks really are. Honestly, if you don't own it, put it on your Christmas list -- you won't regret it.




Now, despite my over-attachment to it, it doesn't bother me to hear The Fountain on a trailer -- too few people saw the movie, and if hearing the music gets people to check the film or Mansell's score out, that's fine by me. But it has to be used well. Blade Runner: The Final Cut used it beautifully, for example, and it was an eerily appropriate choice, thematically. But Frost/Nixon? Come on. I'd give it a pass if they used one of the quieter pieces, which would be wholly appropriate to the trailer. But they use the full blown, romantic, "Death is the road to awe / together we will live forever" theme, which doesn't evoke anything about David Frost, Richard Nixon, journalism, or Watergate. It's quite jarring, and I imagine it is even to those unfamiliar with the music, particularly since it drowns out the dialogue -- something you don't want to do with a film like this.

And that's just it -- so much hinges on a film's trailer, and the music you choose is just as important as the clips you put together. If you picked a piece just because you liked it, and slapped it on regardless of whether it's suitable, that looks sloppy to this audience member. Surely, I'm not the only one?

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Tags: Clint Mansell, ClintMansell, featured, Frost Nixon trailer, FrostNixon, FrostNixonTrailer, The Fountain soundtrack, TheFountainSoundtrack

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