The Movie Music of Mark Mothersbaugh March 29, 2009 2 Comments
When I was studying film I remember Bottle Rocket was the first movie that made filmmaking seem tangible. I could tell these guys were just like me from the story they told and the way they told it. Wes Anderson and the Wilsons not only brought their chatty slacker melo-drama to life but it looked beautiful too. This was one I had to have letterboxed on laser disc before the dvd revolution came along.
The music in Bottle Rocket was just as memorable as the jumpsuits, plucky and upbeat like the sun rising over the Texas farms in the background. Mark Mothersbaugh layed down the Spanish sounding and jazzy pieces while the Stones cap off the final “action” scene with 2000 Man; but my favorite cue is the non-diegetic to diegetic trick with the Promclaimers “It’s Over and Done With” after Dignan and Anthony fall out cutting to Inez upset and killing the music by powering down the boom box.
Here’s a gem I found on youtube that I want to share with Mark Mothersbaugh breaking down his scoring career from the beginning and why he took to Wes Anderson’s love of filmmaking; from Bottle Rocket through the Life Aquatic. He discusses in detail that Wes didn’t like any low bass tones in the score which becomes a running theme through the first 3 movies. Lots of acoustic guitars, sleigh bells, shakers and flutes but you won’t hear a trombone until Royal Tenenbaum’s family hit the screen.
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