The Paper's reporter Qian Lianshui compiled
"Mank" received ten Oscar nominations, on par with Netflix's "The Irishman" last year. The latter eventually returned empty-handed, will Mank repeat the mistakes of the past?
Mank poster
One of the ten nominations went to the soundtrack. Trent Reznor and his nine-inch nail partner Atticus Ross's soundtrack is close to the 1930s in the film, very different from the style of the "nine-inch nail" industrial Thunder. Listening to the soundtrack, most of the time you will find it familiar, pleasant, occasionally naughty, and touching on horror and sadness.
"Mank" is a black-and-white film with a narrative that crosses the era, and the protagonist Hermann J. Mankiewicz was a talented gambler who used to pouring alcohol into his mouth. His life was not glorious, and he himself lacked the spiritual strength to fight in the face of adversity. But such a sloppy man handed over the script of Citizen Kane before being destroyed by alcohol and frustration. Renault and Rose's soundtrack matches Mankiewicz's slowly sinking life, but there is no lack of sharp hooks in the chaos and ups and downs, like a cat shining out its claws.
The Guardian also interviewed David Fincher and Trent Renault. "Mank" is the fourth film the two have collaborated on. Since 2010, Renault has been Finch's regular soundtrack partner for every film. Earlier, their paths had been staggered. Finch used the "nine-inch nail" of "Closer" in his 1995 classic Seven Deadly Sins. After the reordering, the song appears at the beginning of the film in the introductory credits, playing several montages of the protagonist John Doe. Ten years later, Finch, who had left the MV field and turned to the big screen, made an exception to shoot the MV for the nine-inch nail single "Only", which was extremely effective and boosted the single to the top of the charts.
The story of Fight Club is a bit more circuitous. Renault and Nine Inch Nails were not directly involved in the film's score, but the book's author, Chuck Palahniuk, believes the band's The Downward Spiral was a deep influence on the book, writing many chapters while looping it. Appreciation and favorability are usually mutual. Renault also loved Fight Club. A few years ago, Finch wanted to bring the film to the Broadway stage, and the first soundtrack writer who came to mind was Trent Renault.
David Finch started out shooting music videos, and he was almost as sensitive to music as he was to images. "I like to bring untamed underground music to Broadway. The most glorious moments of this kind of music may have passed. I don't think there are people who are willing to go all the way to see white men to vent their dissatisfaction. But I still like to do it. ”
Before working with David Finch, Trette Renault hadn't imagined that his musical career would expand into film. Although he and David Lynch worked together on the 1997 thriller Lost Highway (1997), without Finch, he might have only occasionally tested the soundtrack.
In 2011, Trent Renault (right) and Atticus Rose won the Oscar for Best Original Score for the soundtrack of The Social Network directed by David Finch, the first official collaboration between Finch and Trent Renault. Visual China Infographic
David Finch and Trent Renault's first formal collaboration began in The Social Network (2010). The film tells the story of Facebook founder Mark Elliot Zuckerberg who walked out of the Harvard campus to create an Internet social kingdom. As Zuckerberg walked through Harvard late at night, the theme song "Hand Covers Bruise" sounded. The clear piano tone and the fog of the synthesizer push Zuckerberg's ambition and anxiety into the fast track and disappear into the night. Recalling the aura of hearing music many years ago, Finch is still intoxicated: "This song shapes the character's deep character. The music in the film is never just used to support the director's intentions. Trent and Argatis provide us with a gateway to the heart of a stranger. Finch admired the old duo: "The best thing about them is their ability to shape the world." What you hear is not only a song, but also a song from the depths of the soul. ”
This was followed by two thrillers, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "Gone Girl," followed by last year's "Mank."
Ten Oscar nominations, whether they won or not, is always a happy event. "He's not going to be unhappy." Finch did not say who "he" was referring to, but could be the film's protagonist, Mankiewicz, the screenwriter of Citizen Kane, or his late father, Jack Finch, the screenwriter of Manke. David Finch's father, Jack, died in 2003, and the script for Mank was written in 1990. In 1997, the father and son tried to bring Mankiewicz's life to the screen, but in the end they did not have time to complete it before Jack's death. "I see Mankiewicz as a funny, eccentric, marginal person. I want to dedicate him to a film about him. ”
Jack didn't leave any thoughts on film music during his lifetime. Before finding Renault and Rose, Finch had no musical outline in his head. It can be Bernard Hermanian (the soundtrack to Citizen Kane and an important partner of Hitchcock), or something like Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983). Whatever they say, I'm ready to pay for it. ”
In the end, they decided to use the voice of that era. "David said he envisioned the film as if he were in a grave, in the same era as Citizen Kane." Renault and Rose began to imitate the popular music of the time and gradually discovered great fun. From big band formation to percussion, jazz to symphony, they play more and more energetically, and the capacity of the music is getting fuller and fuller.
In a scene in which Mankiewicz walks towards the desert studio, Renault gives the soundtrack like a horror movie. The playwright's move towards the moment of fate is significant, and Finch can't help but ask him: "Is it too creepy, is it so exaggerated?" Renault's idea was: "If Bernard Herman had come back to life to do the soundtrack, he would have matched any bridge section with the Advent of the Four Horsemen of Doom." This first-mover piece of music heralded Mankiewicz's banishment, illuminating the way forward for the rest of the soundtrack.
Stills from "Mank"
The smooth cooperation between this group of directors and musicians is based on mutual appreciation. Renault previously scored the thriller "Bird Box" for Netflix, and the work was very hard. "When I get a film score job, I always have to read the script first. When I read the script that time, I wondered, don't others read the script, hasn't anyone noticed that the plot is not standing at all? When I joined a film team and found myself caring more about the issue than anyone else, the bad feelings of resentment came out. Finch's crew doesn't have this problem," he himself was always the most enthusiastic of all. ”
Renault and Rose are grateful to Finch for giving them creative freedom — no interference, no producers, and no audience auditions. "Shit like that doesn't exist, we just have to do our best to make the music." This is artistic creation. ”
David Finch also envied Renault's creative freedom. In the early 1990s, newcomer director David Finch announced the direction of Alien 3 (only MV and commercials on his resume), which upset fans. The film was released, the box office hit the street, and public opinion was mixed (the destruction was greater than the reputation). Finch does not follow the old path of his predecessors, but finds another way to explore the vitality and metaphor of the alien, and makes a thriller into a literary film, and the creative intention of the new director is about to come out.
He was ordered to go to London and was overwhelmed the following month. "On the first day of booting, I called my agent and described the various pointers of the film side. The agent told me to bear with it first, and then I could make my own decisions in the second part. I can't stand it, it's just the first day of the 90-day period! I fired the broker..."
Solo musicians are still relatively lucky. When Nine Inch Nails published Pretty Hate Machine in 1989, Renault didn't think it was their chance to make a splash. "I just felt that the nine-inch nail at that time had not yet fully established the style, so I did not have the ambition to do anything in one fell swoop." I believed in that work, but I didn't think it would conquer the world. During that time, we all wanted to go the way of The Cure or Deephe Mode. ”
The script for Mank was completed before Alien 3. This means that the film has been around Finch's life longer than his debut. Is it a shame to finish? "Maybe I'm too detached from my emotions." Finch twitched his nose mockingly, "I now see the vacated space as 19 inches of free space." "Put what, Oscar Trophy?" He laughed, "I didn't say that. ”
Editor-in-Charge: Chen Shihuai
Proofreader: Ding Xiao