October 3, 2019
Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir Finds the Humanity In JOKER
Among several interviews Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir has done leading up to the release of director Todd Phillips’ JOKER tomorrow, a conversation she had with film music journalist Tim Grieving on npr.org has focused intently how she captured and channeled the Joker character musically in her score. Responding to the script, Guðnadóttir wrote a tender, melancholy requiem for troubled Arthur Fleck, the man who will become the Joker. In the movie, Fleck is still trying to find his humanity in a strange world, far from the stereotype that will find him as Batman’s arch nemesis.
“I sat down with the cello to kind of just find my way into his voice and into his head,” she told Grieving. “And I’m just like kind of holding onto this feeling that I had after reading the script. As soon as I played those first notes, it really hit me in the chest somehow, and it was a really strong, physical reaction that I got. And I was like, yes, this is it.”
Read Tim’s complete interview, posted at npr.org
Hildur Guðnadóttir’s soundtrack to JOKER is available digitally through WaterTower music, via Amazon , iTunes, and other streaming and digital music sources.
Listen to the track “Call Me Joker” from the JOKER soundtrack, via youtube:
