THE MAKING OF THE MUSIC
At its heart, the score had to have huge emotion and drama. There are four main overarching themes and ideas I wanted to explore in the film; Passion and Friendship, Betrayal, Fear and tragedy, and love and spirituality, all underpinned with a sense of intrigue.
The drivers are both incredibly driven and live life to the full on and off the track, so I tried to mirror that with propelling energetic moments such as in Gille’s Passion that draws you into their world, but also inject fun 70’s influenced music in tracks such as Didier and Racing Legends, that illustrates the hedonistic craziness of their world.
I also wanted to represent the relationships with their families and the emotional trying times they went through, so there are several key moments of reflection, heartache and the coming to terms with loss in pieces such as Torn Apart which I tried to handle with a restrained, delicate touch.
The major shift in their story comes to a head with The Betrayal - End Credits. It is the emotional culmination of their friendship with a dramatic twist that tales place over the course of a thrilling race. I fused a baroque classical, operatic approach with aggressive strings and on top of the energy, propulsive earthy percussion floats a strong emotional melody that has gravitas and elegance followed closely by a counter melody that eventually takes over taking you on a roller coaster of a race and emulates the real life rivalry between Gilles and Didier and the tragic outcome of the race.
The score was recorded at Abbey Road.