![]() ![]() This is the sort of film that traditionally marks the start of an artist’s 'late phase' - one in which old motifs are brought back in different keys and tested, and in which the bounds of realism are loosened. The actors give crisp, stylized performances that go from gleefully cartoonish (Nelson) to radiantly open (Kazan, who is lovely). ![]() Carter Burwell’s score is perhaps his most achingly beautiful. "The Coens’ newest Western might be their bleakest work of all, and one of their richest. And the spaces between chapters, illustrated with the turning pages of a book, are used to guide the listener into the next story. Ultimately the closest I got to tying it all together was to use "The Unfortunate Lad", an 18th-century folk song told by a dead man, as an opening and closing theme to bookend ther film. Joel's summary was that they all involved "non-accidental death."Īfter some time fruitlessly looking for an overall theme for the film, I had to put that aside in order to start addressing the individual chapters, which were being cut in order of their appearance in the film. Failing to find a common theme, I asked the boys what they felt tied these stories together other than their being Westerns. By design eacvh chapter was different from the others in tone, look and story. After a few weeks I had a number of themes but honestly each spoke to one chapter or another rather than the whole set. So as they started editing, one chapter at a time, I started looking for that common musical thread. Perhaps.Īfter the shoot Joel and Ethan were much more determined that music somehow tie the chapters together, making the case that this was one film, not six. I suggested that perhaps there was some small motif that could be shared with different instrumentation in each chapter. And, as became clear when they started showing me footage, each chapter also has a distinctuve look. ![]() No character appears in more than one story, and no storylines overlap. ![]() After considering what score might contribute to each story, the question was raised - how might music tie the stories together into one film? They described the songs in the first chapter, "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs," including the one Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings had written, and Brendan Gleeson's song "The Unfortunate Lad" in the last. Just before they left to shoot, they gave me the last story, "The Mortal Remains."Īs we generally do, we had a brief conversation about the score (or scores) before shooting. After the fifth chapter there was a placeholder for a sixth story yet to come. When they gave me the script it contained five stories, the first three of which I remembered from our earlier discussions. The press assumed the project was a "series" but Joel and Ethan viewed it as a feature film, an anthology or portmanteau film. Then, at the start of 2017, they told me Annapurna, who'd helped make True Grit, was backing the project and soon Netflix come on as well. Short films have limited distribution opportunities. Even though HBO had expressed an interest in making these short films, it was clear the likelihood was remote. I believe it was around the year 2000 that Joel and Ethan Coen mentioned they'd written some short Western screenplays. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. ![]()
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