Category: Music (31-40 of 106)

Jan 21 2013 10:26 AM ET

HBO picks up 'Pussy Riot' doc from Sundance

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Image Credit: Roast Beef Productions

HBO Documentary Films acquired the television right to Pussy Riot — A Punk Prayer on Sunday, two days after the documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Co-directors Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin chronicled the controversial imprisonment of three female members of the Russian punk musical group, who were arrested and charged with religious hatred after they performed a 40-second “punk prayer” inside Moscow’s biggest cathedral to protest the election of president Vladimir Putin in 2011.

Their conviction became a cause celebre for the international media, and the film incorporates unparalleled access and exclusive footage of the events and women behind the protest stunt. In a statement, Lerner and Pozdorovkin said they “are thrilled to be working with HBO on bringing this important story to the world.”

Read more:
Pussy Riot video banned in Russia
Pussy Riot members sent to prison colonies
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Sundance: Female directors make their mark

Jan 18 2013 09:45 PM ET

Sundance 2013: 'Twenty Feet From Stardom' has Weinstein label singing happy tune

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Image Credit: Graham Willoughby

Twenty Feet From Stardom, director Morgan Neville’s documentary about the backup vocalists who have toiled in the shadows of rock and soul’s greatest artists, was acquired by RADiUS-TWC after an opening-night premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Neville, who has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for his music films, including one on Johnny Cash, directed his lens on a group of female singers who’d attempted their own solo careers but settled for providing the supporting vocals for iconic artists like Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, and Stevie Wonder. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 28 2012 02:41 PM ET

'This Is 40' deleted scene reveals Billie Joe Armstrong's next solo project -- VIDEO

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The best way to make people forget about your recent breakdown? Film a funny cameo in Judd Apatow’s new movie. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong did just that, appearing briefly in This Is 40 — but his best scene apparently ended up on the cutting room floor.

In this deleted bit from the movie, Armstrong tells record label owner Pete (Paul Rudd) all about a new project on which he’d like to embark: “Have you heard of Norwegian death metal? I thought of taking that and mixing it with, like, Belle and Sebastian. It’s sort of music you can cry to but also maybe burn a church down at the same time.” And from there, things just get weirder. Check it out below — and be thankful that we never actually hear the “music” Armstrong is describing:

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Dec 24 2012 01:20 PM ET

'Les Miserables': Enjolras actor Aaron Tveit on filming 'Red and Black' -- EXCLUSIVE CLIP

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Image Credit: Universal

Before every great battle there is a rallying of the troops, a rousing speech. In Les Misérables that speech is “Red and Black,” sung by the students-turned-revolutionaries on the eve of the Paris Uprising of 1832.

The musical number centers on the revolutionaries’ leader, Enjolras, as he reminds his friends what they are fighting for. In the film adaptation of the beloved musical, set to hit theaters tomorrow, stage and film actor Aaron Tveit plays Enjolras. Les Mis is Tveit’s first movie musical, but he came to the project with many Broadway productions under his belt, including Hairspray, Wicked and Catch Me If You Can.

Check out an exclusive clip from “Red and Black” below, then read on for Tveit’s memories from shooting the musical number.

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Dec 18 2012 02:00 PM ET

'The Hobbit': The story behind Neil Finn's dwarvish end credits tune, 'Song of the Lonely Mountain'

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Image Credit: Warner Bros. & MGM

The films of the Lord of the Rings trilogy left its audiences on the note of three ethereal women’s voices, including Annie Lennox, who earned Return of the King one of its 11 Oscars. Now as director Peter Jackson returns to Middle-earth with the dwarf-packed The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the voice of New Zealand musician Neil Finn serenades the audience when its final frame fades to black.

“The story is very much a dwarf tale as much as it is called The Hobbit,” says Finn, who sings “Song of the Lonely Mountain,” the majestic and epic yet intimate and warm ballad of the dwarves that closes out the first film of Jackson’s new trilogy.

“Song of the Lonely Mountain” shares its melody with “Misty Mountains,” a tune heard earlier in the film that the 13 dwarves bellow in solemn baritone before setting out on their quest with Bilbo Baggins. New Zealand artists Plan 9 and David Long, who wrote and performed songs in The Lord of the Rings, brought their talents again to The Hobbit, setting J.R.R. Tolkien’s verse to music for “Misty Mountains.” The melody also appears in Howard Shore’s score, where it is brought to even greater heights with a stately brass section. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 14 2012 08:00 AM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): How the music in 'Pitch Perfect' became aca-awesome

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Image Credit: Peter Iovino/Universal

This fall, the music of Pitch Perfect joined a crowded field of soundtracks that cover well-loved songs, but even with shows like Glee, Smash, American Idol and The Voice hitting the scene well before it, the movie that put the spotlight on collegiate a cappella made its mark. EW talked to director Jason Moore and music supervisors Julianne Jordan and Julia Michels about getting together the music for the film about an all-girls a cappella group determined to achieve national music competition glory. For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes) coverage.

Song selection

Jordan and Michels had a major challenge ahead of them when they signed on to Pitch Perfect: working with a script in which the songs were all placeholders and not a sure deal, they had to choose and secure rights to what ended up being about 40 songs for the film. Michels calls the endeavor “a very big, tedious and fun process.” The requirements for each song: “It had to work right in the scene and tell the story, it had to translate to the actors on-camera, and it had to sound good a cappella,” she says. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 6 2012 10:00 AM ET

Barbra Streisand on 'Gypsy': What's age gotta do with it?

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Image Credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Barbra Streisand’s got one thing to say to anyone who thinks she might be too old to play Mamma Rose in the anticipated film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents’ legendary musical Gypsy: “What’s [age] got to do with anything?”

Ever since Universal announced plans last March for a Gypsy update — written by Downton Abbey’s Julian Fellowes and co-produced and starring Streisand — some critics have drawn attention to the difference between Streisand’s age, 70, and that of the real-life woman portrayed in the musical. The Academy Award-winning actress would not only have to depict a woman who, in parts of the production, is between 30 and 40 years younger than she is, she’d have to play the mother of children who are as many as 60 years younger than she is.
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Dec 5 2012 10:00 AM ET

'The Hobbit' score: Howard Shore welcomes you back to Middle-earth -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

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When fans of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy return to Middle-earth for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of three films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s earlier book, there will be plenty of familiar sights and sounds. Ian McKellen’s Gandalf plays a major role in this adventure, of course, and a few other favorite actors from LOTR return as well. But it’s the music that immediately washes over the audience like a warm blanket and reminds them that they’re “home” again. Composer Howard Shore, who won three Academy Awards for his work on the previous films, has weaved the now iconic “Concerning Hobbits” melody throughout the new film while expanding upon Middle-earth’s musical palette. “The Hobbit is a more gentle story than Lord of the Rings,” says Shore, in an exclusive video about the making of the film’s music, recorded by his wife, Elizabeth. “I always begin working with the book, the words, the most important thing.”

A lifelong Tolkien enthusiast, Shore revisits the books almost daily, and he often plotted the music as he read. That literary connection, in addition to his deep relationship with nature, helped create the musical fabric that has become so synonymous with Jackson’s films. “I just try to capture the spirit of each scene,” he explains.

Watch the clip below, which also shows him working with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at historic Abbey Road Studios. “More chaos,” he demands of his musicians at one point. “More, more terror. READ FULL STORY »

Nov 26 2012 03:16 PM ET

'Sparkle': Late Whitney Houston on being 'like their mother' to costars -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

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Image Credit: Alicia Gbur

Sparkle may have earned mixed reviews from critics when it came out this year, but the musical set in the late 1960s starring the late, great Whitney Houston as a fierce, loving mama to three singing sisters — Jordin Sparks, Carmen Ejogo, and Tika Sumpter — showcases the controversy-plagued icon at a stable, hopeful point before her accidental drowning in February.

Check out this exclusive video clip, below, from extras on the movie’s Blu-ray, out this Friday, of Houston gushing about her younger costars. “They are the three most warm and loving and supportive young women that I’ve come across in a long time,” says Houston. “I have really come to be like their mother in a sense. I’m so proud of them, I don’t know what to do.”

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Nov 16 2012 06:49 PM ET

'Tim and Eric' star Tim Heidecker talks about his new movie, 'The Comedy'

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Writer-director Rick Alverson’s new movie is called The Comedy and stars funny man Tim Heidecker. But the film is actually a semi-improvised drama about a New York slacker-type who spends a good deal of screen time hanging out with pals played by Eric Wareheim and LCD Soundsystem singer James Murphy. So what’s up with the title? “You can interpret that as being sarcastic but I don’t think it’s purely a ‘F— you,’” says Heidecker, who together with Wareheim stars on the Adult Swim’s Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! “We talked a lot about the way these characters almost exclusively communicate through their own wit.”

While the film may be deliberately short on belly laughs it is long on footage of Heidecker’s own naked, and rather cuddlesome, stomach. “I said to the director before we shot it, ‘This guy’s supposed to be a hipster. Shouldn’t I get really skinny?’” says the actor. “He was like, ‘No, I think you’re just like a guy that drinks too much Pabst. We’ll go that direction.’ At a Q&A someone was like, ‘Why would I want to watch some fat guy?’ I was like, ‘I’m not Dom Deluise!’”

Below, Heidecker talks more about The Comedy — which can be seen in select cinemas over the next month and is also available on VOD — and why he wrote a 13 minute song about the Titanic.
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