Directors of ‘The Holdovers,’ ‘Saltburn’ & More on Songs for Soundtracks – The Hollywood Reporter

A key music choice can really make a movie scene sing, for lack of a better word — whether it be a surprising needle drop, a song to underscore a character’s motivation or even a opening credit track that sets the tone of a film.

Four directors from this season’s biggest contenders spoke with THR about the tunes they selected for their films, some of which represent the time in which the films are set or, in one case, gives a sense of a character who is notably absent from most of the feature.

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, “P.I.M.P.”

Justine Triet’s drama about a woman (Sandra Hüller) accused of killing her husband might be the only Palme d’Or winner to feature a song co-written by American rapper 50 Cent. The director admits she’s obsessed with this steel band cover, which the husband blasts to annoy his wife and is playing on repeat when the couple’s son discovers his father’s body. “It’s the only thing you see from him when he is alive,” she says. The bombastic track is a contrast to the image of his dead body found lying in the snow.

Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP”

Craig Gillespie admits he loves finding the right needle drops for a film. But for his comedy about the January 2021 GameStop short squeeze, the ode to female sexuality was written into the script by Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum. “Honestly, I never explored anything else,” he says. He adds that its “aggressiveness” made it the perfect opening for the pandemic-set film, taking place months after the song was released in August 2020.

Damien Jurado, “Silver Joy”

Alexander Payne had not heard of the singer-songwriter when music editor Richard Ford brought this song to him. “It bowled me over with its beauty, lyricism and melancholy,” says Payne, who used it over the film’s opening credits — which creates a somber mood while the credit sequence introduces the snowy campus of the fictional Barton Academy. The track passes as a period-appropriate tune for the 1970-set film, but the song was actually from the 2014 album Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son. “I still don’t even know what the lyrics are about,” jokes Payne. “And I don’t really care — it’s all about the feeling.”

MGMT, “Time to Pretend”

For the thriller largely set at an English estate in summer 2007, Emerald Fennell admits she had a playlist of era-appropriate music that guided her as she wrote the screenplay. MGMT’s ode to rock star debauchery was not only a thematic fit, but it also conjures the era in which it was released (first as a single in 2005, later on the band’s 2008 debut album). “You put ‘Time to Pretend’ over something and you could sell paint drying,” says Fennell of the song’s instant catchiness.

A version of this story first appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

A key music choice can really make a movie scene sing, for lack of a better word — whether it be a surprising needle drop, a song to underscore a character’s motivation or even a opening credit track that sets the tone of a film.

Four directors from this season’s biggest contenders spoke with THR about the tunes they selected for their films, some of which represent the time in which the films are set or, in one case, gives a sense of a character who is notably absent from most of the feature.

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, “P.I.M.P.”

Justine Triet’s drama about a woman (Sandra Hüller) accused of killing her husband might be the only Palme d’Or winner to feature a song co-written by American rapper 50 Cent. The director admits she’s obsessed with this steel band cover, which the husband blasts to annoy his wife and is playing on repeat when the couple’s son discovers his father’s body. “It’s the only thing you see from him when he is alive,” she says. The bombastic track is a contrast to the image of his dead body found lying in the snow.

Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP”

Craig Gillespie admits he loves finding the right needle drops for a film. But for his comedy about the January 2021 GameStop short squeeze, the ode to female sexuality was written into the script by Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum. “Honestly, I never explored anything else,” he says. He adds that its “aggressiveness” made it the perfect opening for the pandemic-set film, taking place months after the song was released in August 2020.

Damien Jurado, “Silver Joy”

Alexander Payne had not heard of the singer-songwriter when music editor Richard Ford brought this song to him. “It bowled me over with its beauty, lyricism and melancholy,” says Payne, who used it over the film’s opening credits — which creates a somber mood while the credit sequence introduces the snowy campus of the fictional Barton Academy. The track passes as a period-appropriate tune for the 1970-set film, but the song was actually from the 2014 album Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son. “I still don’t even know what the lyrics are about,” jokes Payne. “And I don’t really care — it’s all about the feeling.”

MGMT, “Time to Pretend”

For the thriller largely set at an English estate in summer 2007, Emerald Fennell admits she had a playlist of era-appropriate music that guided her as she wrote the screenplay. MGMT’s ode to rock star debauchery was not only a thematic fit, but it also conjures the era in which it was released (first as a single in 2005, later on the band’s 2008 debut album). “You put ‘Time to Pretend’ over something and you could sell paint drying,” says Fennell of the song’s instant catchiness.

A version of this story first appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.