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Posted: |
Dec 7, 2014 - 10:46 AM
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By: |
DS
(Member)
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At the 2013 Cannes, the long awaited film starring Jerry Lewis, "Max Rose," written and directed by Daniel Noah, screened and got absolutely savaged by the critics. At the time, the film had a score by the great Michel Legrand, who appeared at Cannes to promote the film alongside Jerry Lewis. Subsequent to the screening, the director/producers stated that what was screened at Cannes was an unfinished version and that they had more work to do on it.
Over a year later, the film still hasn't been released. On its Facebook page, whoever is representing the film keeps writing that it's still in the editing stages.
Recently, I checked in on IMDB and Legrand is no longer listed as the composer. The music is now by Volker Bertelmann. I asked the films Facebook page to confirm this but they didn't respond.
My guess is that the film was recut and Legrand was simply unavailable to rescore, because from what I remember he was attached as the composer for a year or more before the movie started filming & was obviously an integral part of the director's vision.
In any case, it's a shame if true. I was really, truly looking forward to a new Michel Legrand score.
Does anybody have any more information on this or can confirm this rejection?
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Oh, that's a shame. I remember seeing him say he was going to score the film, in a 2012 interview.
The 2013 reviews of the film were mixed. One called it intellectual and viseral, another said it was like a Lifetime movie and that it was not "livelier thanks to Michel Legrand's wallowing piano score". Ouch. I'm betting the score was good.
He's doign the upcoming "Butterfly Love", according to the film's production company website. They also state Al Kasha will do the love theme (I assume they mean a song).
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Posted: |
Dec 8, 2014 - 10:34 AM
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By: |
DS
(Member)
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There was also this in the Hollywood Reporter: "...the syrupy Michel Legrand score that accompanies every obvious push of an emotional button." Being Legrand - my favorite living composer - I have no problem assuming it's good (or great) music, and having been attached to the project for over a year before it started filming it's also safe to assume that Legrand scored the film exactly the way the director wished.
But the reviews were indeed bad. And Schiffy, you're correct of course - replacing the score is the quickest fix, and it's very possible that this is the main reason the film has been in limbo since its premiere at Cannes. If Legrand was indeed rejected (and it's looking like he was), the decision to do so had to have been difficult and depressing.
However, given Legrand's extremely busy 2014 (a new ballet, numerous concerts and musical productions, a new song CD, and getting married again), it seems that it could be the "composer being unavailable to rework his score" but... I would agree that it is more likely he was rejected.
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At the 2013 Cannes, the long awaited film starring Jerry Lewis, "Max Rose," written and directed by Daniel Noah, screened and got absolutely savaged by the critics. At the time, the film had a score by the great Michel Legrand, who appeared at Cannes to promote the film alongside Jerry Lewis. Subsequent to the screening, the director/producers stated that what was screened at Cannes was an unfinished version and that they had more work to do on it.
Over a year later, the film still hasn't been released. On its Facebook page, whoever is representing the film keeps writing that it's still in the editing stages.
Recently, I checked in on IMDB and Legrand is no longer listed as the composer. The music is now by Volker Bertelmann. I asked the films Facebook page to confirm this but they didn't respond.
My guess is that the film was recut and Legrand was simply unavailable to rescore, because from what I remember he was attached as the composer for a year or more before the movie started filming & was obviously an integral part of the director's vision.
In any case, it's a shame if true. I was really, truly looking forward to a new Michel Legrand score.
Does anybody have any more information on this or can confirm this rejection?
This isn't the only Jerry Lewis project in limbo. His musical version of "The Nutty Professor", with music by Marvin Hamlisch, is still unfinished. Maybe it's time for Jerry to hang up the ego. LAAAADDDYYYY.
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Some quick searching:
Morgan Z. Whirledge
"Morgan Z has long been drawn to the work of film-score composers like Vangelis,
Tangerine Dream and Giorgio Moroder."
"who was a member of the NY underground cult band Apes & Androids"
By the way, thanks for doing the leg work so I didn't have to. ;-)
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Posted: |
Apr 29, 2015 - 11:08 AM
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By: |
DS
(Member)
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Thor, yes, "Butterfly Love" has been a title he's been associated with for a while - let's hope he remains attached to it.
Justin, yeah, I tried to be on this one like white on rice simply because I adore Legrand and really wanted a new Legrand album to enjoy (last year's "La rançon de la gloire" was a huge left field surprise, so maybe there are more projects he's on that are simply off the radar, but this score - even if the film was bad - seemed like a special work).
Regarding Morgan Z's influences, there's nothing wrong with Vangelis or Moroder (though I like their actual music far more than their spotting/scoring) or underground NYC bands, but there's quite a lot of film composers around now from similar backgrounds & channeling the same wheelhouse - it's a trend now to do the 80s synth score - and honestly neither background seemed to obviously inform the score for "Max Rose" (save for ambient effects, though a closer comparison to that would be Brian Eno, whom I also like).
Now, having a film about a jazz musician scored by Legrand is much more inspired. I have to imagine this was a jazz score, so it's a shame this score was rejected before the hugely praised Oscar-nominated "Whiplash" (the first film to enter the American mainstream with a jazz score in God knows how long) came around - though it's possible that wouldn't have made a difference.
Maybe Perseverance Records can release Legrand's work as a stand alone album, similar to what they did for the rejected "Chinatown" and "Edge of Darkness."
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The Marvin Hamlisch "Nutty Professor" musical was completed in some form and had at least one off Broadway performance, but Hamlisch died before he was able to do any revisions. From what I've heard it's quite good, particularly the love song, but I'm also a Hamlisch fan (and terribly miss his presence in music). I have to believe that this project can be salvaged, but perhaps it just isn't possible without Hamlisch being around. I'd also love for Hamlisch's Jean Seberg musical to be given another chance, but now we're getting way off topic.
Meanwhile, no official word yet on the supposed "Max Rose" rejection(s).
The Nutty Professor had a full production that ran several weeks in Tennessee. It got some decent reviews. The hope was Broadway, although that's the hope of every show ever written anywhere - pre-Broadway - yeah right. But Hamlisch passed away and I suspect this project is going nowhere.
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Saw it at the Aero with Lewis in person last week. It's an ok movie with a good heart, but almost impossibly depressing to watch. The supporting actors are excellent, but Lewis seems pretty much detached from everything that's going on around him in the film - though was sharp a a tack and looked pretty good for a guy who's 90 in the hilarious post-screening q and a with mostly crazy questioners. I asked him a question about his use of music, and pretty much was one of the few who escaped unscathed. Not so the people who tried to perform shtick in front of him, or the guy who was pissed that Jerry didn't remain friends with him after a trip to England.
The score itself is decent, but a bit over sentimental, and suffers from its string emulation. Bergman song at the end is good (though the end itself is unbelievably cliched, and the music milks the cliche for all its wincingly worth). I can only imagine that the film was seriously recut and Legrand wasn't able to do it, or that for whatever reason they dumped the score - though I could only imagine it was likely better than what they got. Movie is far from a disaster, but certainly the least funny movie that Jerry Lewis has ever done
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