As 2023 starts to close, and the awards season begins to heat up, I’m joined with the composer for what’s being widely hailed as one of the best film scores of the year: Jerskin Fendrix. Jerskin’s latest score is for the film Poor Things (review), directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. But not only is Poor Things Jerskin’s latest score, it’s also his first. And now it’s just landed Jerskin a Golden Globe nomination. Unsurprisingly, then, we spend most of our conversation talking about Jerskin’s score. While this is a shorter interview, so we didn’t have as much time to meander into tangents, we still found time to go on them, including comparing how personal and autobiographical solo music and scoring can be, looking for “honesty” in music, and more.
I’m always intrigued by debut film scores and composers, particularly when they’ve already had a decent amount of experience and success in other aspects of the music world, since they can bring a different perspective or approach to scoring. Here, it sounds like director Yorgos Lanthimos created an ideal environment for Jerskin to succeed. Jerskin received the script and some concept art well before principal photography began, and Lanthimos gave wide agency to push the music further and further. The result is a fascinating, unusual, and spellbinding score.
Poor Things is currently playing in limited release, moving to a full theatrical release on December 22, 2023, while Jerskin’s score, and much of his debut solo album, is available on all major platforms.
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About Poor Things
“From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.” – courtesy of Sony