Overjoyed to have composer and singer/songwriter Jessica Rose Weiss join The Film Scorer Podcast! Jess’s latest film score (co-composed with Mychael Danna) is for the new Amazon Prime retelling of Cinderella. Jess and I talk about crafting their magical, romantic (and folk-influenced) score for this jukebox musical, as well as her mentorship with Mychael and her time spent working at Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions! Although we don’t touch on these, Jess managed to release two other scores this weekend, both for Netflix: the dramedy Afterlife of the Party and the animated feature film Dog Gone Trouble.
Find out more about Jess on her website. Cinderella is currently available on Amazon Prime while her and Mychael’s score (as well as her score for Dog Gone Trouble and her score suite for Afterlife of the Party) are available on all platforms.
More About Jess: After receiving a formidable musical education working for Academy Award- winning composers Hans Zimmer and Mychael Danna, composer Jessica Rose Weiss has quickly created an impressive body of work across multiple genres ranging from folk to electronic to classical. Her credits include Sony/Amazon’s Cinderella directed by Kay Cannon and starring Camila Cabello, the Netflix #1 hit animated feature film Dog Gone Trouble, Nicol Paone’s comedy Friendsgiving (produced by Ben Stiller), and Stephen Herek’s Netflix dramedy Afterlife of the Party. In addition to her film work, Jessica’s music has been performed on stages around the world, from The Globe Theater in London to The Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. – from White Bear PR.
More About Cinderella: The Camila Cabello-starring adaptation is written and directed by Kay Cannon (Pitch Perfect), and stars Idina Menzel as the stepmother, Nicholas Galitzine as the prince, Pierce Brosnan and Minnie Driver as the king and queen, and Billy Porter as “the Fab G,” Cannon’s reinvention of the fairy godmother role. The whole movie is a “jukebox musical,” and also features two pop-centric original songs, performed by Camila Cabello and Idina Menzel. Cinderella premiered on Amazon Prime Video on September 3.
Have a listen to our conversation below or wherever you get your podcasts (including Spotify and Apple Podcasts).
During the interview I reference an article about Alex North’s scrapped score to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. That article is Charlie Brigden’s 2019 piece, published on Film School Rejects. A fascinating look into the story behind the score, as well as Kubrick’s thought process in choosing music for the film.
