Giving Ethan Hawke a brand-new songbook
What’s behind the music? In the case of the fictional rocker in the new movie “Juliet, Naked,” about 100 songwriters.
That’s how many artists director Jesse Peretz and music supervisor Marguerite Phillips tapped to compose the tracks sung by Tucker Crowe, a musical has-been played by Ethan Hawke.
Peretz’s biggest challenge? Turning a few sentences from Nick Hornby’s 2009 novel into a believable song catalog.
“[Nick] gives you a couple clues on what the music is like, but basically it’s left to the reader to project whatever music they want on who Tucker Crowe was,” Peretz tells The Post. “To be honest, I [thought], ‘Is there a way to make this movie so that you never hear his music?’ ”
But the director ultimately made a sound decision, and the film is packed with original tunes by several well-known songwriters.
“We wanted to cast a wide net,” Phillips says of the process, adding that the team knew Tucker would be guitar-driven, not hugely accessible and a musician’s musician.
“We wanted to get songs and music that people would enjoy and gravitate to,” she adds. “But also didn’t want anything that was super hooky, or super catchy.”
Hornby, a music aficionado, had a special request: Ryan Adams. His song, “20th Call of the Day,” made it into the movie. Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst joined in, too, with a serene track called “LAX.”
Another challenge was making music worth fighting over. Crowe is a faded star with a male, middle-aged cult following. One fan, Duncan (Chris O’Dowd), receives a never-before-heard album in the mail called “Juliet, Naked,” filled with early Crowe demos. Duncan thinks it’s genius; his girlfriend Annie (Rose Byrne) says it’s rubbish.
“The ‘Juliet, Naked’ songs had to support both the idea that Duncan would feel like it’s a real act of genius,” says Peretz. “And where you would also understand when Annie lis- tens to it and thinks these are kind of boring versions of songs she already heard.”
Finding music that fit the bill took an entire year, with many voices, including producer Judd Apatow, giving their input. Most of the final songs weren’t added until a few days before the film’s Sundance premiere.
Hawke spent two days in the recording studio with Nathan Larson, who scored the film and produced the music. Though most people don’t think of Hawke as a song-anddance man, he’s played a musician several times before, including in “Reality Bites,” “Boyhood” and “Born To Be Blue.” The actor was also instrumental in the song choices.
“Ethan was a big part of it,” says Phillips, noting that the filmmakers considered his vocal style and ability.
Adds Peretz: “Ethan may not have the biggest range or the most perfect voice in the world, but it’s very solid.
“Very emotionally raw and real.”