Oscarwinning composer hired for “The Book of Lif.e."
A few years after winning an Oscar for his melancholy “Brokeback Mountain” score, Gustavo
Santaolalla has reversed direction to produce kid-friendly arrangements of “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and other peppy pop tunes for “The Book of Life.” Recruited by producer Guillermo del Toro, Santaolalla spices up writer-director Jorge R. Gutierrez’s animated comedy-adventure with Latinflavored versions of top 40 hits along with his own lushly orchestrated themes.
“I’m always looking to connect with some other audience,” says Santaolalla. “The challenge with ‘The Book of Life’ is that it’s designed to be a commercial spectacle that draws big audiences, but at the same time it’s talking about death, the Land of the Remembered — the dead — and the Land of the Forgotten — the underworld.” Featuring the voices of Diego
Luna and Zoe Saldana, “The Book of Life,” which opened Friday, follows a heroic musician through a supernatural south-of- the-border landscape. Santaolalla notes: “Because the film has a Mexican and Latin American setting, I got the opportunity to mix in some ethnic stuff through the use of six-eight rhythms and different timbres from things like accordion and the jarana jarocha. For me, that marks the most original side of the score.”
At the behest of del Toro, Santaolalla also penned a couple of original songs for “The Book of Life” with “Rainy Days and Mon- days” lyricist Paul Williams. The two are now collaborating on a musical adaptation of “Pans Labyrinth.” Del Toro’s dark movie fairy tale, set during the Spanish Civil War, resonates for Santaolalla, who in 1978 fled his native Argentina to escape the country’s repressive regime.
“‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ has that edge, that alternative thing that I’m always looking for,” Santaolalla says. “It’s not your typical happy Broadway musical story.”