One of the minor surprises of the Oscar nominations was the Best Original Score recognition for Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders, who collaborated on the music for “The Hurt Locker.” Not only does the Academy have strict rules that make it difficult for collaborations to be recognized, but Beltrami’s and Sanders’ work – a spare, moody soundscape that’s integrated into the film’s remarkable sound design – is certainly not a traditional orchestral score in the vein of fellow nominees like James Horner’s “Avatar” and Michael Giacchino’s “Up.”
Beltrami, who was nominated for his 2007 score to “3:10 to Yuma,” studied under Jerry Goldsmith and has been writing film music since 1994; Sanders has been working with Beltrami for more than a decade, moving from his assistant to a full-fledged co-composer.
(Photo of Sanders, left, and Beltrami by Austin Hargrave)
How did you come to work as collaborators?
BELTRAMI: I met Buck in 1997, and little-by-little we saw that he had strengths that I didn’t have. So he became more and more involved creatively on projects as well.
SANDERS: Marco has a formal education in composing classical concert music, and he became interested in film music later on. So his strengths lie in that, and in arranging for orchestra. Where I would say that my strengths are more in creating a sonic palette that goes outside the orchestra.
BELTRAMI: Or manipulating acoustical sounds that can be used in the sound palette of a particular film.
The sound palette you talk about is absolutely crucial to “The Hurt Locker,” and the music often plays a very subtle role in that palette.
SANDERS: Yes. Kathryn [Bigelow] was very cautious about that. Anytime she sensed that the music was getting a little too much, she’d say, “Let’s try this instead.”
BELTRAMI: In that respect, this is a very untraditional score. It’s not a score where you have musical ideas that are developed harmonically and thematically through the movie. We do have thematic ideas that are developed, but most of the score has to do with taking sounds that already existed from the sound department, or creating our own sounds, and using those to help create a score. It was a much different objective.
Not to say that it was easier – in fact, much to the contrary. I think a lot of what we did on this was, in a way, more difficult. Because the object was to be seamless and yet manipulative at the same time.
How did you become involved with the project?
BELTRAMI: Kathryn was in the editing process, and she had a little bit of my score to “3:10 to Yuma” temped into part of it. I think the reason it worked is because Sgt. James, when he’s there in a bomb suit in the deserted city in Iraq, he’s almost like that solitary figure walking down the street in a ghost town in the Wild West.
