STANDOUT SET PIECES #5: THE RIVER CROSSING TO STALINGRAD FROM ENEMY AT THE GATES

0 Bringing you up to speed In early 1943, Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich is at the height of its power. The dark spill of Nazi domination is spreading to the farthest reaches of Europe, although in the east, it meets with fierce resistance from the Russian Red Army on the banks of the Volga. The battle of Stalingrad ends up being a turning point in the Second World War: Hitler’s inability to take hold of the city marks the end of his military expansion and the start of his downfall. Against this backdrop, screenwriters Alain Godard and Jean-Jacques Annaud weave the[...]

[CHARLIE ROSE INTERVIEW] JAMES HORNER: "I'M A ROMANTIC"

The interview with James Horner recorded on March 1, 2001 with Charlie Rose as part of the promotion of the film Enemy at the Gates is finally available. The composer covers several subjects during 19 minutes: His passion for film music, the role of film music, the new generation of directors, Titanic, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Braveheart … The video also features a short extract from the recording session of Enemy at the Gates. "I think it-- for the first time I felt that the music was supporting something bigger than the music that had a more profound effect on an audience than just sitting[...]

THE NAME OF THE ROSE: JAMES HORNER’S POETICS

Up against very tight time constraints, James Horner succeeded in translating into music the essence, the very substance of what Jean-Jacques Annaud wanted to preserve from the immense opus by Umberto Eco. From this "millefeuille", as he called it, the director pulled a "palimpsest" by putting forward his own take on the name of the famous Rose (a riddle which even Umberto Eco wanted to be ... enigmatic) as well as a personal and emotional translation of a novel that he believed "was written for him." A project that was close to his heart and which he pulled off brilliantly,[...]