BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
In 1961, Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev became the first artist during the Cold War to defect to the West. In The White Crow, we learn his story.
This new biopic, which was directed by Ralph Fiennes (who also acts in the film as Alexander Pushkin), tracks the legendary Nureyev’s childhood in poverty to his role as a young soloist in the Kirov Ballet, and eventually his defection.
Naturally, a story so intertwined with personal, artistic, and political history requires a powerful musical score. Fiennes enlisted Ilan Eshkeri for the task.
Eshkeri, who is well-known for his scores in Still Alice and The Young Victoria, created a bold and cinematic work of music. We talk with him about his score, the ethics of composing a person’s true story, and what it was like to team up once again with Fiennes after their work on films Coriolanus and The Invisible Woman.
Eshkeri, tell us why you wanted to be involved in The White Crow. Why does the subject matter interest you?
Ballet has always fascinated me. My mother danced, and I saw ballet from a young age, although I never saw Nureyev. I also recently wrote two ballets, so it has been a big part of my life.
Aside from dance, the emotional core of the story is very rich: Nureyev is a very complex and contradictory character going through a pivotal life moment, and all this makes for a rich emotional journey; one that I can relate to, and which offers an opportunity for emotive music.
An original score has the potential to shape a viewer’s emotional connection to the narrative. What then do you feel is the responsibility of a composer who works on a biopic, and can influence our perception of a real story and person? How can you best respect their story through music?
Music expresses what words can’t. It functions in film as the emotional narrative. In fantasies, you want to be taken on a wild adventure, and music is very capable of doing this. But if you did this in a biopic or documentary, it would come across as very manipulative.
It’s necessary to find an honesty of emotional expression, which means that the parameters are much more narrow, and so it’s much more difficult to find the right thing. The only way to do it is to immerse yourself in the character and the story.
You worked closely with Ralph Fiennes to create the score. What was it like to undertake the composition process in such a collaborative way?
Ralph’s films always demand an unusual creative approach, and he’s very open to my crazy artistic ideas, which means I get to do really special work with him.
For this film, one of the main challenges was to write music that could sit side by side with works from the great masters like Tchaikovsky, so I decided that rather than writing cues (what we call pieces of music in film) to fit the picture, I would write complete classical pieces based on the emotional themes of the story; and then give them to Ralph to cut into the film, as if they were long lost classical pieces that he had discovered. Ralph was brave enough to go along with this idea.
My anxiety as the film came close to release was that, because my music was a lot more full than ordinary film music, it might alienate some of the audience. But fortunately, so far it seems to have had the opposite effect.
Having worked with Ralph in the past, how has your relationship evolved through this new professional experience?
At the very start of our relationship with Coriolanus, Ralph was terrified by the effect music might have on the film. I had to work very carefully with him to show him how I could make it work as a positive artistic addition to what was already there.
I can remember some way into the process saying to Ralph: ‘Because your character is a soldier, how about we use a trumpet?’ and at the mention of that word, a look of alarm came across him.
‘Not playing a tune,’ I hastily added, and his face relaxed a little.
‘Just playing a single note like quintessence of trumpet.’
And so I literally created the score one trumpet note at a time.
Three films later, and now good friends and collaborators, I said to Ralph standing in front of an 80-piece orchestra: ‘It took nearly 10 years, but I knew I’d get you in front of an orchestra in the end.’
It’s been a fun ride with Ralph, and I hope our collaborations last for many more years across many different fields.
What advice would you give to emerging film composers who might dream of following in your footsteps?
Just keep writing and creating across every discipline, not just film.
The world of media entertainment is changing, and has lots of opportunities in different places. The more things you do, the more things will happen.
The White Crow is set to be released in Australian cinemas on 18 July, 2019.
Shout the writer a coffee?
Thanks for supporting Steph as she volunteers her time for arts journalism. No amount too much or little 🙂
[purchase_link id=”12246″ style=”button” color=”red” text=”Pay what you like”]
Pay what you like securely via PayPal. We protect your information.
Images supplied. Stephanie by Graziano di Martino.
