“Twilight: New Moon” director Chris Weitz talks the sequel’s soundtrack
Tulsa-born singer/songwriter/musician St. Vincent (AKA Annie Clark) is featured on the soundtrack for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”
I recently traveled to Los Angeles to attend the huge press day for hotly anticipated sequel “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”
Among the many questions director Chris Weitz fielded about the film, one was about the soundtrack, which features several indie-rock stars and up-and-comers.
“I owe a great deal to two things. One is the success of the first film and (‘Twilight’ director) Catherine Hardwicke’s version, which made for a soundtrack that was so successful that suddenly anyone was conceivably within our reach. And the other person to thank is Alexandra Patsavas, our amazing music supervisor, who knows everything that’s out there. She was able to bring me kind of a basket of music that I could choose from with her,” Weitz (pictured left) said.
The “Twilight” soundtrack, which Patsavas also compiled, included songs from Collective Soul, Paramore, Mute Math, Linkin Park, Iron & Wine and the film franchise’s heartthrob, Robert Pattinson. Also contributing was “The Twilight Saga” author Stephenie Meyer’s favorite band, Muse.
The soundtrack to the first film debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart last year.
For the sequel soundtrack, Patsavas took a more indie approach, tapping artists such as Grizzy Bear, Death Cab for Cutie, Hurricane Bells and more. Tulsa-born singer/songwriter/musician St. Vincent collaborated with indie band Bon Iver for one song, and Muse, the only band to appear on both soundtracks, offered a remix of one of its new songs.
“My musical education is formed by my daily drive listening to KCRW’s ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic,’ so I am an indie guy, if anything. Mostly, I’m a square. But suddenly there were these incredible pickings on offer: Thom Yorke, The Killers,” Weitz said.
The soundtrack was originally set for release on Tuesday, Oct. 20, but it was moved up to Friday, Oct. 16. Summit Entertainment cited “overwhelming and unprecedented demand” for the change, though combating leaks was undoubtedly a factor, too. The soundtrack debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and climbed to the top spot a week later, after selling 153,000 copies in its first full week of release.
“I genuinely think it’s one of the best soundtrack albums that’s ever been done. The reason I will make this outrageous claim is that it’s not music that was already completed. You know, you’re always dealing with a known quantity when you’re doing needle drops. It’s kind of easy to do that. But to be able to risk asking somebody to do a track and four weeks later or so a song comes back, to have it work as many times as it did was really extraordinary. And I think that if any one of those artists had done a track for our soundtrack, I would have been really proud. But to have all of them is absolutely extraordinary,” Weitz said.
Read my review of the “New Moon” soundtrack by clicking here.
“New Moon” opens in theaters one week from today, and I’ll be bringing you numerous stories, columns and newsflashes in the coming days. Stay tuned to BAM’s Blog.
-BAM
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bravo za twilight