Film on the Radio

17 Dec 2019

Phantom Thread – Transcript

CARLA: Hello and welcome, I’m Carla Donnelly and this is Film on the Radio – your weekly deep dive into the scores and soundtracks of the films you love. Thanks to Little Pod of Joy for bringing us in and catching us up with the best stories of the week. Last week we discussed the 1992 film Reality Bites and the idea of soundtracks being one the last bastions of mixtape culture. That episode has been podcasted so if you want to catch up, add us to your favourite app. This week we’re going to dive deep on scores, and this one is not only one of my favourite scores its possibly my favourite piece of music of the last couple of years – Jonny Greenwood’s Phantom Thread. Yep that’s Jonny Greenwood, lead guitarist of Radiohead, who has carved out a hugely successful career in film scoring. The Phantom Thread score was nominated for an Oscar in 2018. Recorded with a 60-piece orchestra it’s an exercise in restraint through excess – just as it’s film content. Phantom Thread is Paul Thomas Andersons latest film and Daniel Day Lewis’s last. Now this episode may be slightly spoilery as it’s impossible to talk the music without touching on the scenes and moods it augments. Phantom Thread tells the story of a controlling and difficult haute couture fashion designer in 1950’s London. The film is incredibly fetishistic (and ultimately kinky in the most superb British way) with swathes of fabric, colour, accentuated silhouettes, mahogany, tweed and at its centre the fiercely brittle head of House Woodcock – Reynolds Woodcock. Here is the theme that sums up the film perfectly -its filled with delicacy, sorrow, astonishing beauty and uneasy pacing that imbues suspense.

MUSIC: Phantom Thread I

CARLA: You’re on Joy 94.9 and this is Film on the Radio. Today we are discussing the score to the 2018 film Phantom Thread, which is one of my personal favourites, but we’re also going to talk scores more generally. Film music has a history as long as film itself. From the beginning of cinema in the silent film era, which spanned 25 years from the late 1800s to the late 1920s, music was played live during screenings and did a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of expressing mood and emotion. However, in the early days it wasn’t scoring as we know it, musicians would use classical music or popular tunes of the time. The first time original music was composed for a film was in 1932 for the film Symphony of Six Million by Max Steiner. But this wasn’t a fully-fledged score, it was musical cues. Steiner did become responsible for the first full film score a year later in 1933 for the blockbuster King Kong. Seriously ahead of his time he borrowed from opera the concept of leitmotifs and set the standard for all future scoring – leitmotifs is when a character or a story arc has its own recurring melody. This can be found in most scores – in Phantom Thread there is 4 version of the theme, all slightly changed in tone and or length mirroring the progression of the love story between the main characters Alma and Reynolds.

Scoring can make or break a film. A fantastic anecdote highlighting the power of the score is apparently Hitchcock was so crestfallen when he first saw the rushes of Psycho that he made plans to make it into a one-hour TV film. The composer Bernard Hermann convinced him he could drastically change the mood of the film with music, resulting in of the most iconic scenes and film scores of all time. The marriage of image to music can be all consuming, which this is such a great example of. The score of Phantom Thread seems to dance with its characters and all that is present on screen. The score simultaneously feels like the films stage and narrator. To give you a picture of the 1950’s lush opulence of the score here is The House of Woodcock and The Tailor of Fitzrovia.

MUSIC: The House of Woodcock, The Tailor of Fitzrovia

CARLA: You’re on Joy 9.49 and you’re listening Film on the Radio. The last couple of tracks were The House of Woodcock and The Tailor of Fitzrovia from the 2018 score to the film Phantom Thread. Here on Film on the Radio we deep dive into a soundtrack or score each week exploring its history of creation. We’d love to hear from you whether you love this score or about others you love, get in contact on Facebook and Twitter @filmontheradio or you can email us at filmontheradio@joy.org.au. If you haven’t seen the film might I recommend it to you? And just a warning there may be some slightly spoilery things this episode (but nothing too major). Phantom Thread is Paul Thomas Andersons 7^th film. You may be familiar with his others Boogie Nights, Magnolia, The Master… and There Will Be Blood also starring Daniel Day Lewis. It’s an incredibly lush piece, set against the Georgian mansion of haute couture designer Reynolds Woodcock. However, you probably guessed that it was a period piece from that music, but also thought it was a romantic drama? You would be correct. It might surprise you to know that the guitarist for Radiohead Johnny Greenwood is responsible for the score. Keen classical music fan and recorder obsessive (he has played the recorder in various bands since he was a child) Greenwood provided the music to the last 4 of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films.

Their collaboration is one that is deeply maturing and it shows – the score to this film is so symbiotic with its imagery it’s like they have bloomed together from the same mind… In an interview with Variety: “We talked a lot about ‘50s music, what was popularly heard then as well as what was being written and recorded,” Greenwood tells Variety. “Nelson Riddle and Glenn Gould’s Bach recordings were the main references. I was interested in the kind of jazz records that toyed with incorporating big string sections, Ben Webster made some good ones, and focus on what the strings were doing rather than the jazz musicians themselves.”

Greenwood reasoned that if Reynolds listened to music, it would have been Gould. “Lots of slightly obsessive, minimal baroque music,” says Greenwood. “And we could use the piano as the common ground between the romantic music and the formal, slightly more buttoned-up themes that suited Reynolds.”The romantic movements “couldn’t cross into pastiche, or be in any way ironic,” he says. “It took a long time to figure out how to do that.” At one point, Greenwood recorded with an ensemble of 60 strings, his largest ever.

Some of the cues, however, are played by only a quartet. “The smaller groups, and solo players, work like close-ups [and] not necessarily to accompany [a] visual, but rather, to focus your attention on and make you feel directly engaged with the characters. The bigger orchestral things often worked best for drawing you back to see the bigger situation.”

Anderson first heard Greenwood’s themes-in-progress at the musician’s London studio. “These were turned into a whole body of work for him to draw from, and to request longer, shorter, faster versions and variations,” says Greenwood, adding that, “Some cues were written specifically to scenes. Others were just sketches of the characters, or of the story.” This is The Hem and Sandalwood I from the Phantom Thread score.

MUSIC: The Hem, Sandalwood I

CARLA: You’re on Joy 9.49 and this is Film on the Radio and this week we’re focusing on the score to the 2018 film The Phantom Thread. That was The Hem and Sandalwood I. I’ve been talking about how the score is practically a character in the film, or even a narrator. Ever present and representative of the protagonists thoughts and feelings. Incredibly the score is present for 90 minutes of the movie which is almost 2/3^rds and completely unheard of. I think it would do well at this point to have a listen to this marriage of artists and artistry by playing a clip from the film. In this scene Reynolds is in bed, violently ill and hallucinating his dead mother is present in the room. Hold all three things together and see how they work – the in-scene sound (doors opening, the texture of towels etc), dialogue and the score. I believe they hang together beautifully to create a fullness that expresses much more as the sum of its parts. In an interview with NPR Greenwood said in reference to this scenes music “That was written around the sound of the viola playing in its highest register, and there’s just something about the sound of the viola hitting those high notes. You can hear the player, who’s amazing, struggling slightly, and that’s a really nice human emotion to hear in music. She gave me a very level look when she saw the part, and saw how high the notes were. So I couldn’t look her in the eye. It was a bit awkward.” Let see if you can hear the strain.

CLIP: “Never cursed” (from 1:39)

MUSIC: Never Cursed

CARLA: This is Film on the Radio and this week we’re talking The Phantom Thread. That was the track Never Cursed, and before that it we played a clip of scene it was scored for – where main character Reynolds Woodcock is in bed hallucinating the presence of his dead mother. Do you think the music augments, or do you think it’s too prescriptive? Keep the conversation going on our social media @filmontheradio, or email us at filmontheradio@joy.org.au. We’d love to hear from you. When interviewed by The New York Times Greenwood said “The principal thing was to make sure the emotion was sincere. I was so scared of it being pastiche. In a way it goes back to my first audition for a youth orchestra. I’d never heard the real thing. I’d been in small orchestras that couldn’t play. Suddenly here’s this room of 17- and 18-year-olds, and I’d never heard this noise, and I’ve never forgotten it. I still feel like, when I’m doing film stuff, I’m chasing that same fix. I know that eventually, after these months of work on paper, I know that eventually there will be a day, or if I’m lucky two days, with an orchestra to record it all. Having said that, the first stuff I sent to Paul he said was all too dark. Like the first two pieces I sent him, on the piano, he said that it sounds like you are telling the story already, that you’re giving away what’s going to happen.”

Further in an interview with NPR “I sent him (Paul Thomas Anderson) an iPhone recording of me playing that on the piano, and he just looped it and put it throughout the film — to the point that it was driving everybody crazy. And he said, “Can you make this longer? Arrange it for strings?” That’s the weird thing about recording string orchestras for film music: You do all this preparation for months and months and months, and then you just have four hours to actually record it and hear the real thing. So until then, no one really knows that it’s going to come off the paper and turn into music. It’s a really exciting day.”

I’d be fascinated to know more about this process though it seems that Paul Thomas Anderson and Jonny Greenwood are in constant contact during development right through the very end, Greenwood sending him revisions, PTA sending him scenes from the film and further instruction. PTA cuts the film to the music as well. I’m not aware of many other director/composer relationships that are so tight and I have to say that music in Anderson’s films are his secret weapon… well that’s not entirely true because it’s all part of the construction and consideration of his films. In going into pre-production for this series of broadcasts I was designing a list of my favourite soundtracks and scores – trying to get a good balance of newish and oldish and classical and pop music and without thinking I had 3 of Anderson’s films in this 8 week block of episodes. Magnolia being my favourite soundtrack of all time… and considering this show will be broadcasting between 11 and 12 on New Years Eve I plan to be playing Boogie Nights. But I hadn’t even considered how much I love these things individually as a part of one person’s body of work. I don’t necessarily love the films as much as the music but anyway I digress it was just fascinating for me to note. Much like Tarantino.. I feel like the directors that *get* music… also have great taste in production… they are auteurs in the true sense of the word.. they create worlds that are entirely theirs and recognizably so. Speaking of auteurs Wes Anderson is another where music is so key. But I only have 8 weeks in this grid so I’m trying to make it really varied. So that is my nod to you dear listener, add us to your podcatcher so you can listen to each episode. Let’s listen to Alma’s theme and Endless Superstition – you’re on Joy 94.9.

MUSIC: Alma, Endless Superstition

CARLA: This is Film on the Radio and that was the track Alma and Endless Superstition from the 2018 score the film Phantom Thread. Let’s move onto something a little more sonically challenging, a pivotal moment in the relationship development of Alma and Reynolds is when heiress Barbara Rose disrupts the House Woodcock’s regimented workflow by announcing her sudden engagement to an international playboy and demanding Woodcock makes her wedding dress. Barbara Rose is an absolute mess of a woman and is based on a real life person, this is from the website Mental Floss “The character of Barbara Rose — the drunken customer whose dress Reynolds and Alma steal off her body in one memorable scene—is based on real-life Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. The recipient of a $50 million inheritance on her 21st birthday, Hutton married seven times (once to Cary Grant). The marriage depicted in Phantom Thread, to playboy Porfirio Rubirosa, lasted two months.” As alluded to Alma becomes disgusted with Barbara Rose’s behavior at her own wedding and demands to Reynolds that they retrieve the dress. That kind of behaviour should never be seen in a House of Woodcock gown. The two conspire to remove the dress from the unconscious woman and realise they are comrades in arms. Muse and artist bound together.

MUSIC: Barbara Rose

CARLA: You’re on Joy 94.9 and this is Film on the Radio. That was the track Barbara Rose from the score to the 2018 film The Phantom Thread. If you’d like to hear more from this episode please add us to your podcatcher. We’re nearing the end of our time together and I always like to finish on a bit of film gossip. Let’s start with IMDB – Paul Thomas Anderson likes to think this film exists in the same universe as Clue.. you remember that film from the 80’s based on the board game? Colonel Mustard in the Conservatory with the pipe. I loved that movie SO MUCH when I was a kid so this idea makes me squeal.

The seamstresses for House Woodcock were all real seamstresses, either still working or retired, that PTA met during the research phase of the film and finally Daniel Day Lewis came up with his character’s name – Reynolds Woodcock which made PTA laugh so hysterically it stuck.

From the Mentalfloss website – this is my most interesting tidbit because Paul Thomas Anderson is married to Maya Rudolph (she of Saturday night live and Bridesmaids fame) and they’ve been together for over 20 years.. This film is so kinky I just had to cast side eye over the two of them as PTA wrote it quote “inspiration for the integral subplot where Alma (Vicky Krieps) must nurse Reynolds through a debilitating illness comes in part from an occurrence in Anderson’s own life. The director came down with something, and his wife (actress/comedian Maya Rudolph) took care of him. “My imagination just took over at some point, where I had this thought: ‘Oh, she is looking at me with such care and tenderness … wouldn’t it suit her to keep me sick in this state?'” Anderson recalled. “[That moment] gave me an idea that such a thing could be served up with some spark of mischievousness and humor that might, in a larger picture, lend itself to what it means to be in a long-term relationship, you know. And the balance of power that can happen in that.”

More from Mental Floss: “Day-Lewis, famous for his Method acting zeal, prepared to play Woodcock by studying archival footage of mid-century fashion shows, learning to sew, and recreating a Balenciaga sheath dress from scratch. Day-Lewis’s wife, director Rebecca Miller, “has worn the dress,” he said. “It’s very pretty.”

You can find the links to the research for this episode in the show notes on the podcast episode or on our webpage www.joy.org.au/filmontheradio. It’s been a pleasure spending this hour with you and sharing one of my most dear scores. I’ll leave you with this final piece of information – in an interview with The Guardian actress Vicky Krieps who plays Alma said she never met Daniel Day Lewis until they acted in their first scene together, the one where the destined lovers meet in the café, attributing that to the incredible chemistry and awkwardness that scene produced. Lewis – known for his deep method acting, spent the entire time filming in character. To this day Krieps still calls him Reynolds. I’ll leave you on the track, The Hungry Boy. Stay with us for the fabulous Lisa Daniel with Word for Word.

MUSIC: For the Hungry Boy