Randall Poster has one of the coolest jobs in the world — he helps pick the music for Wes Anderson's movies.
Poster's career isn't limited to Anderson's films, of course — he's served as the Music Supervisor of close to 100 films and TV shows, working closely with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Todd Phillips, Todd Haynes, and Harmony Korine — but it's his relationship with Wes that has been the most enduring, and the most rewarding.
The longtime collaborators met through a mutual friend shortly after the release of Anderson's first film, 'Bottle Rocket', in 1996. Anderson shared his frustration about a piece of music he wasn't able to license for 'Bottle Rocket', and Poster — smitten by the film — promised he could help him get whatever music he wanted for his next project.
Poster has worked on every single one of Anderson's films since then, using his encyclopediac knowledge of music to help set the tone for each project. 'The Grand Budapest Hotel', Anderson's latest film, presented Poster with some of his toughest musical challenges to date.
I spoke to Poster about his unique relationship with Anderson, creating character through music, bringing Kendrick Lamar and Tame Impala together for the 'Divergent' soundtrack, and why The Beatles are Kryptonite for soundtracks.
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I'd never even considered that someone other than Wes Anderson picked the music for Wes Anderson's movies, because it always seems to fit his vision so perfectly. How closely do you guys work together?
We work very closely together. You know, we've been working together for almost 18 years. There's been sort of an ongoing musical dialogue between us as we've made seven movies together.
Do you find yourself having an influence on other aspects of the production?
Yeah! I mean, over the course of the years, I think I've been involved with everything, from casting opinions to location scouting to figuring out where we should hold the premiere parties. Whatever it is, we touch on all bases. It's been my great privilege to be part of the inner workings of these films that Wes makes.
Is that an unusual role for a music supervisor to play? Do you have that much of a hands-on role when you work with other directors?
Not as much, no. We kind of locked in with each other, and we have a very deep and respectful relationship. Having said that, when I've worked with other directors over the years... you know, I'm not one to hide my opinions about things. There are some directors I've worked with again and again, and I'll weigh in on this or that. But there's nobody I'm closer to than Wes.
Each of the soundtracks you've worked on with Wes seem to feature a particular artist, or a particular style of music, that really helps to define the movie. The 'colour' of that film might be a particular artist who appears a few times on the soundtrack. Is that something you're particularly conscious of?
Yeah! Oftentimes, we find a musical direction even before Wes has finished the script. Certainly, with 'The Grand Budapest Hotel', we did a lot of research into regional folk music, trying to land on a sound. With 'The Darjeeling Limited', it became part of our challenge to use as much Indian film music as we could get our hands on.
With 'Life Aquatic', Wes had put this notion in the script that a character was going to sing David Bowie songs in Portuguese. So we recorded 13 songs with Seu Jorge, and by virtue of his musical genius, we were able to use all of them. So Wes and I try to pursue a certain logic.
Wes will be inspired by something and give me a clue, and then it's my role to pursue it to its limits, whether that's gathering all of Benjamin Britten's work for 'Moonrise Kingdom', or tracking down the finest alpine yodellers in the world, you know?
Being a period film set in a fictional middle Europe, what kind of challenges did the 'Grand Budapest Hotel' soundtrack pose for you?
There were just worlds and worlds of music that could potentially have been found in the film, and I think Wes and I would both confess that we're not particularly expert in classical music, so we really had to work hard to make sure that we didn't leave something that was relevant and poignant uncovered. There was just so much sweat that went into the preparation.
But when Wes makes a decision, he's fully vested. Once we landed on this notion of using balalaika, along with some gypsy musical stylings, we went at it whole-heartedly.
Have you missed the pop music on the last couple of films?
Not really! I think it's fun to mix it up. You know, in 'Moonrise Kingdom' we had the Hank Williams songs and we had that wonderful Francoise Hardy song, so we haven't completely surrendered. What we did musically with 'Budapest Hotel' just seemed to be what was exactly right for 'Budapest Hotel'.
Wes and I still have a dialogue about pop music, and I'm sure at some point we'll make another movie where that'll become an element of our musical landscape.
You guys have been known to let songs simmer for years. I read somewhere that you heard Bobby Fuller's 'Let Her Dance', you put it in a vault for 10 years, and then you listened to it again. And then you used it in 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox'. Does that happen a lot?
Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Francoise Hardy ['Le Temps De L'amour', in 'Moonrise Kingdom'] was another one that we'd been holding onto. And there are some things we have presently that have been ageing in our cellar that will serve us well when the time is right.
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You mentioned that you and Wes often think of music during the scripting stage. 'Rushmore', for example, obviously used a lot of music from that British Invasion era, angry young men in ill-fitting suits with thick-framed glasses, and that's such a perfect fit with Max Fischer. Did that music help to define the character for you?
Yeah, I think so. Wes had this notion of this correspondence with all the bands of the British Invasion, and there seemed to be a very deep correspondence, in terms of the style and substance, between that music and Max.
You know, because we had music in mind, there were sequences where a certain choreography, a cinematic choreography, was enabled because Wes knew where to make the cuts. He knew how to set up a shot and a sequence of shots.
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Along those lines, when Margot steps off the bus in 'The Royal Tenenbaums' to the tune of Nico's 'These Days'... it's such an iconic moment, and it's impossible to imagine either of those characters, Margot and Richie Tenenbaum, without that song. How did that come together?
Yeah, we had that at hand before we started shooting. He knew that was how that was going to work. So in terms of how it was framed, and the slow motion... it was all in mind already. The other one... well, it's in 'Rushmore', actually, but I was going to talk about 'Ooh La La'.
Yeah, at the end of 'Rushmore'.
Yeah. That was a song that we decided to use as we were preparing 'Rushmore', so that was another one that we were able to choreograph as we were shooting it, knowing that we were going to use that song.
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Those are both 'goosebumps' moments in those movies. In a very different way, so is the use of Elliott Smith's 'Needle In The Hay' for Richie's attempted suicide in 'The Royal Tenenbaums'. Does Elliott Smith's suicide later on affect how you view that sequence now?
I don't think so. Well... maybe it does. We had some dealings with Elliott Smith during that period, and it was very sad. He was just very awkward and uncomfortable. He was clearly struggling. I wish that we could have provided more tonic at the time. But, you know, it was challenging to talk with him.
What I'm happy about is that I think that marriage between that song and the movie is pretty enduring. Hopefully, by virtue of Wes' impact, another generation will come to discover the beautiful music of Elliott Smith.
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The connections you and Wes like to draw between the music and the films — it's like you're encouraging apophenia, you're encouraging audiences to fire up the synapses and make all these connections. I'm thinking of how you guys used the feuding Davies Brothers [The Kinks] in 'The Darjeeling Limited' — can you talk a bit about that and how that related to the story?
Right. You know, we'd used The Kinks before, and Wes is a great fan of The Kinks, as I am. And then all of a sudden we had a story about these brothers, these battling brothers, and we certainly got a kick out of the fact that — consciously or subconsciously — there was this mirror with the music, even if it's just an anecdotal correspondence.
I may be the person who's most thrilled by that, but it is there. Both Wes and I feel that the more connections there are... people may not consciously know about these connections, they may not mean anything to anybody, but we feel like there's a power in there that impacts the audience.
Another inspired use of music in your films is The Vince Guaraldi Trio in 'Rushmore' ('Hark! The Herald Angels Sing') and 'The Royal Tenenbaums' ('Christmas Time Is Here'). They're not Christmas movies, but those songs fit so perfectly. How did you arrive at them?
Well, for Wes, I think 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', Peanuts and Vince Guaraldi, those are very important touchstones to his own childhood. They really do capture a beautiful, childish innocence, but there's this aching... there's an ache to it that I think is enduring.
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You've said that The Beatles are Kryptonite for soundtracks. Is that because people bring too many of their own experiences to those songs?
I think that's right! I don't mean to denigrate or criticise The Beatles, because we all love The Beatles and their music is so profound. But the point I was trying to make is that sometimes, there are so many associations with certain pieces of music, particularly The Beatles, that it sort of takes you out of the movie.
We were playing around with using The Beatles at certain points of 'The Royal Tenenbaums', and the reality is that had things worked out differently, it probably would have made for an incredible, classic Wes Anderson moment. But when we were struggling with it, when we were denied it, I felt kind of liberated by it. I think that someday, God willing, it wouldn't surprise me if we use The Beatles somewhere along the line. But sometimes music can overwhelm a scene or a sequence.
Why do you think that's true of The Beatles, but not, say, The Stones, who you've gone back to a lot?
I think The Beatles are just so... you know, their music is like a religious canon. The Stones are just a little bit more... well, they've just been our band in our movies. There's a hallowed aspect of The Beatles that doesn't relate to any other artist the way it does to them.
You weren't able to use the original 'Hey Jude' in 'The Royal Tenenbaums', but the Mutato Muzika Orchestra cover arguably worked out a lot better. Does that happen very often, where you're denied something but the replacement makes for a better scene?
No, it almost never happens. You know, it's my commitment to Wes and my commitment to all the filmmakers that I work with that I'll do everything to make something happen and make the impossible possible. It really never happens. I fight to win the battles, you know?
With 'Hey Jude', it was just an awkward situation and a horrible situation. George Harrison got sick and that was not going to enable us to work something out in the time frame we had.
How do you fight those battles? If you get stonewalled by a rights holder, are there particular arguments you fall back on? How do you sway these people?
Part of it is just that I'm relentless about it. And then I try to contextualise it, in terms of the value of the movie and the ambitions of the creative people involved. Hopefully, there's a big enough body of work now that I can convince people that I use music respectfully and creatively, and can point to those kinds of values. And sometimes I beg! And sometimes I have to find some extra money, you know?
Yeah. A famous example is when you worked on 'School Of Rock', and the Led Zeppelin guys needed some convincing to let you use 'Immigrant Song'. Did you have to beg them?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I begged them and then we had Jack Black record a video plea, as well!
What does your relationship tend to be like with the composers of the films you work on? Does your process change depending on whether you're working with a Mark Mothersbaugh or an Alexandre DeSplat?
Yeah, it really depends more on what role the director needs me to play. Sometimes the role of a music supervisor, as far as the score goes, is just to help develop a common vocabulary to talk about the music. So the job varies from project to project, depending on the needs.
With 'Grand Budapest Hotel', part of my job was to help secure 25 Russian balalaika players, and to make sure they were going to arrive in Paris in time to record the score!
You've got such a diverse catalogue. When you're working on something like 'Boardwalk Empire' and something like 'Spring Breakers' at more or less the same time, does that do your head in a little?
No, I think it kind of helps. It enables me to cleanse my palette, one with the other. I can go from 1924 to 2013. My interest and my passion for it is unwavering, so I don't find living in either of those eras much of a musical chore.
You also just worked on the 'Divergent' soundtrack. How did the Kendrick Lamar and Tame Impala collaboration come together?
Well, I'm a big fan of Tame Impala, and we were working with Interscope to do something with Kendrick Lamar. We thought that would be an interesting cultural collision. That's one of the things about 'Divergent' — it's set in the future, so we tried to see where we could push different musical cultures up against each other.
It's interesting — with urban music, and some of the urban artists, I think their own musical interests transcend strict hip hop. If you listen to, say, 'Yeezus', you sense that there is a broader musical possibility.
Finally, which song are you happiest to have introduced — or re-introduced — to a mass audience?
I guess it'd be... maybe let me say 'Let Her Dance'. The first time I ever heard that song, it just completely destroyed me. It was like, 'How does everybody NOT know Bobby Fuller?'
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'The Grand Budapest Hotel' — starring Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Saoirse Ronan, Jude Law, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, F Murray Abraham, Harvey Keitel, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson and Bill Murray — will open the Gold Coast Film Festival at BCC Pacific Fair Cinemas on Thursday April 3, with an encore screening on Sunday April 6.
'The Grand Budapest Hotel' will be released in cinemas from Thursday April 10.
