L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano H e s t a r t e d m a k i n g music when h e w a s s i x , even though no one in his family was a p r o f e s s i o n a l m u s i c i a n . Growing up, Francesco Le M e t r e h a d a l w a y s m u s i c around him, but as a kid he had no idea it was going to become his career. "I started playing piano and then even- tually switched over to drums and lastly electric bass," the Sicilian composer, now 30 years old, recalls from his house in Los Angeles, where he moved after studying at t h e B e r k l e e C o l l e g e o f Music in Boston. "In 2011 I moved from Catania to the U S A b e c a u s e I w a n t e d t o pursue a career as a bass player. Eventually, during my first year of college, I changed m y f o c u s o n c o m p o s i t i o n specifically for films and tele- v i s i o n . " A f t e r h i s d e g r e e , Francesco moved to Califor- nia and started working as a score editor for the movie Lion, that eventually got four Golden Globe nomina- t i o n s a n d s i x A c a d e m y Awards nominations, inclu- ding Best Score. Now France- sco is on the contenders' list t o b e n o m i n a t e d a t t h e O s c a r s f o r B e s t O r i g i n a l Score for Disclosure, a Net- flix original documentary. Francesco, what made you decide to become a composer? At some point, I found it l i m i t i n g t o p l a y b a s s o n someone else's music. Since I went from playing piano to drums to bass, I had a gener- al idea on the various ele- ments in music (melody, har- mony, rhythm) and my inter- est in writing it was a natural consequence. Then, after I took a class on orchestration a n d a 4 0 p i e c e o r c h e s t r a played my first ever composi- tion, I fell in love with that experience and its process. W h a t ' s g r e a t a b o u t scoring a movie? T h e y s a y t h a t t h e b e s t moment is when you get a gig a n d w h e n y o u m a n a g e t o deliver it. I think that is pret- ty accurate. I always liked films, so being involved in the making of one is something that thrills me every time. What do you like the most about it? I love the process of find- ing a concept for the score, telling a story with music and I really like collaborating with other creatives. Also, I like challenges and I don't mind some adrenaline and stress here and there. It defi- nitely makes your life less monotonous. What are your tasks at the studio you work for? I mostly work by myself now and sometimes I write additional music for other composers that need help w i t h a f i l m o r t v s e r i e s . However, when I used to be an intern and then composer assistant, I had to do various things. Generally speaking, I started with taking care of basic studio tasks (organizing boxes, running errands and so on). Then, eventually, I got t o d o m o r e t e c h n i c a l a n d scoring-related work. Which advice would you give to someone that wants to purse the same career? I believe that the role of a c o m p o s e r a s s i s t a n t i s t o make the life of the composer you work for easier. A lot of people have the misconcep- tion that assisting means working on music right away, but that comes with time. Eventually you get there, first with prepping sessions, and more technical work, then arranging some music, then writing here and there and, at some point, you might end up writing a lot of music with the composer you have been working for. You had your first big breakthrough with the movie Lion, tell us more about the experience. When I first met Dustin O ' H a l l o r a n h e h a d j u s t s t a r t e d w o r k i n g o n L i o n w i t h H a u s c h k a , a n d h e needed someone to help him o u t w i t h m o r e t e c h n i c a l things. I just came off a great i n t e r n s h i p w i t h J o e Trapanese, where I had the chance to get a general idea on how to handle the logistics of a film (or at least I thought I had). Then a month into the film, Dustin asked me if I wanted to be the score editor. T h e a m o u n t o f p i c t u r e changes was a bit intense and he needed someone on the creative side to help with b o t h l o g i s t i c s a n d m u s i c . From there, I took on that role and we all managed to finish the project. M o r e r e c e n t l y , y o u have worked on the score for Disclosure, how was this experience? It was a great experience overall. The director Sam Feder, the producesr Amy S c h o l d e r a n d L a v e r n e Cox were extremely support- ive and collaborative. On my end, I felt I had a big respon- sibility to do justice to the project musically, consider- SILVIA GIUDICI ing the theme of the docu- mentary. I worked on the music for about three months with some breaks in between. The deadlines became tighter towards the end, especially once the documentary got into Sundance Film Festival. Luckily, Sam and Amy had time to come over to the stu- dio and sit with me and dis- cuss the music as I was work- ing on the score. Even if it might be less relaxing having the spotlight on you as you create, I believe working with the director next to you is very effective. How do you approach a movie or a documen- tary when you have to write a score? I a l w a y s s t a r t w i t h t h e vision. After discussing in detail with the director about t h e s t o r y o f t h e f i l m , i t s meaning and what the film wants to represent, I try to focus on the side of the story that is not represented on screen. I believe the music should tell the audience the invisible side of the story that might not be obvious to our e y e s . S o m e t i m e s i t t a k e s weeks before I get to sit down and write music. First, it is mostly a conceptual process, understanding the story and Francesco Le Metre at the 2016 Golden Globes (Photo courtesy of F. Le Metre) Sicilian music composer Francesco Le Metre on his Oscar worthy career Continued to page 20 LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE

• Cover