(Welcome to our Emmys FYC miniseries for “Notes on a Score,” GVN’s interview series highlighting the composers and musicians behind some of the year’s most acclaimed films and television series.)
Much has been said about Elizabeth Olsen’s incredible work as Candy Montgomery on Max’s Love & Death. It’s not only a gorgeously rendered performance but the centerpiece of the entire series, a dramatization of Montgomery’s infamous affair and even more infamous murder trial. It stands to reason that every creative process behind the show would, in one way or another, be informed by Olsen’s heart-wrenching emotional duality.
Enter composer Jeff Russo, who was so taken by Olsen’s work in the series that it gave him direction in how he approached the show’s music. “I’m much more intent on scoring what a character is feeling, not what a character is doing,” he explains, sitting in his home studio. “Elizabeth Olsen’s performance is so evocative that it was basically telling me all of those things. It was like every part of her performance was an inspiration to what I was trying to achieve with music.”
Russo, whose work on the FX series Fargo scored him an Emmy Award in 2017, was brought onto Love & Death late into the production process. He received all 7 episodes right off the bat – a rarity in the industry – and immediately recognized that the music’s main goal was not just about accentuating the characters’ emotions. If anything, he wanted to get out of their way.
“We didn’t really need to drag the story around by its nose,” he elaborates. “The idea was to give light to the underlying emotional connection between Candy and Alan [Jesse Plemons‘ character], because all of that is what really gave rise to the end result. It’s like having the music be a part of the fabric of the scene.”
To do just that, Russo attempted to get into Candy’s mindset from the very beginning. He recounts one especially powerful moment toward the end of the first episode. “Before [her and Allan] actually meet at the motel for the first time, Candy is staring at herself in the mirror. I imagined what she was actually saying to herself as I was writing that piece of music. I think I sound crazy,” he laughs.
When asked what he thought she was thinking, his answer is deeply profound. “I pictured her being lonely, and praying and begging not necessarily for affection, but for someone to meet her halfway and engage with her … I pictured her talking to herself about that, convincing herself that what she was about to embark upon was okay because this is what she needed. It was meant to feed her own soul.”
In this exclusive conversation with Geek Vibes Nation, Russo explains how Olsen’s performance informed his process, collaborating with series creator David E. Kelley, and how he approached scoring the show’s memorable ax murder. Here is that conversation, edited for length and clarity.
How did Love & Death come your way?
At the very last minute, the music supervisor [Robin Urdang], who I had worked with before, called me and asked me if I was available to do this really cool project [with] David E. Kelly, Lesli Linka Glatter, all these great people. I said, “I am available, send me the thing so I can take a look at it and see if I have something of any merit to offer.” They sent all 7 episodes and I watched them and, obviously, I loved it and wanted to jump right in. I had conversations with Lesli and David about the music, what they were looking for, and what I thought we could do to really underscore the characters.
What were those initial conversations? What were David and Lesli initially thinking?
They were less interested in telling me what they were looking for and more interested in hearing what I thought it should be. I was definitely of the mindset that this was something that needed to be emotional, yet subtle, because we don’t need to overplay [it]. We didn’t really need to drag the story around by its nose. The idea was to give light to the underlying emotional connection between Candy and Alan, because all of that is what really gave rise to the end result. Elizabeth Olsen’s performance is so spectacular, it needed no help from me, that’s for sure.
Speaking of Elizabeth Olsen, there’s a powerful relationship that can occur between a performance this central to a show and a composer who is deeply studying it and writing music to it. Could you speak more to how Olsen’s performance informed your process?
I’m much more intent on scoring what a character is feeling, not what a character is doing. Elizabeth Olsen’s performance is so evocative that it was basically telling me all of those things. She wears the emotion of the character on her sleeve, on her face. It was like every part of her performance was an inspiration to what I was trying to achieve with music. This performance is so laden with emotion and layers of subtlety that it was pushing me in the direction that I needed. Perhaps I was just hearing things, but there’s the moment where, before they actually meet at the motel for the first time, Candy is staring at herself in the mirror. I imagined what she was actually saying to herself as I was writing that piece of music. I think I sound crazy [laughs] but that was gratifying to me as well, trying to get inside her head and figure out what was going on underneath all these layers that will lead a person to this moment.
If you don’t mind sharing, what did you imagine her saying?
I pictured her being lonely, and praying and begging not necessarily for affection, but for someone to meet her halfway and engage with her, which she felt like she wasn’t getting. When she was looking in the mirror, I pictured her talking to herself about that, convincing herself that what she was about to embark upon was okay because this is what she needed. It was meant to feed her own soul.
That is very profound. Getting into the music itself, did David or Lesli have a sonic landscape that they were looking for, or did they leave you to pick the instrumentation?
They certainly gave me a lot of leeway. I never sent them anything that they were like, “No, this isn’t working.” I wanted to be subtle, and a lot of that is in piano. A lot of that is in strings. A lot of that is in synthetic material created by me on various synthesizers. I was trying to figure out how to put people in an environment, a place and time where the viewers are really going to digest the characters.
It’s becoming more commonplace for composers to blend both organic and synthetic elements, regardless of whatever project it is. What do you think makes for a strong balance between the two?
That’s definitely an interesting question. Really, the idea is whatever works, right? I don’t really think about it in terms of what it specifically is going to sound like. I start a project and I’m basically feeling around in the dark. I have no idea what it’s going to sound like until I hit upon it. Once I hit upon it, you’ve found that first thread and just start pulling on it. As the thread pulls and the sweater unravels, it reveals the sound of the show. It really does. I think the narrative of any project reveals the sound of itself on its own. I’ve sat and been like, “Oh, piano? No, that’s not working. Oh, cello? No, that’s not working,” and then you start messing around with other sounds until you really come upon it. There’s no science to it. [In my home studio], I have everything open. I can just scroll through and go to things that I know might sound good. Then, I can tweak inside of that.
Does that initial experimentation phase start at a piano or are there other instruments that you go to?
If the score requires there to be melody, I would say I start on piano tapping out a melody. That may stay on piano, that may end up on flute, I don’t know. If it’s not melodically driven, if it’s sound driven, I might start with a standard synth patch and see what happens as I play chords or even just a single note.
Going back to when you first received the episodes, were the needle drops already implemented by the time that you got them?
Yes, most of the songs were already in play.
Was there any score that had been temped in, or was it empty?
I asked them to send me [the episodes] without temp score. They sent me the first couple with temp score and it was fine. It was just general temp and it wasn’t really a part of our show, but I asked for them to send the rest without it.
Obviously the temp music monster is always lurking around but, for this project, it sounded like that wasn’t ever an issue.
You know, temp can be very useful and temp can be a demon. It really all depends. Sometimes, filmmakers will use temp as a guide to where they think music should be. Other times, it’s like they crafted this temp and this is what they want the movie to sound like. That’s when it’s demonic. You want this to sound like Interstellar? I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard Interstellar in the temp.
Wow, interesting.
I’m sure there are projects temping with scores that I’ve done, too. As a matter of fact, I’ve heard temp with scores of mine and I’m like, “Well, I can’t really do that because I’ve done that already.” I’m sure that happens to a lot of composers. [For the Love & Death temp score in] the first couple of episodes, it was fine. It just showed me where they wanted music to come in and out to make a narrative impact.
A lot of other composers I speak to, they say “temp is a tool.“ It could be a tool just like anything else. When a studio feels really attached to it, that’s when it starts to get painful.
Nine times out of ten, I listen to it and then I don’t anymore. Sometimes I listen to it a lot because they’ll find a piece of music that really works and hits all the beats they want to hit. I make note of where temp can do certain things. “Oh, there’s like a modulation here and that made them feel this thing when the scene changes, so maybe I need to do a modulation there,” you know what I mean? That can be helpful. That’s where the tool can really be useful.
I was listening to your episode of the Love & Death companion podcast and you spoke about how a lot of the music’s role was to get out of the characters’ ways. How does that work exactly? Is it as simple as lowering the levels, or are there specific techniques you implement to make the score more minimal?
No, it’s not as simple as turning it down [laughs] because then it’s not doing anything, but that happens sometimes in scores. They put a piece of music in and, when they need it to be out of the way, they just turn it down. That’s a very ham-fisted way of doing it. A more elegant way of doing it is actually to have it be as a part of the writing. It’s important to be able to understand narrative and how a scene is playing out before you start writing. When writing music to picture, you really do have to have the music feel where the moments happen and have it rise and fall. It’s like having the music be a part of the fabric of the scene.
In that same interview, you also spoke about how you approached the score like two halves: everything pre-trial and then the trial itself. Musically, for you, what are the differences between those two halves?
There’s a lot more outward pace and tension in the second half of the series than there is in the first. The first is really all about the romantic tension between Alan and Candy, and then the tension leading up to when the ax comes out at the end of Episode 3. There’s a big release in Episode 4 and I wouldn’t say it’s a release in a good way, it’s like this release of emotion. [Then,] the score does shift into a more … I wouldn’t call it a procedural score, but we’re in the courtroom. Generally speaking, courtroom scenes are boring. It’s just a couple of people just talking. That’s it. There’s nothing really happening other than these moments of realization, but you can use score to really accentuate those moments. I did this show a while back called The Night Of where there was this big courtroom scene in the last couple of episodes and we didn’t play music in the courtroom, but we did play music when the characters earned the music, when there was a big emotional payoff.
Let’s talk about when the ax comes out. What was your approach to scoring that scene?
No music until the laundry room. Definitely no music until the laundry room. I was like, “No, no, no, no, no music at the table. No music walking, getting the bathing suit. No music. Let the water boil.” And then, [I didn’t add] a lot of music when we got in there. [I asked myself,] “How do we make it feel very real? How do we make it feel painful and gross and dirty and just a mess? It’s not a horror movie, right? It’s an explosion of emotion. How do we play that without going on the nose?” [David and Lesli] were very receptive to that idea and it played really well.
That transitions into another question I have, which is about David E. Kelly and Lesli Linka Glatter. These are giants of the TV world!
Oh my god, yeah.
What was it like to work with them on a project that, even with their resumes, felt like very fresh territory?
That’s an interesting question, too. I was certainly familiar with David’s work. I’ve watched and been enamored with his work for decades. I was less familiar with Lesli’s huge body of work – obviously I’d seen all of the episodes she had worked on in the past, but I just didn’t put two and two together until we started working together. With that said, working with these people is fucking incredible. Not only are they titans, but they’re consummate professionals. They really know how to communicate with their collaborators and define what it is they’re looking for and trust in the process. They really do believe that, when working with someone, you want them to do what they do because you know that they do that well. There was no micromanagement but there was collaboration and that was an important part of how this whole score came to fruition.
Last question, Jeff: I love to hear about what other scores composers love, whether it’s an older film that they love or if it’s something new that’s currently airing. Do you have a score that you think deserves some love?
My favorite score of the last 20 years is probably Alberto Iglesias’ The Kite Runner, which I am so in tune with. It’s melodic, it has all kinds of esoteric instruments, it has ethnic flavor. It has all the things that I really love. I love string-picked instruments along with ethnic percussion. It just sounded really, really broad and yet very focused. I thought it was a beautiful, beautiful movie as well, but I tend to go back and just listen to that score, and I don’t do that very often. I don’t tend to listen to film scores very much overall, but that particular film score, I think, is something that’s very special to me.
All episodes of Love & Death are now streaming on Max. The show’s soundtrack is available wherever you stream music, courtesy of WaterTower Music.
Larry Fried is a filmmaker, writer, and podcaster based in New Jersey. He is the host and creator of the podcast “My Favorite Movie is…,” a podcast dedicated to helping filmmakers make somebody’s next favorite movie. He is also the Visual Content Manager for Special Olympics New Jersey, an organization dedicated to competition and training opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities across the Garden State.