You have frequent collaborators, Martin McDonagh among them. What makes you want to work with a specific filmmaker again?
It really comes down to: They feel like I’m contributing something to their film, and I enjoy the process of doing that. I enjoy the films, but behind it all is a similar worldview … the ability to see sad, tragic, violent stories also having a comedic side, [which] is something ironic and funny about our species.I began largely with Colin Farrell’s character. We see most of the film from his point of view, and he’s this naive man-child.
The island of Inisherin isn’t real. What was it like crafting a score for a fictional place that has so much folklore and fables attached to it? Everything about the design of the film — the photography, the costumes — sets you in a very specific place and time. But even before Martin shot it, he told me that he didn’t want the score to put you in Ireland, that despite every other aspect of the film being very specifically situated there, he didn’t want that in the score. He wanted the audience to be able to generalize the story. It’s not just about these characters in this place and time.
A marimba - interesting instrument choice in the mix