A music interview on NPR explains how “The new movie Joker is a psychological character study of a lonely, disturbed man who turns violent… [that] director Todd Phillips wanted to inspire empathy.” To give this comic book character human depth, composer Hildur Guðnadóttir (CRF 2010), who can transform darkness into sensitive musicality, was used for the film’s soundtrack.
“Hilder smiles and laughs a lot, and there’s also a darkness inside of her. But instead of violence, the Icelandic cellist-composer expresses her darkness through music.”
The article also gives mention to how Hildur was also a frequent collaborator with fellow Icelandic composer, the late Jóhann Jóhannsson (CRF 2016), and played cello on most of his film scores, including Sicario and Arrival. She recently won an Emmy for the HBO miniseries Chernobyl, a score she recorded in an actual decommissioned nuclear power plant, effectively turning the plant into a musical instrument.
Read the full article here.