Composer Anthony Willis on the Sonic Atmosphere of ‘Saltburn’
FilmSpeak talks to composer Anthony Willis about his work on creating the sounds surrounding Emerald Fennell’s ‘Saltburn’
Warning: The following interview contains major spoilers for Saltburn. Some of the quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity.
Saltburn marks composer Anthony Willis’ second collaboration with director Emerald Fennell after the two worked together on her debut feature, Promising Young Woman. Discussing her latest movie with FilmSpeak during a virtual press day on Zoom, Willis explained that one of the biggest goals Fennell wanted to do from the get-go was to create the world of Saltburn from a musical perspective:
“The world of Saltburn leans heavily into gothic and period settings. The house itself and the history of this sort of way that the family would behave certainly has the mystique of being an old English tradition. She really wanted to tap into that first. She loved the idea of using organs, whichis such a cool instrument, because it's got a very spiritual and authoritative feeling. That was a fun jumping-off point. She loved the idea of using a coronation anthem in the movie's beginning. When Oliver [Barry Keoghan] arrives at Oxford, that’s the high point of his aspirations, and he's like, “I've made it.”
Ultimately, he gets there and realizes that he's not accepted into that world. Opening the film, I redid a piece to transition us into that. It also has that classical feeling, a sensuality, and a longing that is a bit more contemporary in these overlapping arpeggios. There's a lot of really cool cinematography in the movie that uses many reflections and mirrors, and I wondered how can I do that musically of having overlapping arpeggios that have a gothic darkness and a romance to them.
That was our starting point. It was important to Emerald also to have a score that could accompany Oliver’s longing for Felix [Jacob Elordi] and really dig into the side of ourselves that is a little more honest and less dressed up. We used a low metallic harp and a pulse, like a throbbing pulse for lust, and a lot of fun stuff to explore. The film itself is inspiring to have in my studio because it has such beautiful cinematography and incredible performances. It was such a joy to have been able to work on it in my career.”
In crafting music that supports the images crafted by Linus Sandrgen, Willis stated that he was “delighted that the images are very striking. There's obviously the 4:3 aspect ratio, which is such a cool, interesting, stylistic choice. Right from the get-go, I wanted nothing subtle about the score. I wanted it to be true to her world. It's mixed loud in the movie and presented as kind of massive. It was important that the cinematography and score complemented each other so they were both bold. When Oliver arrives at Saltburn, most of the camerawork is actually just on his face. Yet, the score is building; you're seeing the house through his eyes and the music, but we, as the audience, are just seeing him react. So that was really cool to have a director who wanted to be that bold with it.
Certainly, Emerald likes things to be quite sophisticated. I think an arpeggio is thematic for Oliver; you hear it in its cleanest and most innocent form in throwing pebbles on the soundtrack. But it's a shape that becomes a classical arpeggio as he tries to fit into this world. It’s a texture as Felix is showing him around the house. All of it is woven in quite a complex way. I suppose you could do it much simpler, but Emerald pushes for those things as he's touring through that beautiful one-shot through the house. It’s so wonderful to have a film where the music is allowed to really be present.”
During our audio conversation, seen below, we also discussed crafting multiple shifts in atmosphere and tone through the music as the film grows more twisted, how the 2006 setting informed him as a composer in finding the right sonic palette for the movie, and what his favorite piece of music he wrote for the film was, among others.