Experimental composer Max Richter is having a moment. His modernist score for Mary Queen of Scots is a powerful counterpoint to Focus Features’ historical epic, while he is providing music for HBO’s recently renewed My Brilliant Friend.
Meanwhile, he is already working on his next feature, the Brad Pitt sci-fi drama Ad Astra, and completing his ninth studio album, both for 2019 release.
The story of a supercharged power struggle between Scotland’s queen and Elizabeth I, ruler of England, Mary presents the royals against a backdrop of scheming ministers in a modern way that seems to be playing well in the #TimesUp era. The film opened Dec. 7 on four screens, earning the highest per-location average of any new release, at $50,000 per venue. “The male characters in the movie are resolutely useless. They are the problem,” Richter says with a chuckle over espresso at the London Hotel bar in West Hollywood. He was visiting from England to attend the film’s world premiere.
Read the full feature over at Billboard
Source: Billboard