Film scores and the art of scoring is quite often under appreciated. For myself, a devotee raised on movie musicals, scores and soundtracks, all are essential elements of the cinematic experience. Scores are distinctive, iconic, telling their own chapter of the story. Just look at that of “Gone With the Wind” by Max Steiner, or anything by John Williams which has such a symphonic emboldened presence or the work of Bernard Hermann who scored everything from “Citizen Kane” to “Taxi Driver” along with a little film we call “Psycho.” A favorite film composer over the past decade whose compositions have a distinctively thematic voice of their own is Aaron Zigman. And it’s Zigman, no musical stranger to Nicholas Sparks film adaptations (he scored “The Notebook” and “The Last Song”) on whom director Michael Hoffman called when it came to scoring “The Best of Me”.
Be it scoring or specific lyric tracks or music for a film, the director always has an idea of what he wants the music to convey, the emotional beats it needs to hit, the signature character themes, a particular musical palette that speaks to the film and connects with the audience. According to Hoffman, with “The Best of Me” early conversations among himself, producer Denise DiNovi and the film’s distributor Relativity Media and its music division “began [by] talking about the issue of authenticity and the relationship between authenticity and finding a kind of country voice for the movie. That was always there as a kind of lynchpin piece.” Crucial for developing this particular score, however, was Hoffman relocating the Nicholas Sparks story from the Carolinas to Louisiana which meant “trying to find something that evoked that world in the music.” Giving full credit to Aaron Zigman for finding that Louisiana “something”, Hoffman notes it was also agreed “we really wanted to limit the amount of thematic materials so [the score] really landed and really came home and really related the story in the past to the story in the present.” The operative musical considerations were “simplicity, authenticity, emotionality.”
But Hoffman didn’t just stop with the score. He and producer DiNovi also wanted lyric songs that would capture the emotion and story of the film while being compatible with the emotion of the score. For that, they sought out platinum recording artists and country stars, Lady Antebellum.
Admittedly one of Lady A’s biggest fans, producer Denise DiNovi has nothing but praise for their work with “The Best of Me”; especially when considering this is Lady A’s first time at the rodeo writing songs specifically for a film. “I’ve had songs written for many films and they’re wonderful, but I think [Lady Antebellum] did something here that is so difficult; where they told the story of the film in the song as well, in a way that doesn’t give it away but just really deepens it and augments the movie. They did it so brilliantly.”
Band member and songwriter Charles Kelley quickly admits, “We had fun doing it. . .I think this is a good fit for us because we love writing romantic songs. I think we’re best known for more romantic songs and nostalgic songs. So this was actually a fun task for us.”
Two Lady Antebellum songs are an integral part of the film. The first, “I Did With You” written by Lady A with Monty Powell, served as the thematic anchor of the film and from which Zigman pulled inspiration for his score. The second, “Falling For You”, tells the love story of the film’s characters, Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole, within the song lyrics themselves.
Talking about the process of writing their first songs for a motion picture Hillary Scott opined, “As songwriters, there’s no real formula. So to have a specific direction and different highlights from the film, like the script and different things that are about the relationship as it grows, it was just really neat to be able to work it into the lyric.” An added bonus was “getting to see the film before it was completely finished to actually edit a couple of lyrics to make it even more specific.”
So how does it feel to have your first experience writing songs for a film under your belt? Avowed Nicholas Sparks fan Scott sums it up best. “To be able to be part of this is really awesome.”
