This week on the InQua Podcast, we sat down to talk with Steven Morrow, an industry veteran and prestigious sound mixer. From new films like Maestro, The Color Purple, and the upcoming sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, to Little Miss Sunshine, La La Land, Ford vs Ferrari, A Star is Born, and The Purge, Steven has an impressive career, and he continues to work alongside some of the best known directors and actors in beloved films.
Enjoy this week’s episode of the InQua Podcast! Be sure to share it with any would-be sound mixers, audiophiles, and fans of movies!
Enjoy a few photos that Steven sent over, and keep reading for trailers, reviews, and some news.
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Check out some trailers below for movies we discussed with both Steven Morrow and Madison on today’s episode of the InQua Podcast:
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Maestro: This love story chronicles the lifelong relationship of conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.
- Director: Bradley Cooper
- Writer: Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
- Stars:
- Sound Mixer: Steven Morrow
The film has garnered 17 wins and 134 nominations, including 7 nominations for sound and sound design.
The Color Purple: A woman faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.
- Director: Blitz Bazawule
- Writer: Marcus Gardley, Alice Walker, Marsha Norman
- Stars:
- Sound Mixer: Steven Morrow
The film has garnered 8 wins and 79 nominations thus far.
News:
Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan on ‘Maestro’ and Not Having ‘Label Conversations’ About Leonard Bernstein’s Sexuality
- https://variety.com/2024/film/awards/bradley-cooper-carey-mulligan-maestro-leonard-bernstein-sexuality-1235870035/
- “Cooper: I don’t remember having any marco-identifying label conversations on either. It was more about asking Carey to go on this journey and sending her scenes and the script as it evolved. The story and the evolution of this marriage and this relationship. We never talked about it in terms of categorizing. Is that accurate?”
- “Mulligan: Yes, I agree. I just loved getting a text from Bradley; it would be a scene he’d just written. And it would be three years before. From our text thread, there are a million versions of him as Lenny from 2019 onwards. All these different ages, stages, and versions. And then pages and pages of the script. It was like getting a little present. It’s why I’m not such a great producer or anything or haven’t got the bones for it. My favorite thing is opening a script and being surprised.”
Casting Society: ‘The Color Purple,’ ‘Saltburn,’ ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Lead Artios Awards Nominations
- https://variety.com/2024/artisans/news/casting-society-artios-awards-nominations-2024-complete-list-1235870067/
- “The Casting Society (CSA) has announced the film nominees for the 39th Artios Awards, presented by the Casting Society of America. “The Color Purple,” “Saltburn,” “Maestro,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Oppenheimer” are among the nominated films in big budget drama.”
- “The winners will be revealed on March 7, with celebrations being held in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, in New York City at the Edison Ballroom and in London, England.”
- “As previously announced, Ava DuVernay is this year’s recipient of the Lynn Stalmaster Award Career Achievement.”
Directors for ‘Past Lives,’ ‘The Holdovers,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ Explain Importance of Silent Scenes
- https://variety.com/2024/film/awards/directors-past-lives-holdovers-all-of-us-strangers-discuss-silent-scenes-1235869606/
- “This year’s awards contenders feature no shortage of scenes with snappy dialogue, powerful speeches, spectacular action sequences and ear-popping musical numbers. But many of the most powerful moments were those that unfolded without a word.”
- “In “Past Lives,” writer-director Celine Song tells the story of South Korean childhood sweethearts reuniting after years apart. She often communicates their mutual longing using silence in the way a composer might utilize a specific instrument.”
- “”I really believe that a movie is a piece of music,” says Song. “So the whole film has to move like a piece of music. So much of it has to do with the rhythm of it.””
- “Song indicates that her work as a playwright prepared her for these types of moments. “I am used to building in beats and silence into my own scripts, so all the silences were scripted,” she says.”
- “Unspoken moments also play a big part in David Hemingson’s script for director Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers.” The story of a teacher (Paul Giamatti), student (Dominic Sessa) and cafeteria head (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) stranded together on the campus of their New England boarding school over holiday break features lengthy dialogue-free scenes that evidence how the characters behave when they believe no one’s watching them while also underscoring their mutual isolation in the 1970s-set film.”
- “Randolph noticed the silent moments on the page when she first read the script.”
- “”You’re seeing dialogue and then there’s a moment in the script where it turns into prose, sort of like a novel almost,” Randolph says. “It’s a deeply descriptive narrative for the silent moments.” She spoke with Payne about how to approach these moments, and he emphasized how important those opportunities were to him to drop in on characters during moments of solitude.”
- “Silence also provides a connective tissue between audiences and characters in stories where the traditional rules of naturalism or realism do not necessarily apply.”
- “Recognizing his specific responsibility to capture not just image and motion but emotion, Ramsay worked with Haigh throughout production to craft powerful moments, some utilizing a full panorama of techniques and others scaling various elements back. “I feel that there’s so much strength in what’s being held back. People underestimate the intelligence of the audience, and I feel very strongly that we shouldn’t do that,” he says. In the end, Haigh, Alberts, Ramsay and their fellow artisans worked successfully in concert with one another to convey the complexity of Adam’s journey — perhaps ironically, by amplifying the film’s silences.”
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Check out more articles from our hosts, Tristan and Madison, before you leave. Thanks!