There’s a bit of apprehension surrounding the Suspiria remake, but you have to admit the project has attracted some stellar talent. A Bigger Splash and Call Me by Your Name helmer Luca Guadagnino is directing the film, with a cast that includes Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson and Chloe Moretz. As if all that weren’t enough, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke will be providing the score.
In a new BBC 6 Music interview, Yorke spoke about his approach to the project, revealing that one of the score’s inspirations was Vangelis’ now iconic Blade Runner soundtrack: “It’s absolutely terrifying…It’s hard because I’m way out of my comfort zone, and I can’t read music so it’s not like I’m writing for orchestra. I’m building it all myself. In fact, I watched Blade Runner twice at the weekend. ‘Oh, that sound, I could do something like that, that’s quite easy…I’ll rip that bit off there and that bit there and I’ll be fine.’”
“Vangelis, it’s his hands that made that,” Yorke continued. “Which encouraged me. Because that was the thing I was finding most daunting. Normally [scoring] a horror movie involves orchestras, these specific things. But Luca [Guadagnino], the director, and Walter [Fasano], the editor, are very much, like, find your own path with it…I just have to find a way into it.”
The original Suspiria, directed by Dario Argento, featured a haunting, pulse-pounding score from Italian progressive rock band Goblin. Details of the remake are still vague, but Argento’s original followed a ballerina (played by Jessica Harper, who also appears in the new film) who discovers her ballet school is a meeting place for witches. A release date for the remake has yet to be announced, but there are rumblings of a possible 2017 release.
Listen to excerpts from Yorke’s interview here.