Day of Wrath
[109min, 2006] Feature film starring Christopher Lambert & Brian Blessed.
Director: Adrian Rudomin, Producer: IMS
After finishing work on Silence Becomes You, executive producers Robert & Ashley Sidaway immediately asked me to work on another film with them. Day of Wrath was a very different proposition; and first I had to meet with Adrian Rudomin, who was a wonderfully passionate director, but also a terrifyingly imposing presence! A big bald Jewish guy from LA (via Russia, Mexico and who knows where else), he cared very deeply about the story of his film which touches on anti-Semitism during the Spanish Inquistion.
Set in a 16th Century Spain, Christopher Lambert (Highlander, Legend of Greystoke etc) plays Ruy, the sheriff in a small town trying to discover the perpetrator of a series of gruesome and mysterious murders. In doing so he uncovers a much deeper and darker conspiracy, in which he himself is unwittingly involved.
Influences on the score included music of the Spanish Renaissance, as well as early Jewish music… But Adrian also really liked big drums, so we used a lot of those! We went to Prague to record with a large orchestra there, and also a small choir. After listening to a few of the Czech singers, we picked one very tiny, unassuming woman in the choir to sing the solo part and she did a fantastic job on some of the biggest scenes, including the opening notes of the whole film, as you can hear in this clip:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Brian Blessed plays the town’s Governor in his own inimitable style, and his theme is kind of grandiose and OTT.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
It was great going out to Prague and hearing the music played by such a big orchestra, but it was also a pretty manic couple of days, as it was a long film with a lot of music and (due to budget limitations) we were trying to get it all recorded in a ludicrous time frame… story of my life really!
Here are a couple more clips from the score…
The theme of the lead female character, Carmen, is mostly played on recorder, which was played really nicely by one of our Czech musicians. I played the guitar on the film myself.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
A chase sequence, where Ruy (Christopher Lambert) pursues some villains on horseback.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Part of a cue from scene near the end of the film in which Brian Blessed reveals some secrets to Ruy.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
A swordfight where Ruy – a skilled swordsman – is overpowered easily by a lethal masked Assassin (see pic above). We generally represented this great character with the mandolin sound which you hear betweeen the (orchestral) bursts of fighting, as he teases his prey.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
On a side note, I brought my then girlfriend Mary with me to Prague, and proposed on the flight over. We didn’t tell Adrian or any of the others at the time, and somehow we did manage to find a couple of quiet moments on the Charles Bridge, away from all the music.
*