For film music fans, this one is hard to ignore. Behemoth!, the new film from Tony Gilroy, director of Michael Clayton and creator of Andor, had its world premiere on October 2 (local time) as the Centerpiece selection of the 64th New York Film Festival (NYFF) at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. Pedro Pascal stars, and Searchlight Pictures is distributing. The film is set in the world of film scoring itself, and its score is credited to nine composers.

A Cellist Who Records Film Music

Pascal plays Alex, a cellist and former child prodigy who grew up in a family of studio musicians. He leaves a Chicago orchestra and returns to Los Angeles to work on film music again. Will Arnett plays his brother, a multi-instrumentalist. The story moves between the present and flashbacks to Alex's youth, and reports say that Alex's cello playing triggers the memories that drive those flashbacks.

The title reportedly comes from the fake name of the huge blockbuster that Alex and the musicians record near the end. In other words, the film shows the moment a score is born on a Hollywood scoring stage, from the players' side of the glass. Pascal appears in nearly every scene across a 25-year timeline and has reportedly described learning the cello as the most difficult skill he has ever had to learn.

"The Behemoth! Collective": An Unprecedented Line-up

The music is credited to nine composers known as "The Behemoth! Collective," and the line-up is remarkable.

  • Michael Giacchino (Up, The Batman)
  • James Newton Howard (Gilroy's longtime collaborator on Michael Clayton, Duplicity and The Bourne Legacy)
  • Alan Silvestri (Back to the Future, The Avengers)
  • Henry Jackman, Michael Abels, Brandon Roberts, Nami Melumad, Emily Bear and Lukas Frank

In January, reports said there would be seven composers. By the first look in July, the number had grown to nine. According to Gilroy, the music works in several ways: scores for the films within the film, diegetic music that crosses over into the score, musical vignettes and more. In his words, "The whole movie is surfing on music." He has also said, "I've been obsessed with movie music since they let me have a hand in it."

Why Nine? Giving Each Film-Within-a-Film Its Own Voice

This is the most interesting part. If every score Alex records in the story sounded like it came from the same pen, the film would not feel like a real scoring stage. So, as reported, Gilroy brought in real top-tier composers to write those scores. Giacchino's energy, Silvestri's classic fanfares, Howard's shadows. If the music for these imaginary blockbusters really carries each writer's style, soundtrack fans may get the treat of guessing the composer by ear alone.

At the same time, overseas media have pointed out that the Academy's Original Score category generally allows no more than three credited composers, so this score is likely to be ineligible for an Oscar. Not music written for awards, but a love letter to the craft of film scoring itself. Seen that way, it looks like a bold and honest choice.

Waiting for the Soundtrack and a Japanese Release

As far as we could confirm, details of a soundtrack album and a release in Japan have not been announced yet. Even so, how the work of nine composers will be put together on one album is reason enough to listen. With documentaries and concerts about Japanese film and anime composers drawing big audiences, a fictional film set inside the scoring stage feels like required viewing for score fans. We will follow up as soon as there is more news.