Logo

Making Movie Themes Special

Jun 1, 2008  •  Post A Comment

When you talk to Richard Beckman, president of the Conde Nast Media Group, about “Movies Rock: A Celebration of Music in Film,” you can hear the pride in his voice. “That which you are most passionate about ends up being where you do your best work,” said Mr. Beckman. “We had tremendous passion for this project and that came across, I think. It was a labor of love for us.”
“Movies Rock” was a CBS special in which today’s top music stars re-created classic songs from films in new and innovative ways. There was Fergie doing Wings’ James Bond rocker “Live and Let Die,” Chris Brown evoking Elvis with “Jailhouse Rock” and others.
The show, which is a contender for an Emmy nomination for variety, music or comedy special, was a production of Condé Nast Media Group, the Producers Guild of America and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. Mr. Beckman and PGA board members Kathleen Kennedy and Bruce Cohen were executive producers along with Don Mischer of Don Mischer Productions.
“Movies Rock” grew out of the 5-year-old success “Fashion Rocks.” “It’s been very successful and has drawn some incredible talent to it,” said Mr. Beckman. “In the course of working on that, we got to meet the Producers Guild. They were really interested in creating a lot of fashion around film. No disrespect to the award shows at all, but a lot of the TV coverage of the big screen has always been focused on awards. We developed collectively this idea that it would be terrific if we could articulate music and film’s relationship in a very contemporary way.”
Considering how difficult it is to stage big production numbers during award shows, “Movies Rock” was taking a big chance. According to Mr. Beckman, the involvement of 13-time Emmy-winning producer-director Mr. Mischer made it easier to take on the challenge. “Don is very talented, and he had done ‘Fashion Rocks’ with us,” he said. “We set out to create something highly entertaining that had the best talent in their genre. Everyone in the show was best in class.”
The producers brainstormed ideas, coming up with the star to match the right film song. “A lot of thought went into everything, and we didn’t go over the top in what we tried to do to create something to pay great respect to these classic songs of the past, by giving them a contemporary edge by the nature of the performances and the arrangements and the people we had doing the songs. I love the juxtaposition at the end with Tony Bennett doing ‘White Christmas’ preceded by ‘Shaft.’ LL Cool J on the same stage as Tony Bennett, that’s great,” said Mr. Beckman.
“Music is more than just the soundtrack,” he added. “It’s almost like the third character. It’s the energy that courses through the film. It sets the mood, it helps the plot and the characters develop. So that was the objective.”
One of the standout performances on “Movies Rock” was Usher re-creating Gene Kelly’s title number from “Singin’ in the Rain.” “We sat with Usher at Radio City while he was rehearsing for ‘Fashion Rocks,’ and he talked about his admiration for Gene Kelly, how he grew up admiring and respecting his panache and his performances,” Mr. Beckman said.
Re-creating the street scene for Usher to sing and dance in the rain meant taping the performance rather than doing it live. “We had to tape for the show because we couldn’t replicate the rain on a live stage.
“Usher is one of the stars we’re putting forth for the individual Emmy as best performance,” Mr. Beckman said. “The other one is Beyonce. She brought the house down with ‘Over the Rainbow.’”
The success of “Movies Rock” has inspired a sequel. On Dec. 7, at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, “Movies Rock” will rock again, with all-new performances of classic film songs. “There’s such a rich body of work,” he said. “We came up with 30 other songs. If you talk to the artists, they talked about how great it was to step out of their comfort zone, to show what they can do with these iconic songs from the past.”
Mr. Mischer will again produce the television show.
“We all really struck a chord. It was a marvelous show,” said Mr. Beckman. “I remember sitting there, being so proud of what we had done.” He’ll be just as proud when and if the Primetime Emmy comes their way.

25 Comments

  1. This is the best blog I’ve ever seen in my life! I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to share your this with everyone.

  2. I agree with your thoughts here and I really love your blog! I’ve bookmarked it so that I can come back & read more in the future.

  3. Neat blog layout! Very easy on the eyes.. i like the colors you picked out

  4. Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care and see you soon

  5. High quality info here! Keep up the great work. I love the feelings being expressed.

  6. Nice blog here! Also your website loads up fast! What host are you using? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

  7. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.. 🙂

  8. This is the best blog I’ve ever seen in my life! I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to share your this with everyone.

  9. Hey how are you doing? I just wanted to stop by and say that it’s been a pleasure reading your blog. I have bookmarked your website so that I can come back & read more in the future as well. plz do keep up the quality writing

  10. Interesting layout on your blog. I really enjoyed reading it and also I will be back to read more in the future.

  11. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.. 🙂

  12. Great blog!! You should start many more. I love all the info provided. I will stay tuned 🙂

  13. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

  14. Interesting thoughts here. I appreciate you taking the time to share them with us all. It’s people like you that make my day 🙂

  15. Great blog!! You should start many more. I love all the info provided. I will stay tuned 🙂

  16. Neat blog layout! Very easy on the eyes.. i like the colors you picked out

  17. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  18. Great blog!! You should start many more. I love all the info provided. I will stay tuned 🙂

  19. You make blogging look like a walk in the park! I’ve been trying to blog daily but I just cant find writing material.. you’re an inspiration to me and i’m sure many others!

  20. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

  21. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  22. Kudos to you! This is a really good blog here and I love your style of writing. How did you get so good at blogging?

  23. Great examples and hints

  24. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

Leave a Reply to Get Backlinks Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)