WaterTower Music is excited to announce the release of the soundtrack to New Line Cinema's thriller Those Who Wish Me Dead, the film directed by Oscar nominee Taylor Sheridan, and starring Oscar winner Angelina Jolie as Hannah, a smokejumper still reeling from the loss of three lives she failed to save from a fire, when she comes across a traumatized 12-year-old boy with nowhere else to turn. The Those Who Wish Me Dead (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) will be released May 7, 2021, and features all new music from prolific, multiple BAFTA and Emmy-nominated composer Brian Tyler, who previously collaborated with Sheridan on the TV drama Yellowstone. Those Who Wish Me Dead is set for release in the U.S. in theaters and on HBO Max on May 14, 2021 and will be available on HBO Max for 31 days from release.
To capture the intense action and emotional themes of Those Who Wish Me Dead, Taylor Sheridan turned to composer Brian Tyler, as Sheridan feels that the composer's scoring prowess powerfully encapsulates the breadth of action and emotion in film. "Brian has done many big films—really massive set-piece movies," explained Sheridan. "With this film, we wanted the score, the sound design, and the sounds of fire to blend together and leave the audience unsure whether it was being guided by a designed sound, by the sounds of the forest or by the score."
Tyler, who played many instruments on the score – cello, the piano solos, all of the percussion – reflected on his work on the film. "Taylor and I discussed how this film has an array of contrasting thematic tones, such as heartbreak, fear, and hope – all of which needed to be reflected in the music. The two main characters are lost souls searching for deliverance. Hannah is a prisoner of her own guilt and memory, while Connor is battling a tragic loss. But this is also a story of human versus nature, as well as the evils of mankind, which is all echoed in the score."
To provide a unique and inspired sound for this film, Tyler did something he's never done before. "I recorded the sound of a burning cello that I set ablaze with lighter fluid and played the strings until it burned to a point where it made no sound. That recording of the burning cello recurs as a sonic presence throughout the entire score. It pained me to burn a beautiful instrument like that, but I like to think that that particular cello was sacrificed for a good cause." Not all was lost, the composer assures. "Taylor has the headpiece of the cello which is the only part that survived the fire!"