Directed by Cathy Yan, who co-wrote the screenplay with James Pedersen, starring Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Sterling K. Brown, Zach Galifianakis, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Daniel Brühl, Charli XCX, and Youssef Kerkour round out the cast. Portman produced the film with co-star Ortega serving as an executive producer.
The Gallerist centers on the titular character, gallerist Polina Polinski (Natalie Portman), who hosts an early look for art influencer Dalton Hardberry (Zach Galifianakis) to review emerging artist Stella Burgess (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). Dalton’s unimpressed with the gallery until he sees one piece that captures his attention and revs up the ruthless machine of the art world.
Composers Joseph Shirley and Andrew Orkin have notable credits across varied film and television projects. Shirley’s credits include Disney+’s The Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, and Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut, Creed III. Orkin’s credits include Alex Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s Save Yourselves, David Gutnik’s Materna, and Sasie Sealy’s Lucky Grandma. Orkin collaborated with Yan before, scoring her directorial feature debut, Dead Pigs, which premiered at Sundance in 2018.
The two spoke about their work co-scoring Yan’s comedy-thriller. Orkin discussed the intensity of the film and the breakneck pace that it has as it takes the viewers on a white-knuckle thrill ride.
“The movie sort of takes place, you know, one real time, you know, single, brush your hair, you sort of, as an audience member, you sort of, along for the ride, along with the characters, you know, in play. And so you’re discovering these things as they discover them.”
Orkin continued, “So I mean, the score does, you know, the comments, humor in a moment, and then, you know, within the next 10 seconds turns on a dime because I’m really ominous and spooky, and or, you know, or something to kind of triumph. There were many different styles that sort of snuck into the score to highlight all of those, you know, dynamic, stories.”
Orkin expressed how fun and detailed it was working, as Cathy was very specific with the story beats and musical beats.
Shirley shared that he did not have any references in mind for composing the film’s score, feeling blind and doing what he felt would be best for the tone.
“We were building it from the ground up. Which, you know, can sometimes be a bit of a blessing and a curse because you’re kind of shooting in a race in the dark and trying to figure out what the tone is and what we’re going for. And, yeah, I think, tonally, it’s a very unique film…”
“I think we had sort of character references. They were playlists for each character. But those were songs. And it was like, what kind of songs were these characters listening to? What are they? Like, what’s their taste?” he said
Shirley explained what his position is for the film as well as how he felt seeing his work grow and change as the project progressed.
“Sometimes your job is always to support the patient and support the dial-up. But sometimes you get an opportunity to make them this sort of something very bold and big. And we’ve been working with such fantastic bars. The opportunity to bring your work in alongside them and have your characters do things. It’s just a super exciting thing.”
For Orkin, this was the first time the composer had collaborated with someone on a score. He enjoyed working in tandem with Shirley to bring depth to the film centered on a macabre type of art heist. Through their score, they even brought a bit of themselves into it.
“Getting that experience with Cathy, who was just so specific and articulate with what she wants the music to do. But yeah, I mean, I think the score really is a blend of both of ourselves and Kathy’s vision. So I would hope that it would feel that way to the audience as well. And you give us a long, perfect ride.”
Watch our entire interview in the video above.
