Justin Hurwitz: Last News

EXCLUSIVE: To utilize an old colloquialism, the fat lady has finally sang in the legal drama between WME and La La Land composter Justin Hurwitz.

The Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) will honor the late Robbie Robertson and director Martin Scorsese with the Spirit of Collaboration Award at the 5th Annual SCL Awards, to be held Tuesday, Feb. 13 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent While it’s still uncertain how many U.S. movie stars will be attending the upcoming Venice Film Festival, the fest has announced a series of masterclasses to be held by top directors including Wes Anderson, Edward Berger, Damien Chazelle and Nicolas Winding Refn. Several of the Venice masterclasses are dedicated to helmers being lauded by the fest such as “The Night Porter” director Liliana Cavani, who is being celebrated with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and Anderson, who will receive the fest’s Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award.

German musician Volker Bertelmann nudged out the competition to pick up his first Academy Award Sunday for Netflix’s war epic All Quiet on the Western Front.

Oscar-winning composer Justin Hurwitz has found himself back in the awards race this season, having garnered both a Golden Globe win and an Oscar nomination for his lavish Babylon score. Creating music that complemented the decadence and destructive glamor of 1920s Hollywood found in Damien Chazelle’s Babylon required a lot of experimentation. From using “kazoos and slide whistles” to “wooden floorboards” and multicultural percussionists amongst other unique instruments, Hurwitz and his 98-piece orchestra managed to execute the larger-than-life sounds and eclectic mix of tunes throughout the score, especially that of soundtrack highlight “Voodoo Mama.” In the behind-the-scenes video featured above, Hurwitz provides an in-depth look at the rich and explosive ensemble of harmonies influenced by diverse and modern sounds. “Babylon mixes up a lot of influences,” he tells Deadline. “It has some jazz influences, rock ‘n’ roll, and contemporary dance music in the music. There’s a lot of Middle Eastern and Latin flavors, orchestral cues, and a lot of circus sounds in the score.”  

Jon Burlingame It’s anybody’s game: this is a rare year when any of the five original-score nominees could win the Oscar. Two of the nominees are previous winners, two more are past nominees; only one is a newcomer, and it’s a three-man ensemble. Four films are period pieces: an admired German-language war film, a character study set against the Irish civil war, an epic of late 1920s Hollywood, and a coming-of-age story for a young filmmaker in the ‘50s and ‘60s; the fifth is a wild, anarchic tale of a Chinese American family that saves the universe. And the nominees are:

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Diane Warren and Son Lux were among the winners Wednesday evening at the 4th annual Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards. The awards recognize original score and songs in visual media across seven categories. Darren Criss, hosted the banquet at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. Damien Chazelle and his go-to composer Justin Hurwitz received the Spirit of Collaboration Award. The duo has collaborated on five films including “Babylon,” “La La Land,” “Whiplash,” “First Man” and “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench.” The presentation of the award was accompanied by a musical performance including “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land,” the “First Man” theme for harp and theremin, and a “Babylon” medley which included “Voodoo Mama” and “Herman’s Hustle.”

The Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL) presented the winners of the 4th Annual SCL Awards for score and songs in visual media tonight at the Skirball Cultural Center.

La La Land is being adapted into a Broadway musical seven years after the release of the hit movie starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.The film stars played an actress and a songwriter who strike up an ill-fated romance while struggling to make it in Hollywood.Now a stage version is headed to the Great White Way under the direction of the acclaimed Bartlett Sher, Variety reports.The movie's songwriting team - composer Justin Hurwitz and lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul - has been reunited for the Broadway adaptation.Hurwitz won the Oscar for best original score Oscar for La La Land, which also saw the trio pick up best original song for City Of Stars.

A Broadway musical take of the six-time Oscar-winning, $472 million worldwide-grossing movie La La Land is in development, Emmy- and Tony-winning producer Marc Platt said Tuesday.

The 2023 Oscar nominations for Best Original Score and Best Original Song have been announced. The 95th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Rihanna and Mitski have earned their first Academy Award nomination, with Rih's “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and "This Is A Life," a song co-written by Mitski, David Byrne, and Ryan Lott, up for Best Original Song at this year’s Oscars.

The West Lothian Courier is delighted to be teaming up with our friends at Bathgate Cinema to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a pair of tickets to the biggest movies.

Drug-induced decadence is nothing new in Los Angeles, but director Damien Chazelle sought to capture it in its extreme in Babylon, his exploration of 1920s Hollywood during the advent of the “talkies era.”

EXCLUSIVE: Organizers of Whiplash in Concert said Thursday that the live concert series will have its world premiere October 28 at Boston’s Orpheum Theatre. In the concert, the film’s Oscar-winning composer Justin Hurwitz will conduct an 18-piece jazz big band ensemble that will play Hurwitz’s score live accompanying the 2014 Damien Chazelle film.

Mason Versaw stars in the new Netflix limited series Boo, Bitch and we caught up with the young actor to learn some more about him!

UPDATE, 10:25 AM: Get your tickets now! WME is heading to trial next year over a fraud lawsuit from La La Land’s Oscar winning composer.

La La Land composer Justin Hurwitz is filing a lawsuit against his former agency, William Morris Endeavor (WME), alleging he was cheated out of profits.Hurwitz, 36, composed the score for La La Land, winning an Oscar for the Original Score and another for Original Song for City of Stars, which he shared with lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.The musician alleges that WME had a 'conflict of interest' in producing a series of live performances while still acting as his agent, according to Variety. Lawsuit:La La Land composer Justin Hurwitz is filing a lawsuit against his former agency, William Morris Endeavor (WME), alleging he was cheated out of profits Conflict of interest:The musician alleges that WME had a 'conflict of interest' in producing a series of live performances while still acting as his agent, according to VarietyThe lawsuit alleges that WME suggested that Hurwitz create a live show where an orchestra would perform songs from La La Land in front of a film screen.La La Land distributor Lionsgate agreed to license the show toColumbia Artists Management for five major cities, and to WME for other performances around the world.

EXCLUSIVE: A stinging lawsuit filed today by the composer of La La Land may leave WME wishing they’d been slipped the wrong envelope.

Amos Newman, who has spent the past decade as head of WME’s music for visual media department, is joining sister company Endeavor Content in the newly created role of senior vice president, music.WME agent Bradley Rainey will now lead WME’s Music for Visual Media group, which represents such leading film composers as Hans Zimmer (“Interstellar”), Ludwig Göransson (“Black Panther”), Justin Hurwitz (“La La Land”), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“Watchmen”) and music supervisors including Mary Ramos (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”).During Newman’s tenure with WME, he helped build the agency’s roster of Oscar-, Grammy-, and Emmy-winning clients, including his father, singer-songwriter-film composer Randy Newman.

La La Land Oscar winners Damien Chazelle and Justin Hurwitz will join Jamie Lee Curtis to introduce their hit 2016 movie musical as part of the latest Lionsgate Live! A Night at the Movies event on Friday (May 1, 2020).

The Weeknd’s relationship with Los Angeles plays a central role in the plot of his latest album, After Hours. However, despite theories from some fans and what would seem to be a thematic alignment, his new song, “Nothing Compares,” does not sample or interpolate music from the Academy Award-winning film, La La Land.