Trey Edward Shults delivered what was one of the most unsettling movies of last year in IT COMES AT NIGHT, and for his follow-up, he’s tackling something much different: a musical. The movie from A24, WAVES, is already picking up steam with Oscar-winning musicians Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on board to compose the score and actors Lucas Hedges (MANCHESTER BY THE SEA) and Sterling K. Brown (BLACK PANTHER, HOTEL ARTEMIS) in talks to star.
Variety got the scoop about the upcoming musical written and to be directed by Shults, which is being called a “dramatic musical with a fresh spin” that explores two couples as they face the struggles of adolescence and love. The movie will be completely synchronized to music (much like last year’s BABY DRIVER) with it mixing contemporary songs with the original score from Reznor and Ross.
This is quite the assembly of talent involved for the movie so far, with Hedges being nominated for an Oscar for his work on SEA, and Brown winning tons of awards for his work on THIS IS US and THE PEOPLE VS. O.J. SIMPSON. As for Reznor and Ross, they won an Oscar for their groundbreaking work on David Fincher’s THE SOCIAL NETWORK, returning for the director’s THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and GONE GIRL. Since then they have done some documentaries, with their only feature since GIRL being PATRIOTS DAY in 2016.
I thought IT COMES AT NIGHT was an excellent horror/thriller, and going off and doing a musical is a bold choice for Shults to follow it up with. Hedges and Brown are terrific actors, but it's that score from Reznor and Ross that's getting me excited. They approach film scores in ways no one else thinks about, and I'm fascinated by the idea of the duo working on a musical. How would that even sound? Can you imagine people singing to the SOCIAL NETWORK score?