Warner Sunset Keanu Reeves and
Charlize Theron star in "Sweet November." Music
Supervisor G. Marq Roswell compiled "Music From The Motion Picture
Sweet November," which features several musical acts from various
genres.
By Laura Morgan
Daily Bruin Contributor
A movie without music is like a Twinkie without the cream
filling. But if you’re a music supervisor, like G. Marq
Roswell, you’d rather concentrate on the music part than the
snack cake part.
A music supervisor is a person who chooses which songs go onto a
movie’s soundtrack. G. Marq Roswell, the technical genius
behind such soundtracks as “End of Days,” “The
Hurricane,” “Varsity Blues” and “The
Commitments,” is one of Hollywood’s leading
supervisors. Most recently, Roswell worked on the soundtrack for
the film “Sweet November,” which stars Keanu Reeves and
Charlize Theron.
Roswell, who attended UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and
Television as an undergraduate said that UCLA gave him his start in
the film industry. Today, he is often called to serve as a guest
panelist for both the film and music departments.
“I was originally going to make films and that’s why
I had gone (to UCLA),” Roswell said in a recent phone
interview. “I had kind of gotten involved in managing some
bands and when I got out of school I started doing a bit of that,
and that kind of led me to the career that I’m in
now.”
 Warner Sunset G. Marq Roswell was the
music supervisor for the “Sweet November” soundtrack.
For Roswell, becoming a music supervisor didn’t just happen
through connections, it also arose from experience and
knowledge.
“In my case, because I knew a lot about the film side of
things, I got a call from producers on a film,” Roswell said.
“It was like serendipity because they were like, “˜Look,
we know you know about music and also about film ““ we need
you to help us find something.'”
Roswell certainly did help them out. He brought in the Fine
Young Cannibals, a pop band, for the film “Tin Men,”
and that’s what got him started.
Afterward, Roswell kept receiving calls to help out other people
with music ideas, and before he knew it, music supervision became
his career.
Later, Roswell would work on one of his dearest projects, the
soundtrack to “The Commitments,” a film about an Irish
soul band, which went triple platinum. But, according to Roswell,
creating a soundtrack like that requires much work.
“I was in Ireland three months before working with Alan
Parker, the director, to help put together the band,” Roswell
said.
One challenge came in making the soundtrack sound authentic,
which meant digging up songs that were popular during the period.
“Some of the recording band was actually the actors, and we
had to work on finding all the old R&B songs.”
Despite Roswell’s work with mainstream music, he claims
the key to being a great music supervisor lies in diversity and a
willingness to change motifs for each project. For Roswell’s
most recent soundtrack endeavor, “Sweet November,” the
Hollywood supervisor found himself working closely with director
Pat O’Connor to create a much different sound from that found
in “The Commitments.”
“Pat really wanted to have a certain contemporary sound
for San Francisco (the setting of the film), and for it to be
romantic and really connect the characters,” Roswell said.
“So we tried to do that.”
The project, which took about six months to complete, consisted
of Roswell looking for that modern sound. In doing so, Roswell
chose songs by such various, yet contemporary artists as Enya, k.d.
lang, Paula Cole, Barenaked Ladies and Robbie Williams.
The soundtrack also includes oldies by such artists as Jackie
Wilson and Bobby Darin. The Darin song is especially fitting in the
movie because Reeves makes a comment during the film about liking
Darin.
From the previews seen in movie theaters and on TV, however, one
can see that the song most attributed to the movie, though used as
background music for a few scenes, is “Only Time,” by
Enya.
“I think “˜Only Time’ is very good because they
use it a couple of times in the movie,” Roswell said.
“Fortunately she was coming out with her album and the timing
and everything worked very, very well, so we were lucky.”
But in trying to incorporate all of these songs into the
soundtrack, Roswell had to overcome the same barrier every music
supervisor faces ““ getting permission from both the record
company and music publisher to use the songs in the movie, and,
respectively, to publish the selected songs. There are essentially
two different sets of negotiations for each song, not to mention in
the end the record company must also be paid a royalty. Sometimes,
just dealing with the record companies can take up to eight
weeks.
Yet, in the case of “Sweet November,” Roswell had
the assistance of record company vice president, Danny Bramson, who
helped catalyze some of the usually tedious processes.
“This was a situation where the record company, Danny
Bramson at the record company, and myself, working together helped
make (the process) great,” Roswell said. “If you have
someone at the record company that’s not as helpful,
it’s like pulling teeth to just get every track
out.”
The success of such film soundtracks as “The
Commitments” and “Varsity Blues” only adds to the
fact that Roswell has developed a keen understanding of his role in
the filmmaking process.
“(The “˜Sweet November’ soundtrack) came
together similar to the way “˜City of Angels’ did,
because we were trying to make something that felt like the movie
and was romantic,” Roswell said.
In the end, Roswell was very happy with the final product of
“Sweet November,” and he can’t help but credit
his days at UCLA where he planted firm foundations in film and
music.
“I just think the film school and the music department
gave me a great basis to deal with what was out there,”
Roswell said.
FILM: “Sweet November” will be
opening in theaters everywhere on Feb. 16. The soundtrack is
available now on the Warner Brothers label.