Photo via Lisa Wassmann/MERU
Chris Daly is still waiting on his POW Starter jacket and coffee mug after 11 years of holding it down on this very site.
Warning: Light Spoilers for “Everything Everywhere All At Once” Ahead
With the recent announcement of the 2022 Oscar nominations, specifically the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories, further proof of Passion of the Weiss’ staff commitment to bringing you the good stuff for your earholes before the poser kids find it down the road was established. In honor of the honor of simply being nominated, here, once again, is Chris Daly’s interview with Son Lux on their soundtrack for “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”
One could be forgiven for lacking familiarity with the work of Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert before now. The Daniels, as the co-writing/directing duo is known, previously had only their debut film, “Swiss Army Man,” and a handful of short films, commercials and music videos to their collective name. While the story of a flatulent corpse and a guy stranded on an island appealed to some, it’s fair to say the movie never was intended for a large audience, even if the aforementioned farting dead body was played by none other than Harry Potter himself.
However, with the release of Everything Everywhere All At Once Yet, the Dawn of the Era of Daniels is upon us. Starring Michelle Yeoh in one of her finest roles to date (though “Silver Hawk” will always be a personal fave) and the Hollywood big screen return of Ke Huy Quan, aka Data aka Short Round, while featuring a spectacularly frumpy Jaime Lee Curtis and a career-launching turn by Stephanie Hsu, the plot revolves around Yeoh’s Evelyn Wang finding herself as she learns that she is the possible key to saving the multiverse. On top of that, you’ve got kick-ass kung-fu, mind-bending philosophy and, spoiler alert, the greatest butt plug scene ever committed to film (with all due respect to the adult film industry). While it’s a tad early to start throwing around “Best Picture of the Year” accolades, it’s easily the most entertaining movie I’ve seen in 2022. Or more accurately, have already seen three times this year.
No movie can be considered “great” without an equally stellar soundtrack, and EEAAO does not disappoint in this department, either. As the digital conversation below proves, the Daniels’ vision included a particular audio roadmap. Turning to Son Lux, the trio of Ryan Lott, Rafiq Bhatia and Ian Chang, the Daniels sought and found musical partners with a shared, many worlds mentality. While largely instrumental, the soundtrack is anything but one dimensional, alternating between spacey synth workouts and Chinese opera to Disney-esque show tunes and haunting chants. SL talks about how they got involved, their musical scoring process, working with big names as well as up-and-coming artists and the thought process behind scoring that one anal intruder scene.
The following was answered collectively by the band: