There’s been a winning rush to the rivers and the oceans with the dramatizations of historical rowing and swimming underdogs from “The Boys in the Boat” to “Nyad.” But if there’s one composer who reaches the shore with soaringly emotional symphonic strokes to spare, then it’s Amelia Warner and her “Young Woman and the Sea.” It’s a glorious Disney throwback to the live action grrll power likes of “The Journey of Natty Gann” and “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken” with exceptional direction (by the wonderfully waterlogged “Kon-Tiki” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” director Joachim Rønning) and lavish production values, as The Force is once again with Daisy Ridley, whose determination here embodies Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle. Born to an unfashionable German emigree family of Manhattan butchers, Trudy at first breaks the liquid barriers of showing that women are the water borne before taking her seemingly impossible ambition to the French sea coast – where she’ll attempt to swim The English Channel to Britain as the press and sabotaging coach do their best to stop her, if jellyfish, the currents and exhaustion don’t finish the sexist job.
But you can be sure that the powerhouse themes, exuberant rhythm, sisterhood chorus and an all-encompassing dive into melody won’t see Trudy triumph in the tradition of the best sport films and scores, of which composer Amelia Warner can win a respective medal alongside the likes of Vangelis, Bill Conti and Jerry Goldsmith with “The Young Woman and the Sea.” It’s one of the year’s best scores and pictures that now makes its debut on Disney Plus after a big screen life preserver thrown to it by the usually explosively macho producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Starting in acting with notable onscreen roles in “Mansfield Park,” “Aeon Flux” and “Quills,” Warner realized her true ambition was behind the screen, where she’d channeling musical emotion into such performers as Elle Fanning and Christopher Walken (her husband Jamie Dornan would stay in front of the camera). Getting electrifying notice for her Gothic score to “Mary Shelley,” then bringing Gallic charm to “Wild Mountain Thyme” and rising to the romantic 19th century chart of “Mr. Malcolm’s List,” Amelia Warner now makes her biggest splash with this rhythmically moving film that cuts through the currents, all with the kind of stirring writing and orchestral feeling that shows a major scoring talent has arrived on our shores, not only bringing new celebration for a forgotten tickertape icon but showing a fresh, exuberant talent that dynamically powers through the Channel with joyous musical empathy to cheer on.
Amelia Warner in “Aeon Flux” (Paramount Pictures)
Before starting as a composer, you had a whole other impressive acting career with the likes of “Aeon Flux”and “Quills.” How did your desire to compose work alongside that, and what was the breakthrough moment for you where you switched crafts?
I started acting when I was about 16 and worked on some amazing projects with some incredible directors and felt very lucky. It was a brilliant introduction into film and the world of film, storytelling, and the creative process. I feel like I learned a great deal from my time as an actress. I was always fascinated by the director and the DOP and the editor and what they were all doing. I paid more attention to them than anything that I was doing. I always wrote music and played the piano and that was something that I did all through school. Then, when I was acting, I used to travel with a keyboard always in outside luggage. I would set myself up in my hotel room so that I could write and do compositions. I never shared them with anybody, but that was just my kind of, you know, a hobby, I guess, but I feel like acting definitely gave me a good setup in terms of understanding filmmaking. Ultimately, it then felt like it wasn’t really the right thing for me to be doing. It wasn’t giving me the fulfillment that I needed and this kind of separate strand of music started taking over and brought me so much fulfillment and joy that, that’s where I ended up going.
In that respect, do you think performing helped inform your approach when musically adding to the work of onscreen actors?
I think that I am probably most inspired by the actors’ performance, and that’s always really my starting point for themes and melodies, emotion, and music, is watching the performance. I’m always led by that. I try to work out how to connect with that in a deeper way, how to elevate what they’re doing, how to support that performance. So, I think I probably am always drawn to the actors’ performance, and that’s always where I start with writing.
Tell us about your breakthrough score for “Mary Shelley.” How did you want the music to broaden the Gothic expectations of her?
“Mary Shelley” was a real dream of a job for me. I always had an interest and a draw to the Gothic aesthetic and Gothic literature. In particular, it was something that I had grown up reading and ghost stories and that kind of otherworldly reality. It was something that always fascinated me and drew me in, so getting to create a score in that kind of vein really was glorious. I suppose I wanted the score to have some traditional Gothic elements which is why I kind of used a lot of voice, counter tenor and soprano mainly were the two kind of voices that just felt right in that kind of genre. Lots of atmospherics and texture, big sweeping melodies but then I also wanted it to have to feel modern because I feel like Mary was a really modern woman and what she was doing at the time she was doing it was unheard of. I felt like I wanted it to feel contemporary and relevant, so there’s also lots of electronics and synths and almost kind of pop hooks and pop melodies to draw people in and to make it feel slightly fresher. It was really fun to write, and I love that score.
On that note, are you particularly drawn to films about historical heroines? And if so, what kind of unique musical opportunities do they provide, especially when it comes to being emotionally pertinent to today?
I feel really lucky to have been able to be involved in films about incredible women and historical heroines. It’s a real kind of privilege to tell their stories and have their stories out in the world. I think having three daughters makes it even more important I guess for me to tell those stories and to really celebrate these women who came before and honor them and their achievements. I suppose when I’m working on something like that the main thing in my mind is always just hoping and wanting to do them justice and do good by them. I want them to have the film and the story that they deserve so that’s always in the back of my mind when I’m working on a true story, giving them the kind of platform that they deserve.
Before “Young Woman and the Sea” what were some of your favorite inspirational sports films and scores for them? What do you think makes a memorable heroic soundtrack in this genre work, no matter the arena?
It was really fun when I was preparing for “Young Women and the Sea” to go and revisit some of my favorite sports films. I think one that I watched the most growing up was “A League of Their Own.” I just absolutely loved that film and that score from Hans Zimmer is incredible. It’s so classic and emotional and beautiful. I also loved “Remember the Titans” an “Chariots of Fire.” It’s hard to talk about sports movies and not mention “Chariots of Fire” and the Vangelis score. It’s just an incredible piece of work and a kind of touchstone and talking point. Jerry Goldsmith’s “Rudy” was another big one. It was really fun revisiting that genre. I think what they all kind of have in common is this hope over adversity and this kind of triumphant feeling that I wanted to try and capture with the score and with the melodies.
The real Trudy Ederle
Tell us about developing Trudy’s theme, and what it says about her spirit.
Finding Trudy’s theme was definitely job number one. I knew from reading the screenplay that this was a film that was going to need a great main theme and that it would have to showcase, I suppose, all of Trudy’s facets. Her emotional life, her determination, her positivity, her hope, her triumph. But it also needed to feel intimate and heroic. Trying to settle on that theme wasn’t easy. As soon as I had it, we knew and it was like, “Yeah, this is it.” I think it was probably the most important part of the score, finding a theme that would work just with the piano and there’s moments where it’s just on the cello and then finding moments where we could have it with a full orchestra and having something that could feel both sorrowful and also triumphant. It’s the theme that connects her to her family and to her sister, so it had to feel very personal and emotional.
Trudy also had a sports theme that was called “The Race” and that was used for her swimming sections and when she’s being her most determined. It really portrays her athletic side and her boldness, her strength, her unwillingness to give up ever under any circumstances. So that was a more bombastic, bold, kind of percussion led theme. The other theme for Trudy was called “Free Spirit” and that was trying to show her fun, playful and unconventional side, because Trudy wasn’t like the other girls. She didn’t behave like the other girls. She wasn’t traditional. She was different, she had a different way about her, and I wanted to find a theme that just felt light, fun and playful and would reflect that unconventional side of her, that eccentric side, I suppose, and quite childlike.
Daisy Ridley as Trudy (Walt Disney Pictures)
How did you want to incorporate electronics and song-like elements into the score?
It felt quite clear from early on that there were going to have to be more modern and electronic elements to the score and that keeping it strictly within the time period it was set, wasn’t going to work. I think because we needed to convey just the power of her, the power of the ocean, the power of what she was doing and lots of percussion and drums. I used lots of electric cello to give everything a kind of electronic pulse that made things feel a bit more exciting. I suppose the thing that I was always looking for was propulsion and trying to keep everything feeling like it was going forward at pace. Electric cello was really important in that. Synth was really important in that and layering those up was a big part of the score. I think particularly, for the racing sections and the montages, having those more modern elements really helped make those parts of the film exciting and visceral and give them a real energy and forward motion.
Tell us about “charting” Trudy’s two Channel swims, especially given the perils she runs into like jellyfish and pure exhaustion. Was there any particularly difficult part of it to score?
I think the pacing was one of the hardest things to get right in the film because there is a lot of music and there’s a lot of big events so I guess it’s making sure that I didn’t run out of steam too early and making sure that there was still enough space for the score to get bigger and bigger until we reach the beach and even after the beach we then have the parade. The pacing was tough and that was difficult, that you know the first channel swim and the second channel swim feel quite different. I think the first one is more business-like. It’s big and bold and it’s exciting but the second one is much more emotional, so I felt like it hit home more, and it feels like, “Oh my god this is it, she’s going to do it!” Then the jellyfish were brutal, it was trying to really show how hard that was and how physically difficult it was for her. I didn’t want it to feel too heroic too soon and even though it’s a true story and we know what happens, I still wanted it right up until the very end to feel like is she’s not going to make it. Until we actually know that, when she sees the lights and she’s swimming towards the beach and we know she’s going to make it and she sees her sister, that’s when I think the score is truly triumphant for the first time. I didn’t want to kind of give anything away and particularly with that first swim, it’s obvious that she didn’t make it, but it still needs to feel exciting, and you need to be on the edge of your seat and so the music needs to sell that moment.
(Walt Disney Pictures)
Movies of this sort end up on a postscript, and it’s especially moving here. Tell us about scoring the epilogue.
The epilogue on this film, the archive footage of Trudy is incredibly moving. I think every time I watched it, I would tear up because just seeing the real Trudy and reminding yourself that this was actually a real woman, and that this happened. That footage of her, she looks so joyful. It’s really wonderful. I think we always had a version of the theme that was with the choir and the piano and a slowed down version. I think that was always on the archive. I don’t think we ever tried anything else. It felt like a moment of pause and reflection after what had been 15 minutes of a lot of very big music and obviously huge story. It’s building and building to this peak and when we go into the archive footage, we have this moment to just pause, reflect and really take it all in. I wanted the music to have a bit more space and give the audience that time to also recover because I find it very emotional to watch the end of the film. I think it’s nice to just gather yourself and watch that beautiful footage and read all the incredible facts about her, which is just astounding.
There’s a gloriously “old fashioned” nature to the film that reminded me of such empowering live action, history-based young woman 80’s Disney movies as “The Journey of Natty Gann” and “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken.” Were you struck by that?
I think that the biggest charm of this film is its old-fashioned nature. It does really remind me of the films that I grew up with and it harks back to that style of storytelling. That style of storytelling is really favorable to a composer because music is used so much, is used narratively so much, which I think has slightly fallen out of fashion now. I think that scores, not always, but tend to be slightly more textural or tonal and that this is a really old-fashioned way of writing a score and making a film. But I love those kinds of films and I think, like I say, because I grew up with them, they’re part of my fabric. I feel like I wish there were more films like that these days. I think that’s one of the things that really drew me to the film. I felt like it was harking back to another kind of time and another way and style of making films and especially family films. I think that a film that you can go and see with your parents and their parents and your children, it’s a true family experience, which I don’t feel like we have that much anymore unless it’s an animation. And I love animations, they’re brilliant, but it’s also really nice to go and see something, especially when it’s a true story, it feels so inspiring to see with your whole family.
(Walt Disney Pictures)
Though it was supposed to go directly to Disney Plus, “Young Woman” thankfully did get a chance to swim on the big screen thanks to Jerry Bruckheimer, a release that really let the scope of your score impress in a theater. Do you think that theatrical chance is more important than ever, particularly for composers?
I think for everybody involved in a film, getting a cinematic release is really special. When you’ve worked on something, to get to see it in the way that it was intended. When you make a film, I suppose you always do think of it being on a big screen. I think for everybody, for the costume designer, for the DOP, for Joachim, for the director, it is where you want it to be. I think as a composer, getting to hear it with the amazing proper sound in a cinema, it makes a huge difference. I’m so grateful that I had the experience of going to see it in a cinema and taking my daughters along to see it in a cinema. It was a really special thing, and the film is deserving of it. It’s a big cinematic film. I’m really just so grateful to Jerry for fighting that fight. I think that it was really special for all of us to be able to enjoy the film in that way.
For me, your work on “Young Woman & the Sea” is one of the most thrilling scores of the year in terms of its unabashed symphonic melody and themes. Do you think that’s something that scores could use more of?
Thank you very much, that’s a really lovely thing to say. I do, you know, I think that there’s room for all different types of scores and I think that it’s exciting to have so many different styles and different ways of scoring a film. There’s not one right way, there’s not a wrong way, it’s all personal taste and I think it’s always about what the filmmaker wants and reflecting that. But I think for me as a writer, I am very melody driven and being allowed to write melodies and themes is definitely where I feel the happiest and the most fulfilled. I think that it’s probably my strength so it’s really wonderful when you’re given the chance to write thematically in that way and when you’re working with a director and producers who aren’t worried or nervous of melody because it is quite unusual now. There aren’t many scores like that and again, you know, the scores that I grew up with would be James Horner and “Legends of the Fall” and Alan Silvestri’s “Forrest Gump” and all those incredible very melody driven scores. I’d love to see more of that for sure and I think I’d be really excited to hear the composers working in that way again. But I do think there’s space for everything and I believe things will come back in fashion and then they’ll change and it’s always evolving. But I think Disney is probably the most comfortable with using those kinds of scores, so it was really a dream come true to get to write the score for them.
(Walt Disney Records)
Watch “Young Woman and the Sea” on Disney Plus HERE and buy Amelia Warner’s soundtrack HERE on Walt Disney Records. Visit Amelia Warner’s website HERE
Special thanks to Sarah Roche at White Bear PR