Paul Thomas Anderson and Jonny Greenwood were at an event for their 2015 collaboration Junun when the Radiohead guitarist made an off-handed comment about Beau Brummell.
“We were talking about male grooming, so I told him about Beau Brummell, this regency dandy who spend all his money on his—quite understated—appearance,” Greenwood told Esquire.com in an email. “Brummell used to have visitors every morning coming and watch him prepare for the day by dressing just so. Obsessively putting every item of clothing on, adjusting each detail until it was perfect—and starting again if it wasn’t. All this, to a room of spectators.”
This comment eventually wove itself in Anderson’s head to become his new movie, Phantom Thread, the auteur’s seductive and contained new romance starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the obsessive dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock.
“Perhaps that image of a man attending to his morning toilette stuck with him, though,” Greenwood said of his comment.
But as stunning as Anderson’s direction—and Day-Lewis and co-star Vicky Krieps’s performances—the film is driven by a nimble and beautiful score by Greenwood, who has worked on every Anderson's film since 2007’s There Will Be Blood. When Anderson once again came to Greenwood for the score of the movie last year, the guitarist was on the road with Radiohead for the band’s A Moon Shaped Pool tour. So he began tinkering away in green rooms and hotel rooms and dressing rooms, creating the haunting and beautiful score for Phantom Thread, with the simple request from Anderson for I “‘big-ass strings,’ which I think is American for ‘orchestra,'” Greenwood said.
The combination of Day-Lewis, Anderson, and Greenwood has become something of a holy trinity in filmmaking; each regarded as a master of their craft, the actor, director, and musician have found a beautiful creative balance.
Through somewhat aggravating circumstances, Greenwood had yet to be nominated for a major award for any of his film scores. But that changed this year, as Greenwood received a Golden Globe nomination for the Phantom Thread score. (He unfortunately lost to Alexandre Desplat for The Shape of Water). With the Oscar nominations on their way—and Greenwood being a strong contender—this could be a chance for him to get the Academy Award he’s deserved for years.
Below, Greenwood discusses how he crafted the elegant score, how he worked with Anderson, and if he has plans for a solo album.
Greenwood started with research to find a sound that fit with Daniel Day-Lewis's Reynolds.
I spent a long time trying to work out how to avoid pastiche, but at the same time ensure the music was in keeping with the 1950s. I even explored so-called Brixotica and other British trends from that period. The problem was that there’s no way to use much of it without being tongue-in-cheek—and if Reynolds is anything, he’s not that. He’s not ironic in any way. So instead, I focused on what I imagined Reynolds would have listen to at the time, and settled on things like the Glen Gould recordings of Bach and some of the string-heavy jazz records from that decade, like Ben Webster’s Music for Loving.
Greenwood wanted to avid a big, cliche orchestra.
I usually start with instrumentation, so there’s a set of limitations. The Glen Gould / jazz stuff led me to the piano as an instrument that could tie it all together. Then when we started looking at footage, it felt like using a big string orchestra was just unavoidable. I was wary, because it’s quite a cliché: It’s a very common keyboard patch—piano with simultaneous string chords. But then, there’s probably a good reason for that cliché existing: Piano and strings do sound pretty great together in the real world. I just had to avoid computer demos and trust what was on paper until we recorded it.
Making the music for Phantom Thread was the exact opposite of making a Radiohead record.
I was pretty happy just writing lots of music and knowing I had some amazing musicians lined up to record it. Some scenes needed specific cues written to picture; others were sketches of the characters or of the situation. It’s quite a wasteful way to work—lots of things weren’t in the final film—but it meant there were a lot of ideas. And even if Paul only liked a small part of one of them, that idea could be developed to fit. I only found it hard the day after the last recording, when I felt properly exhausted. It’s a crazy way to work: You spend months with things only existing on paper, or as piano-only sketches, and then suddenly you have a few hours with actual musicians to get it all recorded. At one session there were 60 strings. Think of it like a firework display: lots of planning, and then a stressful few minutes hoping it’ll all work, then it’s all over. It’s exactly the opposite of making a Radiohead record, where things evolve slowly, but there’s often a core to a song that will never be changed.
Unlike There Will Be Blood, the Phantom Thread soundtrack needed to be romantic.
In a way it was similar to Inherent Vice, where the need was to be sincerely romantic. Inherent Vice has, like the book. such a weird pitch to it: very amusing, full of fantastic grotesquery and jokes, but not just a joke. Likewise, there was a need in Phantom Thread to be genuinely following the romance of the story.
Greenwood had to find places to write while on tour with Radiohead this year.
Hotel rooms and dressing rooms are great places to work. Dressing rooms especially, because there’s usually a piano around somewhere. You only need that, some paper, and some footage to make progress. Best of all, there are no distractions. Touring is full of free time—as long as you’re a pampered band member, and not in the lighting crew (load in 5 a.m., load out out 2 a.m. the following morning...).
There won't be any jazz flute in a Paul Thomas Anderson movie.
He makes me laugh a lot. He’s like an amusing Danish architect who loves California. He trusts me far more then he should/I deserve, but we’ve been lucky so far. He hates jazz flute, but goes giddy for Brahms and Nelson Riddle. Takes the piss out of me without mercy.
Greenwood doesn't have any interest in making a solo record outside of movie scores.
Small orchestral pieces interest me, but only as things to hear live, not really for recording. Sending sheet music to musicians I’ve never met and having it played really fascinates me—it feels like a really modern and peculiar way to work. Otherwise, I’ve zero interest in recording music alone for anything other than films. Anyway, the whole point of film music is that you’re not alone.
Greenwood was nominated for a Golden Globe and is eligible for an Oscar—but he's not big on awards.
Not sure about awards… I get quite enough praise and recognition from my peers already. And I just get embarrassed in public if it’s not for something musical. But I really hope PTA gets nominated. His film-making deserves the recognition—writing, directing and filming Phantom Thread… Who else could do all that?
This year will be all about Radiohead for Greenwood.
No, nothing [else] for a while. I might do some orchestral writing for a single concert, but otherwise I’m just planning to enjoy the Radiohead shows, and see how much better 2018 is than 2017.
Matt Miller is a Brooklyn-based culture/lifestyle writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Esquire, Forbes, The Denver Post, and documentaries.
