While "Southpaw" brings with it the redemptive tale of a boxer getting knocked down and getting back on his feet again, professionally and emotionally, it also presents one of the final film scores by the late James Horner, who suddenly passed away last month. Today, we have an exclusive listen to one of his contributions to the film.
"A Long Road Back" contains the swell and pull that Horner built his reputation on, adding a nice sonic backbone to Antoine Fuqua‘s punchy tale. Their collaboration was so fruitful, Horner was already working on their next project together.
"…his team flew out here, to Baton Rouge, and they brought me all the music for ‘The Magnificent Seven,’ " the director recently told NPR. "He already wrote it for me based on the script. He did it all off the script because he wanted to surprise me. I thought it was a gift or something. And they all came out here and said, ‘Antoine, James wrote the music for ‘Magnificent Seven’ already and it’s just glorious." So that’s my memory of James."
We can’t wait to hear what Horner put together for the western, but first is the pugilist picture, which opens today. The "Southpaw" soundtrack is also in stores now.
Bonus: Check out these podcast talks with "Southpaw" star Jake Gyllenhaal.