A few musical cues and news today, so let's jump right in. Brit pop star Jessie J has recorded a new song for "Silver Linings Playbook," which takes the usually bland approach of literalizing the characters and themes of a film to a whole new level. Grammy Award-winning songwriter Diane Warren (nominated for six Oscars including Aerosmith's "Don't Want To Miss A Thing" from "Armageddon") has penned "Crazy About You." A movie about two people going through some personal pain that has affected their mental health — and who fall for each other — featuring a song called "Crazy About You"? Genius. The tune has leaked online (listen below while you can) and it essentially sounds like yet another anonymous pop song from Jessie J. Shrug. We suppose this one will power your way out of the theater over the credits. [Capital FM]
It looks like Judd Apatow's upcoming "This Is 40" is going to be one soundtrack heads and Pitchfork fans are going to want to pay attention to. It was just last week that we learned Fiona Apple was contributing a new song to the movie, and now Wilco have gone back to the studio as well to refresh and old classic. The band recorded a new version of "(I Got You) At The End Of The Century" from Being There, and it was thanks to a bout of online surfing that the director decided to call the band up. “In 'Funny People,' Seth Rogen's character is a big fan of Wilco's so we used some of their music in the film,” Apatow said. “While I was writing this film, I came across an acoustic version of ‘I Got You’ on YouTube which was performed by [singer] Jeff Tweedy and [late guitarist] Jay Bennett on a TV show with more of a bluegrass or country feel. I loved it and asked my music supervisor Jonathan Karp to ask them if they would be up for recording a new version in that style. Luckily they said yes.” Listen to the original version below. [THR]
James Newton Howard has landed a couple of tentpole gigs, with the composer set to bring music to Angelina Jolie's fairytale "Maleficent" and Jennifer Lawrence's teen battle/romance sequel "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire." Howard returns to the 'Hunger Games' franchise after scoring the first installment, while Disney's pic is another broad canvas for him to work on. But not to worry, he'll have plenty of time to get to both. 'Catching Fire' arrives on November 23, 2013 with "Maleficent" following a few months later on March 13, 2014. [Film Music Reporter]
Speaking of tentpoles, the somewhat under-the-radar "The Seventh Son" has landed A.R. Rahman ("Slumdog Millionaire," "People Like Us") and Finnish composer Tuomas Kantelinen to bring the picture to life. The story centers on Tom (Ben Barnes), the seventh son of a seventh son in the 1700s who discovers he has the ability to see creatures of the dark, and trains to become a ‘Spook’ in order to fight evil. Jeff Bridges will play Master Gregory, a grizzled witch-hunter who trains Tom, while Julianne Moore is lined up as the villain, Mother Malkin, who sucks the blood out of young women to keep her youth. Alicia Vikander will play Alice who joins Tom in his journey. ”Mongol” director Sergey Bodrov is at the helm of the picture, which will be arriving on October 18, 2013. [Film Music Reporter]
Even at 83, Ennio Morricone is going strong and is now set to compose the animated film "The Canterville Ghost." Featuring the voices of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, the film is a take on Oscar Wilde's classic story, but production is still early and the movie isn't expected to be finished until 2014. But if you need more Morricone, he's also tuning up "The Best Offer" starring Geoffrey Rush and Jim Sturgess. [Film Music Reporter]