The life of a big-time composer can be stressful, since they’re one of the last key components to piecing together a movie or television show. To say that they feel the time crunch when they insert their music is an understatement. A piece of music can be incredibly impactful and in some ways makes or breaks the mood of a scene. Composers are vital in helping create a movie, and they should never be taken for granted.
Christopher Lennertz has been working as a professional composer in the film and television industry for years, contributing his talent through various works. With the way his schedule has been piling up, one would think that he’s on fire with his composing reputation right now. He’s currently attached to several projects that are due out in 2015, not to mention one in particular that’s out in theaters now.
His latest romp into the world of film composition was through Warner Bros’ latest dark comedy ‘Horrible Bosses 2.’ In it audiences once again follow the 3 boneheaded heroes who find themselves on the verge of breaking through, creating their own company and being their own boss. They’re at the threshold of success when it’s suddenly ripped out from under them through some sleazy moves made by their investors (Christoph Waltz, Chris Pine). Hellbent to get their ideas and money back, they use a kidnapping scheme in order to get what they want. Unfortunately for them, the execution of their plan goes horribly wrong.
This isn’t the first time that Lennertz has been part of the ‘Horrible Bosses’ world, since he composed the score for the first movie. “Sequels are always super fun, especially if a lot of the same people are back because you develop a relationship with them,” said Lennertz. “It’s fun to do that and also just develop a relationship with the cast. I like those characters, so it was really fun to be able to bring back their music, their themes and get into that world again.”
One of the main differences in music between the first ‘Horrible Bosses’ and the sequel is the soundtrack. The pre-recorded songs really stand out in the sequel, which could have proven to be a difficult challenge for Lennertz to tackle. Surprisingly enough, Lennertz welcomed the obstacles with open arms. “Sean Anders the director, he really wrote in a lot of those moments when Katy Perry and those songs came up,” explained Lennertz. “He had it all sort of in, with Chris Pine singing Toto or Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark; those were all part of the jokes which is really, really great to have in there. It gives it a fun vibe. And so I always love doing that. As long as I know where where my mind the music just belongs, and we sort of have a good feel about it… it’s not too confusing actually. To me it gives everything a breath and it allows when my music comes back in after a song it allows it to sort of reset and reset the tone.”
This isn’t the last time the composer will be dipping his feet into the comedy pool. Lennertz has his name attached to a couple of 2015 comedies which include ‘The Wedding Ringer’ and ABC’s latest show ‘Galavant.’ There aren’t too many people who are aware of what ‘Galavant’ is, but Lennertz gives a fantastic explanation on what viewers should expect out of the freshmen series.
“Galavant is just a basically Monty Python style adult singing and dancing musical comedy where I get to work with Alan Menken who’s the best there is at that kind of thing,” said Lennertz. “And then I don’t know if you’ve seen all the guest stars that are on it. There’s two of the people from Downton Abbey are on it, Ricky Gervais, Weird Al, and John Stamos is in it. Everyone’s dancing and singing and playing these weird characters. Alan wrote the songs and they’re so catchy. They always are. He’s so good at that. It’s so fun, and the other thing that’s great is that it’s like absolutely nothing that anybody has put on TV in America before. I hope people all over the country like it. I love musicals, so for me the first time I saw the first show I just about died laughing and was so excited about it. It’s definitely in that world. I don’t know if you’re a ‘Princess Bride’ fan, but that’s kind of the humor. It’s basically ‘The Princess Bride’ with songs every week. And I don’t know how you can go wrong with that.”
At the other end of the television spectrum is another upcoming show that Lennertz is associated with, and that’s ‘Agent Carter.’ Hayley Atwell reprises the role of Peggy Carter, the intelligent and clever agent who inevitably becomes the co-founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Marvel cinematic universe. There are so many people who can’t wait to see this on TV screens across the nation, but no fan is more excited that Lennertz. “It’s just so normal to have either no female character or if there is a female character, they’re always kind of playing the same thing or they’re sort of subservient,” explains Lennertz. “There’s no meat to it, where in this show she’s the boss. There’s no doubt about it. She’s smart. She can take down anybody on the whole show and she basically uses her wits, her cleverness and her moxy that she’s got so she can assist the world through some pretty crazy plots.”
The composer continues on, gushing about what fans should be expecting out of ‘Agent Carter’ when it premieres in January, along with how happy he is to return as composer for this show. “The first couple episodes I’ve seen so far are so great,” said Lenenrtz. “And the interesting thing is that it’s really cool to go back. Everybody knows the Marvel universe now. There’s all this mystery around these different devices and different people and different enemies, evil factions and where did all of these things come from. Going back now with Carter, we’re able to see a lot of that and where things started.”
The last project he got to chat about was ‘Ride Along 2,’ which is an unexpected sequel for a lot of folks. When the box office numbers came in for the first film, there was no way the studio wasn’t going to make a second film. The audience loves it, so the studio is going to give them a second helping. Christopher Lennertz has a different theory as to why the box office number for ‘Ride Along’ warranted a sequel.
“Every 5, 10 years there needs to be one of those really fun buddy cop movies,” said Lennertz. “Whether it started probably with ’48 Hours,’ and that was early 80s, then all of a sudden along comes ‘Lethal Weapon.’ Then it goes from ‘Lethal Weapon’ to ‘Bad Boys.’ ‘Rush Hour’ is another great one. People love seeing this mismatched action comedy where they can laugh and they can see how awkward it is. But at the same time it gives them a really great action ride that’s fun on a Friday night or a Saturday night, to go out and watch things explode but also laugh at the same time. It’s not dark. It’s really light and fun and big, and that’s what I think the new one is going to be even bigger. The first one did so well, they’re trying to really blow this one up to make it a huge step up in terms of size of action and fun.”
‘Horrible Bosses 2’ is out in theaters now. Be sure to check out ‘Galavant’ when it airs on ABC this Jaunary 4, 2015. A couple of days later ‘Agent Carter’ will debut on January 6, 2015 with the movie ‘The Wedding Ringer’ due out in theaters on January 16, 2015. ‘Ride Along 2’ will arrive in theaters on Jaunary 15, 2016.