The National

One of the thrilling things about making a movie is the process of choosing needle drop music.  In our volleyball sequence that recently posted to YouTube, I originally wanted to use  Disorder by Joy Division.

But this choice was brainstormed at the script stage, when your imagination can often be as misguided as intuitive.

When we had a rough cut in the editing room, we realized something wasn't right about this pairing.  While the sequence had the right feeling (sort of), the tempo and the anachronisms of Ian Curtis were more distracting than I anticipated.  I remember being shocked at the time because this was one of the song choices I was most confident about going into post.

My favorite record of 2007 was Boxer by The National.   It was my personal soundtrack that year and marked my life the way great albums do.  Also at the time, John Askew (our composer and music supervisor) put together four CD's of random tracks that might be good for the film.  He included some older tracks from their CHERRY TREE EP and also included the track that jumped out the most -- Abel from ALLIGATOR.

ABEL had an irresistible spark. When we laid it down, the whole sequence came to life - it was electrifying.  It was one of those cool filmmaking moments, where you knew you had it right.  The only obstacle at that point was whether it was affordable.

Watching The National perform, you realize quickly they are a true band, each member in sync with each other and fully aware of the subtlety and weight of their own contribution.  I love watching them perform, so cool and unassuming.

Check them out playing The Apartment Story from Boxer.