Remember the joy that came from experiencing the 2016 hit film, Sing Street? The film chronicled a 1980s Dublin kid who starts a band to escape his rough family life. Director John Carney (Begin Again) was at the helm of that endeavor, and composer/original songwriter Gary Clark wrote “Drive It Like You Stole It,” the film’s memorable song, which went on to win Best Original Song at the Nashville Film Festival, Best Song at the Atlanta Film Critics Society Awards, and was nominated for Best Song at the U.S. Critic’s Choice Awards.
Clark and Carney team up again in Apple TV+’s uplifting film Flora and Son, yet another heartwarming endeavor that tracks the transformational power of music and how people find connection because of it. As composer, Clark worked closely with Carney to capture the heart of the Dublin-based film, which finds a single mom sparring with her son. She hopes the rescued guitar she nabbed from a nearby dumpster sparks some hobby-like interest in the lad, but it does more than that — for her. Flora takes to the instrument and bonds with a charming online guitar instructor. Yes. The duo hit some emotional high notes.
Flora and Son stars Eve Hewson (Bad Sisters, Behind Her Eyes), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, Don Juan, Looper), and Orén Kinlan. Gary Clark opened up about creating the music for the movie in the exclusive MovieWeb interview. You can watch our video interview with Clark above.
Creating Something Different
Gary Clark and John Carney make for a vibrant creative team. Thus far, Flora and Son has garnered generally positive reviews, and you’d be hard-pressed when walking away from not feeling inspired. Clark and Carney infuse Flora and Son with charm, thanks to Carney’s sharp script.
“What’s been interesting since we started doing screenings and putting the movie in front of people, is that I’ve found that people come out of the movie [and talk] to me about their own family stories,” Clark shared. “They’re not always mother-son stories, but [the film] seems to touch people in a very deep way and makes them reflect on things. Like, ‘Do I spend enough time with my kid playing music? Do we talk about things? Do we have that problem?’ Whatever. I hope people feel the joy and the love in it and something really positive from it. We need that at this particular time.”
Don’t we, though? In Flora and Son, Eve Hewson (Bono’s daughter) shines as Flora. Encouraged by the police to find a hobby for her son Max, she hopes the beat-up acoustic guitar she found will help. Then something remarkable happens. Max’s initial disinterest in the guitar — he’s into mixing music, thank you — allows Flora to connect a worn-out L.A. musician named Jeff (Gordon-Levitt laying on the charm). Guitar lessons ensue. A connection is formed, and the ripple effects wash upon Flora and Max, who ultimately discover the transformative power of music and a newfound connection with each other. Bottom line: The film explores the bond between a mother and son on a journey toward a new harmony.
Finding the Right Notes
“John sent me a script. I was in Scotland, he was in Ireland, and we got on Zoom,” Clark said of the genesis of composing the music for Flora and Son. “90% of the ideas for songs — who would be singing, where they would be, where they are in the story — was already in that early version of the script. So that makes my job a lot easier.”
He went on to note several challenging aspects of the movie. “Unlike Sing Street, which is set in a very specific time, and the people who make the music are a school band… this was much more open.” Clark elaborated:
“We had to say, ‘Well, what does Jeff sound like [musically]? What does he listen to?’ You know, ‘What about the rapper kid?’ We knew we were going to hear him do some stuff. Then, we know from the story that the character of Max likes listening to — rap and electronic music. So, the palette, musically, was much broader in this movie than anything John and I had worked on together before. Which, I just love a challenge. It’s not a negative, it’s just a fact of this movie, and we had a lot of musical ground to cover.”
Creating the Film’s Signature Songs
Like Begin Again and Sing Street before it, Flora and Son features several key songs that anchor the movie. One of them is “Meet in the Middle,” the song that Flora and Jeff eventually collaborate on. The other song is “High Life,” the film’s end piece and one which gives the movie an exceptional send off. Both songs were composed with nuance.
“Both of those songs are examples of something that I’ve never done,” Clark admitted. “I mean, I’ve collaborated with a lot of people, but what John found… when we played [the songs] to Joe Gordon-Levitt and Eve Hewson… they both had suggestions about what their characters might or might not say. They had quite strong feelings about it. And we’d actually begun shooting, and so they’d been in these characters for a few weeks when this happened. They knew who they were, and John, being the maverick filmmaker that he is, basically said, ‘Well, just come into the studio, we’ll figure it out.”
In the case of the film’s rooftop song, “Meet in the Middle,” the scene finds Flora and Jeff on Zoom but soon shifts to Jeff actually on the rooftop, a nice effect that illuminates the power of both their imaginations and the art of collaboration. “We were shooting that song in a few days’ time, so it was really up against the wire,” Clark said, adding:
I was slightly terrified, but it turned out to be an incredible experience, because both Eve and Joe had a dialogue as the characters in the studio talking about who would say what, and what would happen next — like a real sparring thing. And the four of us just kind of managed to work it out in that afternoon. Thank God.
He said the film’s final song, “High Life,” was much more technically difficult than it appeared on-screen. “You’ve got [Max’s father played by Paul Reid] who does his crazy little bass solo and Flora shuts him down for it. Then the kid comes in with his rap, and then you’ve got little touches of his electronic stuff. You’ve got Eve at the center with an acoustic guitar, and you’ve got a drum machine, then a drummer on Zoom. And so, all these things were developed. That was not in the script. These were developed as we were shooting and finding out about the characters. Super challenging.”
Gary Clark’s Career and Working with the Cast
Gary Clark launched his career as singer-songwriter-instrumentalist in late 1980s with the band Danny Wilson. He wrote the band’s international hit “Mary’s Prayer,” now considered a classic. When the band split up in 1990, Clark ventured into other areas of songwriting and production. Chances are, audiences have heard some of his work in film and television outings, such as There’s Something about Mary, Wild Things, Charlie’s Angels, Grey’s Anatomy, Teen Wolf, and Pretty Little Liars.
When asked about the highlights of working with Eve Hewson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Clark was candid. “I can’t imagine the film without them, because they were just so believable. I don’t think John heard Eve singing when he chose her for the role. He was just convinced that she was Flora. Now, her father is Bono from U2, so she has a musical background. And she just said to John on Zoom, ‘Look, I’m not my dad, I’m not like a big belter singer, but I can hold a tune, I’ll be fine.'” He added:
“John hired [Joseph Gordon-Levitt] and knew that he could sing, and I did a Zoom with Joe to sort of assess how good he would be to play these live scenes, in particular. I realized really quickly he’s actually a real musician. And Orén, who plays Max, had never done anything like this in the past. In fact, he was so brave. I was going to say he was terrified, but he just went, ‘I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it.’ He did all his own raps. He’s got a real beautiful kind of heart.”
“And it’s a John Carney film,” continued Clark. “You want it to feel as real as possible. And thankfully, everybody was able to do that. I was just thrilled with it all.”
Flora and Son is streaming on Apple TV+. You can check out the trailer below.
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