Bad Times at the El Royale is a 2018 neo-noir thriller film written, directed, and produced by Drew Goddard, featuring an ensemble cast consisting of Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, and Chris Hemsworth. Two soundtrack albums were released for the film — a compilation album, featuring popular songs incorporated in the film's screenplay with the supervision of Goddard and produced by Harvey Mason Jr. was titled Bad Times at the El Royale (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack),[3][4] and an album consisting of original score composed and produced by Michael Giacchino titled Bad Times at the El Royale (Original Motion Picture Score).[5] Both the score and soundtrack album, were released by Republic Records and Milan Records on October 12, 2018,[6] coinciding with the film's theatrical release. A digital re-release of the film's soundtrack, featuring two additional songs, were released on November 23, which was positively received.[7]
| Bad Times at the El Royale (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
|---|---|
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| Soundtrack album by various artists | |
| Released | October 12, 2018 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 31:08 (initial) 36:58 (re-release) |
| Label | |
| Producer | Harvey Mason Jr.[2] |
| Bad Times at the El Royale (Original Motion Picture Score) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Film score by | ||||
| Released | October 12, 2018 | |||
| Length | 74:45 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Michael Giacchino | |||
| Michael Giacchino chronology | ||||
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Background
editGoddard wrote each song into his screenplay before pitching it for an "organic process of structuring the film and the songs" and told major studios to avoid buying the script if they could not buy the licenses for each piece of music.[2][8] He described the film as "a love letter to music" and served as a music supervisor.[9] Goddard had Erivo sing her songs live on set with the belief that without it, "the movie would not work".[10] With Entertainment Weekly, Goddard said that the music was "almost like the eighth character in the movie. It serves the function of a chorus in a Shakespearean play. It actually is a key part of the emotional fabric of the film."[1] As a result, the production crew had each song playing during filming on loudspeakers; Pullman and Bridges said they had originally read the script while listening to the songs in the background as a "great way to set the tone".[11] In introducing the character of cult leader Billy Lee with "Twelve Thirty", Goddard said he wanted to provide a metaphorical connection with the character, as the song is "very bright and seductive, but when you really listen to what the words are saying, there's an incredible darkness".[1]
Although not included on the soundtrack, Erivo also performed the songs "Try A Little Tenderness", "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted", "You Can't Hurry Love", and "Unchained Melody". Director Goddard also self-penned a song for Erivo to perform, titled "Hold Me In Your Arms, Lift Me On High".[2] Erivo was required to sing on camera in real-time, with no option to use pre-recorded vocals: "Every time you see me sing in a room, wherever, it’s happening in that room and I’m singing for real", Erivo explained later. For the long scene where Laramie discovers the secret passageway, retakes and resets for different camera angles required Erivo to perform twenty-seven times, while the later scene where Darlene is singing to cover the noise Doc makes while digging was shot twenty times.[2]
The film score was composed by Michael Giacchino, who had met Goddard while working on television series Alias and Lost.[12] After his inclusion being confirmed on mid-June 2018,[13] Giacchino recorded the score during August 15–16, 2018, at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox Studios.[citation needed]
Reception
editThe soundtrack opened to positive reviews from critics, with Polygon's Karen Han called it "one of the year's best".[7] Angelica Florio from Bustle said that "between the music playing from the soundtrack throughout the movie and Darlene's show-stopping performances, you definitely get the sense that the song selection was key for Goddard".[14] Reviewing for the film's original score, Movie Wave's James Southall wrote "all of the remaining 67 minutes of album is rendered somewhat superfluous to requirements: virtually everything else of note on the album is a variant of something heard in that opening piece but rarely rendered in such a satisfying form (and there are some rather dull suspense cues making up the balance of the run time). It is interesting to hear the composer [Giacchino] do something this gritty – he uses a dark orchestration style favouring the lower ranges almost exclusively with the flavour coming from some interesting textures [...] worth emphasising that the opening and closing tracks really are terrific and run 18 minutes between them – and there’s enough in between them to make this easy to recommend to Giacchino enthusiasts – it’s just not quite what it could be."[15]
Bad Times at the El Royale (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
editTrack listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)" |
| The Four Preps | 2:28 |
| 2. | "Twenty-Five Miles" | Edwin Starr | 3:21 | |
| 3. | "Bend Me, Shape Me" | The American Breed | 2:13 | |
| 4. | "He's a Rebel" | Gene Pitney | Alana Da Fonseca | 2:53 |
| 5. | "I Got a Feeling" | Holland–Dozier–Holland | Four Tops | 3:04 |
| 6. | "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" | Frankie Valli | 3:22 | |
| 7. | "Bernadette" | Holland–Dozier–Holland | Four Tops | 3:03 |
| 8. | "He's Sure the Boy I Love" | The Crystals | 2:45 | |
| 9. | "The Letter" | Wayne Carson | The Box Tops | 1:54 |
| 10. | "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)" | John Phillips | The Mamas & the Papas | 3:26 |
| 11. | "Baby, I Love You" | Tommy Roe | 2:39 | |
| Total length: | 31:08 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12. | "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" | Holland–Dozier–Holland | Cynthia Erivo | 3:03 |
| 13. | "Hold On, I'm Comin'" | Cynthia Erivo | 2:47 | |
| Total length: | 36:58 | |||
Charts
edit| Chart (2018) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Compilation Albums (OCC)[16] | 74 |
| UK Soundtrack Albums (OCC)[17] | 30 |
| US Billboard 200[18] | 107 |
| US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard)[19] | 19 |
Bad Times at the El Royale (Original Motion Picture Score)
editTrack listing
edit| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Suite at the El Royale" | 7:52 |
| 2. | "A Room with an Entrez-Vous" | 0:55 |
| 3. | "Let the Spieling Begin" | 1:54 |
| 4. | "Rough Around the Ledger" | 3:04 |
| 5. | "It’s Ms. You to You" | 1:40 |
| 6. | "Mirror Mortals" | 2:36 |
| 7. | "When Push Comes to Hoover" | 1:46 |
| 8. | "Darlene-Eyed Monster" | 0:53 |
| 9. | "My Memory, My Memory" | 1:41 |
| 10. | "I Spy with My Little FBI" | 2:06 |
| 11. | "Sea You Again Soon" | 1:38 |
| 12. | "The Doors of Deception" | 2:38 |
| 13. | "Voyeur in so Much Trouble" | 6:05 |
| 14. | "Clingin’ in the Rain" | 6:54 |
| 15. | "A Bang up Robbery" | 3:08 |
| 16. | "You Can’t Flynn ’em All" | 1:09 |
| 17. | "Rose and Cons" | 2:39 |
| 18. | "A Blaze of Allegory" | 4:41 |
| 19. | "Billy Lee Is Not My Lover" | 3:12 |
| 20. | "Roulette the Chips Fall" | 6:53 |
| 21. | "The Wages of Flynn" | 1:15 |
| 22. | "Absolution Presents Itself" | 10:06 |
| Total length: | 74:45 | |
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Coggan, Devan (October 12, 2018). "How Bad Times at the El Royale found its retro soundtrack". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Tenreyro, Tatiana (January 1, 2019). "Why All Of Darlene's Songs In Bad Times at the El Royale Stuck With You After The Credits". Bustle. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
- ^ "Bad Times at the El Royale Score Album Details". Film Music Reporter. October 9, 2018. Archived from the original on March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ Jans, Steve (October 12, 2018). "Republic Records and 20th Century Fox release the Official Soundtrack Album for Bad Times at the El Royale". WithGuitars. Archived from the original on March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ "Bad Times at the El Royale Soundtrack Details". Film Music Reporter. October 11, 2018. Archived from the original on March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ "Bad Times at the El Royale (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Republic Records. October 12, 2018. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2021 – via Spotify.
- ^ a b Han, Karen (November 23, 2018). "One of the year's most overlooked movies just dropped one of the year's best soundtracks". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ Goldberg, Matt (October 15, 2018). "Drew Goddard on Bad Times at the El Royale and How He Came to That Ending". Collider. Archived from the original on March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^ Connick, Tom (October 11, 2018). "The cast and director of Bad Times at the El Royale talk film noir, Humphrey Bogart, Chris Hemsworth's chest and more". NME. Archived from the original on March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ Couch, Aaron (October 11, 2018). "How Bad Times at the El Royale Director Convinced Stars to Work for Less". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^ Jammer Medina, Joseph (September 28, 2018). "LRM Exclusive: Drew Goddard Incorporated Music Into The Script And On Set Of Bad Times at the El Royale". LRMonline. Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
- ^ Weintraub, Steve (August 29, 2018). "Drew Goddard on How Bad Times at the El Royale is His Love Letter to the Crime Thriller". Collider. Archived from the original on March 10, 2021. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
- ^ "Michael Giacchino to Score Drew Goddard's 'Bad Times at the El Royale'". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
- ^ Florio, Angelica (October 12, 2018). "The Bad Times at the El Royale Soundtrack Is Just As '60s-Cool As The Movie". Bustle. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
- ^ Southall, James (November 10, 2018). "Bad Times at the El Royale soundtrack review". Movie Wave. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
- ^ "Official Compilations Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
- ^ "Official Soundtrack Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
- ^ "Billboard 200 Chart for the week beginning November 2, 2018". Billboard. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
- ^ "Billboard Soundtrack Charts for the week beginning November 2, 2018". Billboard. Retrieved February 13, 2022.