Isaac Ezban’s Parallel has screened everywhere from Frightfest to Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival. Vertical Entertainment is now bringing the sci-fi thriller to select theaters and VOD December 11th, 2020. In case you aren’t familiar with the film’s plot, it reads: A group of friends stumble upon a mirror that serves as a portal to a “multiverse”, but soon discover that importing knowledge from the other side in order to better their lives brings increasingly dangerous consequences. The film stars Martin Wallström (Mr. Robot), Aml Ameen (I May Destroy You), Kathleen Quinlan (Apollo 13), Georgia King (Devs) and Mark O’Brien (Ready or Not). Ahead of the release, we spoke with the film’s composer Edy Lan about his process for creating the Parallel score, for which he describes as “An amalgamation of modern elements and classic scoring”. Read the exclusive interview below.
How did you get involved with Parallel? At what point were you brought on?
I’ve been a longstanding collaborator of Isaac Ezban, the director of the film. Additionally, one of the producers, Garrick Dion had watched The Similars, Isaac’s previous film which is a love letter to the sci fi of the 50’s and 60’s and was impressed with the score. I was officially brought into the project after shooting was completed and started working on it after the edit was mostly done.
How would you describe your score for the film?
I think it’s an amalgamation of modern elements and classic scoring, which I think runs in my blood. The tone and size were important, not too big and classic but not completely lacking in thematic material. My minimalist influence is there, but also has a bit of a Hitchcockian vibe to it. It’s scored for pianos, electronics and processed sounds and a smaller sized string orchestra.
What sort of research did you do before starting work on Parallel? Did you create a sound palate for the film?
I watched a lot of the films Isaac, Garrick and I had talked about. From De Palma to Moon and Midnight Special. We knew that tonally it was a challenge and yes, I spent quite a bit of time developing the sound palette. Processing and sampling sounds and deciding on the string section alone. There’s some electric cello as well and some interesting solo violin bowing.
How involved was Isaac Ezban, the director, with the scoring process? Did he have a clear idea what he wanted the score to sound like or did he give you a little more freedom to experiment?
Isaac is a director who always gets very involved as he really believes music is EXTREMELY important in his films. He’s also someone who’s really knowledgeable about film scores and different composers. At the same we are very open with each other and have tons of arguments and discussions which allows for a healthy back and forth. Simultaneously, as we’ve worked together multiple times, each time I think he has allowed more freedom. His view at first on Parallel was leaning even more into the classic (and big) scoring but he allowed me to propose a darker more contained approach (although there are definitely big moments) which in the end worked best.
Rich Goldberg, co-president of Vertical Entertainment says ,“Parallel is a film that blends genres — science fiction, horror, and even comedy — in a uniquely satisfying way.” Different genres can sometimes follow different formulas, score wise. Because Parallel blends multiple genres, did that make it more difficult/complicated to score?
Yes, that was the initial “battle” I fought. I was convinced that the score should sort of “even out” the genres and concentrate more on the full picture of what the story is at its core. So there was a lot of walking on the edge of drama and sci fi so to speak so as to not make a caricature of the genre blending. Ultimately this is “Pandora’s box” story, with what happens to then characters emotionally at its core.
A lot of people are referencing The Twilight Zone when discussing Parallel. You were a big fan of Bernard Hermann’s score for the series, was this a reference point for you during the composing process?
Both Isaac and I are Twilight Zone buffs which was always a point of agreement when we started working on his debut film The Incident back in 2014. We are both Bernard Herrmann enthusiasts to put it mildly. On Parallel we didn’t specifically discus Bernard Herrmann but to be completely honest, for me there’s no escaping especially when it comes to genre films as Hermann’s music created an extremely powerful imprint on me since I was a kid and I believe his influence is always apparent in my work while I do think is something I’ve internalized rather than copy and I’ve made it my own, I hope.
You live in the U.S. now, but was born and raised in Mexico City. Do you think your cultural background has influenced your musical approach? If so, how?
I think it has, simply because our culture deeply influences the way we see things in life and that always has an impact on our creations. On top of that the music to which I was exposed was very varied; we got all of the Anglo music and films on top of our own stories, idiosyncrasies and art. To finish it off, I’m also Jewish, in Mexico we are a tiny minority and I think that duality also informed my development as now that I’m in the US, being a minority is something I was already accustomed to. Finally, one other aspect is that we manage to do things in Mexico with budgetary constraints and all kinds of “red tapes” so we in general become quite resourceful and I think that’s something has influenced me as well in the sense that I, like many other Mexican artists who come to the US are uniquely prepared to deal with challenges.
Is there anything else you would like to tell people about your Parallel score?
I think if one listens carefully, they’ll see that the entire score is pretty much based on only two main musical ideas that get developed. That kind of thing is very important to me as a composer and I think it helps as a story telling device.
What are you currently working on?
I just finished scoring a horror film called The Containment and I’m starting on another film called Nomad. An album by Sergio Vallin, MANÁ’s guitarist which I co-produced and fully arranged for orchestra is coming out on December the 18th. It’s an instrumental album featuring guests such as Carlos Santana, Steve Vai, Alejandro Sanz and many others and it’s going be released in Dolby Atmos. I’m also arranging a few other songs for some artists and a few other projects.
You can learn more about Edy Lan at http://www.edy-lan.com/.
Many thanks to Edy Lan for taking the time for this interview.
