Los Angeles, CA. (Top40 Charts/ CineMedia Promotions) Lakeshore Records will release The
Queen of Versailles - Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack digitally on Tuesday, July 3, 2012. The album features original score by Jeff Beal (Pollock, Appaloosa).
For the documentary, The
Queen of Versailles, composer Jeff Beal enhances the aspirational lifestyle, and the impact of the economic crisis on the Siegel family, with his original music. The score incorporates a classical, chamber music sensibility, reflecting the baroque time period and ambience of the original Versailles. The music features a full orchestra with many melodic themes, trumpet flourishes, and grandiose moments. As the film progresses, as director
Lauren Greenfield delves more deeply into the lives of Jackie and
David Siegel, the music takes on a more intimate and thoughtful approach. A solo horn or cello underscores a sense of loss.
"What we (Jeff and I) talked about was glorifying the good life and then seeing what happens," said Greenfield. She and Beal used her original Wagnerian temp score as a springboard. "In the beginning there's a montage that's like The Fabulous Life Of. When I was at the Sundance Lab, the temp score we had was Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. I loved it and thought about keeping it in, but there was something objectifying about it. Jeff uses a waltz that later gets deconstructed, which gives a real baroque over-the-top quality which is also sort of regal. He brought a humanism to the music and an empathy."
The importance of Greenfield's approach in eliciting the audience's compassion, rather than judgment or disdain towards the Siegel family, was enhanced by Beal's music. Jeff Beal is well known for his intimate and humanistic scores, often bringing a musical life to artistic films.
Said Beal, "Seeing Lauren's amazing telling of the Seigal Family story in The
Queen of Versailles suggested a very unique music puzzle to solve. Her poetic use of photography and her ability to capture the most fascinating moments of both excess and honesty gave me the chance to explore the intersection of the grand musical gesture with the more intimate. Since my days as a trumpeter I've been fascinated by the Baroque period of music, and the chance to use this as a springboard for some of the score in The
Queen of Versailles was a real treat."
Emmy Award winning composer Jeff Beal is a member of a new generation of eclectic composers. Beal's compositions can be heard in movie theaters, concert halls, CD recordings and on television. As a film composer, Beal scored Ed Harris' critically acclaimed directorial debut, Pollock, and his next film, Appaloosa. Other TV and film scores include No Good Deed,
William H. Macy's acclaimed Door to Door, The
Passion of Ayn Rand, From the Earth to the Moon (episode 9), the theme and underscore for USA's hit series, Monk, and ABC's Ugly Betty.
Beal's other documentary scoring credits include Tibet: Cry Of The Snow Lion, initiated by the Dalai Lama, which chronicles the history and religious life of Tibet. He has collaborated on several projects with Academy Award winning director
Jessica Yu including her feature length documentary, In the Realms of the Unreal, as well as Last Call at the Oasis. Beal has received several Emmy Awards for music including NBC Sports division's documentary, Peggy and Dorothy, as well as Monk.
With the epic dimensions of a Shakespearean tragedy, The
Queen of Versailles follows billionaires Jackie and
David Siegel's rags-to-riches story to uncover the innate virtues and flaws of the American dream. We open on the triumphant construction of the biggest house in America, a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot mansion inspired by Versailles. Since a booming time-share business built on the real-estate bubble is financing it, the economic crisis brings progress to a halt and seals the fate of its owners. We witness the impact of this turn of fortune over the next two years in a riveting film fraught with delusion, denial, and self-effacing humor.
Magnolia Pictures presents The
Queen of Versailles, in theaters on July 20, 2012. The
Queen of Versailles - Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack from Lakeshore Records will be available digitally on July 3, 2012.
