David Kitay creates world's first retrograde reverse score for Darwin Awards

By: Randall Larson
Date: Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Composer David Kitay has scored DARWIN AWARDS for writer/director Finn Taylor. The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this Wednesday, January 25 at 6pm at the Eccles Theatre. In addition, Kitay will take part in Music & Film: The Creative Process, a roundtable discussion featuring composers and directors Wednesday, Jan 25 at Sundance house at The Kimball Art Center. Showing remarkable innovation and creativity, Kitay created the score for DARWIN AWARDS as the world's first retrograde reverse score, wherein the music was performed backwards and digitally reversed to play forwards, so the notes sound reversed even though they are accurate.

In addition, Sundance will premiere ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, Kitay's latest for United Artists and director Terry Zwigoff. The film, starring Max Minghella, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent and Anjelica Huston, will premiere at Sundance on Monday, January 23 at the Eccles Theatre and open wide in February.

After solidifying his reputation in the teen genre with hit movies like CLUELESS, CAN'T HARDLY WAIT, SCARY MOVIE, HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE and DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR?, Kitay has expanded his repertoire to include black comedies like BAD SANTA and GHOST WORLD (the latter two films both for ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL director Terry Zwigoff. DARWIN AWARDS is another in a series of adult-oriented, off-beat films Kitay has done for a variety of innovative directors.

DARWIN AWARDS, a dark comedy, is inspired by the award of the same name that "salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who accidentally kill themselves in really stupid ways." In the film, a forensic detective and an insurance claims investigator trek to investigate a potential winner. DARWIN AWARDS boasts an impressive ensemble cast that includes Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, Juliette Lewis, Julianna Margulies, David Arquette, Chris Penn and Wilmer Valderrama.

Late last year, Kitay had Harold Ramis' THE ICE HARVEST in theaters, and he has completed scores for RELATIVE STRANGERS, starring Ron Livingston, and John Cosgrove's comedy ensemble CAFFEINE, both set for release this year.

Among other honors, David has received four prestigious BMI awards, several for his scores for the hit TV series Mad About You. In addition to scoring, David has produced records for such artists as Bonnie Raitt, Rickie Lee Jones, Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram.

http://davidkitay.net/  

Cinescape's Music News provides weekdaily news and views on film music, progressive rock, and other notable musical genres, culled from a variety of sources.