THE BEST OF TASTY CLIPS: Composer Michael Abels scores big with ‘Behemoth!,’ ‘Hope’
By Bill Vaughan
Entertainment Writer
While on the red carpet of the Toronto International Film Festival interviewing MICHAEL ABELS for his work on the period biopic “Chevalier,” the USC grad who has been Jordan Peele’s go-to composer (“Get Out,” “Us,” “Nope”) gave Tasty Clips a narrative preview of his opus “Omar,” which had its world premiere at Charleston’s renowned Spoleto Festival, which was later presented by the LA Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
“It tells the story of Omar ibn Said who was kidnapped in Senegal, enslaved, brought through the Middle Passage to the Carolinas in 1807,” said Abels about the opera he co-wrote with Grammy winner Rhiannon Giddens.
“He could read and write Arabic, and this was to his captors quite an interesting thing that he could do,” Abels said. “They tried to convert him to Christianity, and they got him to write his life story. An autobiography which is now in the Library of Congress because it’s one of the first-person narratives of an enslaved person ever.”
“What people didn’t realize is that he never really converted to Christianity. It’s hidden in his autobiography,” Abels added. “So, if you’re someone who knows the Quran, you realize that he never converts. I promise anyone who doesn’t even like opera or know anything about it, will enjoy it.”
Abels was not alone in that sentiment as the work was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
When discussing last working with Peele, he reminded that “Nope” exists in this intersection between family drama, and terrifying alien encounter, and action adventure and Hollywood western.
“It’s a little bit of all those things,” he said, “and Jordan is a master of cultural references. So, he’s really good about knowing exactly which one to ping in. I just love being his musical collaborator and helping him instigate these cultural references.”
“But ‘Nope’ is also about our addiction to spectacle,” Abels said. “And how we are excited by things that may not be good for us or safe. And so you see that in different characters and their attraction to the unknown.”
As for what the acclaimed director could be up to as a follow-up, he says, “I’m available to Jordan whenever he calls, but I have no idea what’s in that man’s mind. I’m sure a lot of things.”
In the meantime, Abels has provided scores to feature films “Landscape with Invisible Hand” starring Tiffany Haddish, William Jackson Harper (“Love Life“) and Asante Blackk (“When They See Us”) and “The American Society of Magical Negroes” with David Alan Grier.
Additionally, the co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, “an advocacy group to increase visibility of composers of color in film, gaming and streaming media” can count TV series “The Acolyte” and “The ‘Burbs” among his growing credits.
This year, the Phoenix, Arizona-born Abels’ musical gifts can be heard in two motion pictures of differing genres.
Tony Gilroy’s “Behemoth!,” starring Pedro Pascal as a famous cellist from a musical family who returns to Los Angeles, will have its world premiere as a Centerpiece selection of the 64th New York Film Festival.
Korean writer-director Na Hong-jin’s highly anticipated “Hope,” described as a madcap spectacle inspired by Peele, Stephen Spielberg and Tex Avery cartoons, marks a return to horror for Abels. Featuring Taylor Russell (“Escape Room”) and Michael Fassbender, it is playing at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival before arriving in theaters Sept. 9.
For 12 years, Bill Vaughan has kept Wave readers up to date with the latest news in entertainment. To contact Vaughan, visit his social media pages on Facebook and Instagram or @tasty_clips, on X @tastyclips, and on LinkedIn to William Vaughan.
