Music - My friend Dahmer : our Andrew Hollander ‘s interview is now online

By Mulder, Los Angeles, 10 november 2017

Q: Hi Andrew please can you tell us some words about your musical backgrounds ?

Andrew Hollander : Sure. I started playing piano when I was around 12. I played in bands all through high school and then I went to college to study with Yusef Lateef. It was at that time that I started composing a lot, studying orchestration, and really being exposed to all kinds of different music. Once I graduated I moved to NYC, got hired to score a low budget indie film by a great director who had just come out of NYU and it was an awesome experience. I was totally hooked. At the same time I started writing and producing different artists which I also loved. That really set me on the path to both score films and be a songwriter/producer.

Q: we are some Carly Rae Jepsen’s huge fans. Please can you talk a little about your collaboration with her on the animated film Ballerinafor the song Runaways?

Andrew Hollander : Carly Rae was great to work with, incredibly talented. It was really a quick session. We wrote and recorded the song in one afternoon...it all just clicked.

Q: During the Deauville film festival last September and recently in the San Diego Film Festival we have discover the movie My Friend Dahmer. Could you speak about your collaboration with Marc Meyers?

Andrew Hollander : Marc had a very clear vision that the film was not a horror film, but rathera coming of age story about someone who later turns out to be a serial killer. This really informed a lot of the score because I had to be sure to always be in the present moment that Jeffrey was in and not jump ahead. It was all about creating this really subtle psychological unease.

Q: You work as a composer, a songwriter and a record producer. Which part do you prefer and why?

Andrew Hollander : I love them all.

Q: What kind of instruments do you play and which one is your favorite?

Andrew Hollander : I play piano and all kinds of keyboard instruments. I play a little bit of other stuff too, guitar, drums, etc.

Q: The My Friend Dahmer score is a minimalistic and haunting affair, pulling from the growing alcoholism and murderous urges of a young monster. How have you created the score of this film?

Andrew Hollander : I took a very minimal approach. I created the score with a couple of analog synths blended with some acoustic instruments that I processed and treated until the original instrument(s) was unrecognizable. Aside from a few cues that have a little bit of electric piano most of the score is a subtle dark soundscape. There are very subtle shifts in tone and sound to lean certain scenes a little darker or a little lighter where necessary. I wanted to create a sense of unease that was just beneath the surface.

Q: Where is your favorite place to record movie scores?

Andrew Hollander : I record most of my scores at my studio in NYC. I have a live room that sounds really great so anything short of a full orchestra I love to record here. If it's a full orchestra session then working in Studio A at Avatar is always an amazing experience.

Q: How involved are you with the directors, when you collaborated with them on their films?

Andrew Hollander : Very involved. It's my job to help bring their vision to life so the more I understand how they want the film to feel the better. One of the greatest parts of composing for film is how collaborative a process it is.

Q: what must be for you a great score ?

Andrew Hollander : It varies from film to film. At the end of the day, if the film connects with people then the score is working. If it makes people feel something and enables them to be totally immersed in another world for a couple of hours then the score is working. It's one piece of a giant puzzle and when a film is truly great all of the pieces are fitting together just right.

Q: Are there some directors will you dream to work with ?

Andrew Hollander : Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, David Lynch, Sofia Coppola, to name a few.

Q: Which are your favorite French directors and would you like to work with them ?

Andrew Hollander : Luc Besson, Sylvain Chomet, Xavier Beauvois are some of my favorites and I would welcome the opportunity to work with any one of them.

Q: Which movies have you seen recently in some movie theaters and that you really like ?

Andrew Hollander : I haven't had a chance to see many movies lately. I saw "Lion", I know that's now so new anymore : ), which I thought was a beautiful film. I also recently saw "Nocturnal Animals" (also, not new, I know : ) which I really liked. I have a list of films I want to see though. Oh, and I've just been watching the new Twin Peaks series which is amazing.

Q: what are your current projects ?

Andrew Hollander : I'm currently scoring a really great documentary called "It's A Hard Truth, Ain't It". I'll be in the studio later this month working with Christina Perri. And I recently co-wrote a song called "My Addiction" with UK artist Adam French. It just came out this week on Virgin EMI.

Select Filmography:
My Friend Dahmer (FilmRise)
A Girl And A Gun (First Run Features)
Sleepwalk with Me (IFC Films)
An Invisible Sign (Kimmel International/IFC Films)
Meet Monica Velour (Anchor Bay Entertainment)
Serious Moonlight (Magnolia Pictures)
Labor Pains (First Look Pictures/ABC Family)
Waitress (Fox Searchlight)

Synopsis: A young Jeffrey Dahmer struggles to belong in high school.

My Friend Dahmer
Directed by Marc Meyers
Produced by Jody Girgenti, Marc Meyers, Adam Goldworm, Michael Merlob, Milan Chakraborty
Screenplay by Marc Meyers
Based on My Friend Dahmer, by Derf
Starring Ross Lynch, Alex Wolff, Dallas Roberts, Anne Heche
Music by Andrew Hollander
Cinematography : Daniel Katz
Edited by : Jamie Kirkpatrick
Production company : Ibid Filmworks, Aperture Entertainment
Distributed by FilmRise
Release date : November 3, 2017 (United States)

We sincerely thank Andrew Hollander for answering our questions
An huge thanks to Molly McIsaac for helping us to have this great interview