Don't Look Up (soundtrack)

Britell said that each of his project was a tonal experiment and Don't Look Up was the most challenging as "it had to be a mixture of tones, incredibly comedic and at the same time it had to be about the existential crisis of the planet".[7] After going through the initial prospects of the script, he was asked to write a piece of music played onset — especially for the planned telescope sequence where Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) and Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) discover the comet.[8] Britell wrote the demo titled "Overture to Logic and Knowledge" as an ode to science, where he conceived the piece as feeling "almost like looking at Earth from above. There’s a sense of remove." But while including this piece in the climatic sequence when both Mindy, Dibiasky and company at their last supper before the comet strikes, it sounded like a requiem for humanity, which Britell felt it "heartbreaking" when the cue was juxtaposed in the scene.[9][6]

The main theme is an "exciting up-tempo big-band piece" that consisted of various jazz players from London,[10] which was "something about capturing the chaos and craziness that needed to go to this heightened place. It’s bombastic but musically there’s a bit of melancholy."[11] Britell felt the mood of "being in World War II but about to lose" regarding how humans response for an extinction event ridiculously, which inspired a World War II-era ensemble music but multiple instruments being used,[7] as "There’s a brashness to the frequency of this film and the music had to convey or resonate with that."[9]

The musical score featured the widest range of instrumentation: full string orchestra, brass, woodwinds, flutes, harps, celestas, pianos, toy piano, half a dozen saxophones (including bass sax), farfisa organ, and large bass synthesizers.[7] A piece written for the film "The Call" — was played when both characters are on the phone with NASA — became the key to crack the musical code. It consisted of odd instruments in a clash of musical sounds and vocals escalating in intensity, Britell said "It’s the moment where we go from the world that we think we live in to the world that we actually live in. A comet is coming and we will follow the science. But politics intervenes. We had to turn up the dial from the ‘OMG a comet’s coming!’ to what was going to happen next."[7] While working on the film's score, Hurricane Ida hit Britell's house causing the roof to break in, explaining his experience on the score composition, saying:[7]

"The water was pouring down and I told Adam, ‘Trust me: I feel anxious.’ I literally screamed into the microphone over the piece. I pitched my voice up an octave and ran it through some tape filters, woven into the track. I’m humming the main theme, but I’m also screaming multiples of me on top of itself. That is harmony and cacophony, almost like a losing-your-mind kind of feeling."[7]

The theme surrounding Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance) and his BASH company had an electronic vibe that highlighted celestas, toy piano, farfisa organ, and strange synth sounds, reflecting both science and power.[7] He said "One of the greatest values I think score can provide to a film is that sense of cohesion, if everything is linked. In this case, the link was actually a story point, which was the fact that BASH Communications' tentacles were everywhere ... You’re feeling this sort of psychotic jingle all the time." In a sequence where, Isherwell presents his pitch to the President of the United States Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep) on breaking the comet into smaller comets for business, Britell soared the music "a level of seriousness that is so grandiloquent" to be much obvious on the joke. He called his friend and soloist Tim Fain, and said "I have a really, really virtuosic, cadenza-like violin solo I want you to do. There’s a male choir, women’s choir, full orchestra, brass, and then you have this huge descant violin line on top. That one’s completely over the top," for which he agreed.[9]

He also wrote tunes for various commercials, hold music, ringtones within the film, and theme music for "The Daily Rip" — the fictional talk show, which was not "goofing" but made subconsciously. In addition to the score, Britell also co-wrote two original songs: "Just Look Up" a song performed by Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi on-camera,[4] along with Taura Stinson, was a combination of "love song and rallying cry for action".[11][12] "Second Nature" written by Justin Vernon and performed by his band Bon Iver was included in the end credits.[9][11]

Music critic Jonathan Broxton wrote "Britell’s way of tackling this difficult subject matter to be intellectually fulfilling and musically enjoyable. Satire is a challenging genre for composers; you can’t undercut or undersell the points that the film is trying to make – both serious and comedic – but you also can’t completely telegraph the joke by playing it solely for laughs, as then you run the risk of not conveying the serious aspect of the story to the audience. Britell has successfully walked that tonal tightrope, and considering that the film itself is appealing to the left-leaning members of the industry, looks likely to snag an Oscar nomination."[13] Anton Smit of Soundtrack World wrote "Nicholas Britell’s music is a fantastic match for this movie. Writing music for a comedy with such a satirical dark undertone can be a challenge. Britell’s approach to it by writing a semi-serious score was the perfect solution. In addition, not only are the themes Britell has created wonderful on their own, he was also able to transform them beautifully into music to match the scenes."[14]

Nicholas Britell