Day 1 (Darkest Hour), Day 2 (James Ivory, Mudbound, A Fantastic Woman) in case you missed them, Day 3 (Last Flag Flying)
Ann Hornaday and Greta Gerwig talk after a screening of Lady Bird. photo src
The last moments of Middleburg were a blissful blur that it's taken me a week to recover from. Before I left the splendor of the country at this under-the-radar festival in Virginia, I managed to attend three more events.
Lady Bird
I caught some of Lady Bird again (one viewing is definitely not enough). Just enough to give me that rush of pre-college feels again before meeting one-on-one with Greta Gerwig. We'll share that interview next week as Lady Bird begins its theatrical release. Gerwig is such a singular actress that we don't want her to give that up (please never leave our screens!) but it's a joy to know that she writes and directs just as beautifully.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Since Middleburg largely takes place at a single resort, there are several panels and discussions in their coziest event space. The last on the menu was a discussion about the forthcoming miniseries The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story which is the second season of that anthology series which began with the Emmy-winning The People Vs Oj Simpson...
A correction: though it billed itself as a preview of the series it was in actuality a discussion with the reporter/author Maureen Orth about her non-fiction book "Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History". Orth was an expert on Cunanan before he took the life of the famous fashion designer so she was in the right place at the right time to write that bestseller. Her book served as an inspiration for the series. Her talk was mostly focused on Cunanan but she suspects the miniseries, which she hasn't seen yet, will lean more heavily on the Versace elements of his killing spree than her book does since they're obviously the public fascination. One interesting note: she will be seeing the series before it premieres and it's in her contract that she can withdraw her name from the project if she doesn't like what they've done with it! So theoretically it could go from "adapted from the book by..." to just "screenplay by Tom Rob Smith". (For what it's worth Tom Rob Smith wrote the excellent BBC miniseries London Spy so there's reason to hope this miniseries will be great.)
Nicholas Britell - Distinguished Composer Award
The highlight of the final hours of Middleburg was, by a huge margin, an orchestral concert of the work of film composer Nicholas Britell. These concerts have been a tradition of Middleburg since their inception and it's quite a calling card for the fest since it's so unique. Each year they have a symphony in the Salamander Resort's ballroom performing the work of the composer guest of honor. This year it was the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra made up mosty of high school and college age musicians. Britell took over the piano duties on a couple of numbers but mostly the piano playing was by a young man named Chase Roberts; he's only 14!
I'll admit that I wasn't familiar with Britell before his Oscar nomination for Moonlight but as it turns out I'd been impressed with his work before that without even knowing it. He composed the violin pieces that Chiwetel Ejiofor pretended to play in 12 Years a Slave (2013) though the movie's score was Hans Zimmer. Britell has two chief muses who were the soloists at the concert. First is the violinist Tim Fain who was the "voice" of Ejiofor's violin in that Best Picture winner. You can also hear him on the soundtracks to Black Swan, Bee Season, and Moonlight. The second muse is Brittel's wife, Caitlin Sullivan, who is a celebrated cellist. It's unsurprising to notice how string-heavy his work tends to be as a result.
In between each piece, Britell discussed his inspirations and told anecdotes from the making of those movies which made for a highly enjoyable evening, not just an beautifully melodious one. Of special interest was the complicated directives composers give on a movie (director's rarely know how to talk about music so they're always looking for a feeling they can't quite describe) and learning how crucial Barry Jenkins' ear was on the Moonlight score. Britell had imagined something entirely different and more simplistically optimistic during the movie's famous swimming lesson scene but Jenkins pushed him to make things darker and stormier. Britell was also encouraged to experiment with chopping and screwing -- hip hop musical techniques -- his otherwise classical score.
Moonlight isn't his only major credit. Britell is a friend of Natalie Portman's (they went to college together) so she tapped him to compose the score for her debut feature A Tale of Love and Darkness. His other feature credits include The Big Short (2015), Free State of Jones (2016), and Battle of the Sexes (2017). The latter sounds amazingly complex when you hear it performed live. Next year he's got the composing gig for that female heist spectacular Oceans Eight.
If you ever get to Middleburg, do not miss this annual event. I have no idea who the composer will be next year or what film it will be programmed against but I'll be going whether or not the composer is a favorite.
We hope you enjoyed our Middleburg coverage this year!