by Nathaniel R
Photo by Timothée Lambrecq
Tragic news: The gifted Icelandic film composer Jóhann Jóhannson, who lived in Berlin, died on Friday at only 48 years of age. The cause of his death is not yet known...
I first heard his work in the fine 2006 Icelandic drama Thicker than Water and he became one of my favorite composers. His work was experimental, often mixing electronic elements with more traditional instrumentation, and his scores always sounded best with a films that were concerned with soundscapes (which is probably why he was such a favorite of Denis Villeneuve). He was nominated here first for Prisoners and took the gold medal for Sicario and a bronze for Arrival.
Jóhannsson congratulating Alexandre Desplat (Grand Budapest Hotel) at the Oscars
He was one of Hollywood's most in demand composers. Oscar liked him, too with nominations for both The Theory of Everything and Sicario. In his short career he also won both the Golden Horse Award (for Lou Ye's film Mystery) and the Golden Globe (Theory of Everything). This year he consulted on the amazing soundscape of Darren Aronofsky's mother!. His filmography will sadly not grow but for four film scores completed for films that have yet to be released in the US: the Hungarian picture The Butcher the Whore and the One Armed Man, the Nicolage Cage led indie thriller Mandy (which debuted at Sundance), the British sailing picture The Mercy starring Colin Firth, and Garth Davis's next picture with Rooney Mara as Mary Magdalene.
We may have four more Jóhannson scores to be enthralled but this is a terrible loss to cinema (it seemed he was just hitting his stride). Our condolescences go out to his family and other fans. If you loved Jóhannsson's work I recommend this essay on his gift at The Guardian.