Nick Cave has named the new Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde as his favourite ever film, although he may be a little biased.
The musician was asked by a fan to name his favourite film of all time on his The Red Hand Files website. And while he’s usually prone to lengthy and poetic answers (see his recent thoughts on ‘the point in life’ for an example), this time he was very succinct: “Blonde. Love, Nick,” he wrote back.
Cave, of course, was involved in the Blonde production, making the film’s soundtrack alongside longtime collaborator Warren Ellis.
Based on Joyce Carol Oates’ fictionalised account of the legendary star’s life, Blonde is now out on Netflix, but reviews have been extremely polarising, with director Andrew Dominik receiving a lot of criticism.
For her portrayal of Monroe, Ana de Armas has earned rave reviews, while Cave and Ellis’ music has also been well-received, with the pair creating a soundtrack filled with beautiful strings and sparse piano that offer the tense backdrop to Monroe’s tragic life in the film (listen below).
“Working with Andrew Dominik is always a challenging, but ultimately mind-blowing experience,” Cave and Ellis said. “Creating the score for this terrifying and complex reimagining of the Marilyn Monroe story was no different and, as always, it was a complete privilege to work with him. The darkest of films with a gorgeous spiritual score.”
It’s not the first time Dominik has tapped the pair to create the soundtrack for one of his films, with Cave and Ellis making a memorable score for the director’s 2006 Western masterpiece The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
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Cave also recently shared a previously unseen performance of the Bad Seeds track ‘Earthlings’. The footage was originally shot for This Much I Know to Be True, the recent film that documented Cave and Warren Ellis’ powerful creative partnership as they brought tracks from their last two albums, Ghosteen and Carnage, to life.
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