Trumbo

LAKESHORE RECORDS PRESENTS TRUMBO - ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK Featuring Original Score By Theodore Shapiro

(September 24, 2015 - Los Angeles, CA) – Lakeshore Records will release the TRUMBO – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally and on CD November 6, 2015. The album features the film’s original score by Theodore Shapiro (THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY, ST. VINCENT) and classic tracks from Big Jay McNeely and Billie Holiday. TRUMBO received its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and Bleecker Street will release the film in theaters on November 6.

“I had a strong sense of what I wanted the score to sound like but I didn’t know of any other scores that were similar,” said Shapiro, who initially received select scenes from the film before it had been ‘temped’ with anyone else’s music.


The successful career of 1940s screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) comes to a crushing end when he and other Hollywood figures are blacklisted for their political beliefs. TRUMBO (directed by Jay Roach) tells the story of his fight against the U.S. government and studio bosses in a war over words and freedom, which entangled everyone in Hollywood from Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) and John Wayne to Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger.

“I wanted the score to refer to the musical language of the period while having a modern sensibility,” Shapiro described. “I wanted to avoid writing a period score that would make the film feel purely historical, and therefore cut off from feeling contemporary and immediate. I didn’t want it to be overly polite. So without having a cut of the movie to work with, I sat down and wrote a suite of music based on what I hoped would work. Jay loved it, and the suite formed the foundation of the TRUMBO score.”

Theodore Shapiro studied music, wrote a musical about a cryogenically frozen head, and played in a neo-disco band called God at Brown University, and then received a Master’s degree in composition from The Juilliard School. Following Juilliard he began both scoring films and writing commissions for the concert hall, including works performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, New York Chamber Symphony, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

After scoring some notable independent films in New York, including Karyn Kusama’s GIRLFIGHT, and David Mamet’s HEIST and STATE AND MAIN, Shapiro was hired to score the hit comedy OLD SCHOOL for director Todd Phillips. He has since become one of Hollywood’s most sought after composers.

His recent film work includes SPY, directed by Paul Feig and starring Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Jude Law and Jason Statham; THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (for which he won an International Film Music Critics Award); Ted Melfi’s directorial debut, ST. VINCENT, starring Bill Murray; the critically acclaimed Sundance Film Festival entry INFINITELY POLAR BEAR, and the hit comedy WE’RE THE MILLERS. He was nominated for an Emmy for his score to the HBO film, GAME CHANGE. Other notable work includes the Ben Stiller-directed action-comedy TROPIC THUNDER; MARLEY AND ME, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, I LOVE YOU, MAN; and the Oscar-nominated animated film, THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS. Next up for Shapiro is THE INTERN, directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway; ZOOLANDER 2, starring and directed by Ben Stiller; and the Paul Feig-directed reboot of GHOSTBUSTERS, starring Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig.

“Throughout the score I used dense clusters of harmony, useful both for their tonal complexity and subtle evocation of jazz harmonies,” Shapiro explained. “The main theme of TRUMBO is a simple and haunting theme played on the piano, with dark block chords in the bass and a droning texture of low saxes and electronically manipulated cello. It speaks both to Trumbo’s character and also to the toll exacted by the blacklist— the lives ruined, and the principles of the country compromised.”

TRUMBO was directed by Jay Roach, written by John McNamara and produced by Michael London, Janice Williams, Shivani Rawat, Monica Levinson, Nimitt Mankad, John McNamara and Kevin Kelly Brown. It is a production of Groundswell Productions and ShivHans Pictures and will be released by Bleecker Street.

Track Listing
01. Eighty Words a Minute - Theodore Shapiro
02. Curriculum Vitae - Theodore Shapiro
03. Prologue - Theodore Shapiro
04. Contempt Of Congress - Theodore Shapiro
05. Trumbo Goes To Prison - Theodore Shapiro
06. Ping Pong - Theodore Shapiro
07. Family Business - Theodore Shapiro
08. Hedda Threatens Mayer - Theodore Shapiro
09. Buddy’s Dilemma - Theodore Shapiro
10. A Letter From Prison - Theodore Shapiro
11. Eddie Names Names - Theodore Shapiro
12. A Script For The Kings - Theodore Shapiro
13. Family Reunion - Theodore Shapiro
14. Pool Of Garbage - Theodore Shapiro
15. Scripts Montage - Theodore Shapiro
16. Willie the Cool Cat - Big Jay McNeely
17. The Mexican Script - Theodore Shapiro
18. Benzedrine - Theodore Shapiro
19. No Bullies - Theodore Shapiro
20. Who Is Robert Rich? - Theodore Shapiro
21. The Credit - Theodore Shapiro
22. So I Rage - Theodore Shapiro
23. Who Gets To Be Proud - Theodore Shapiro
24. The Blacklist Is Alive - Theodore Shapiro
25. It’s Over - Theodore Shapiro
26. It’s A Fine Picture - Theodore Shapiro
27. The Elephant in the Room - Theodore Shapiro
28. Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do - Billie Holiday

Lakeshore Records will release the TRUMBO – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on and on CD November 6, 2015.