Finneas on Scoring ‘Disclaimer’ For Alfonso Cuarón – ‘I Didn’t Know How to Score For a String Quartet, So, I Had to Learn’

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Finneas, an Oscar-winning composer and acclaimed songwriter, often creates music for films. He won Oscars alongside his famous sister Billie Eilish in 2024 for “No Time to Die” from the James Bond movie and “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie.” Finneas has also earned Grammys and enjoys a solo career, while collaborating with Eilish on multiplatinum hits. However, when it came to composing music for AppleTV+’s limited series “Disclaimer,” the show’s creator and director Alfonso Cuarón desired something fresh from him.

Even though Finneas boasted an impressive career without having scored TV work, director Cuarón was a fan of his music. During the filming process, Finneas was involved, but it wasn’t until post-production that the real work started. “He sent me a collection of music he admired as examples,” Finneas explained, “and most of them were string quartets. I was taken aback, thinking ‘I don’t know how to compose for a string quartet,’ so I had to learn quickly.

The seven-episode series features Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The show centers around Catherine Ravenscroft (Blanchett), an accomplished journalist known for exposing wrongdoings, who finds herself shocked when she discovers that she is the protagonist in a novel written by an unknown author, which reveals her hidden flaws and secrets to the world.

Finneas initially composed the music, and subsequently invited composer David Campbell to transcribe, arrange, and partition what Finneas had created – as Finneas is unfamiliar with writing sheet music. It was Campbell who suggested the Attacca Quartet, and given that Cuarón has a penchant for string quartets, he was already acquainted with this esteemed group of musicians.

When dealing with the score, Finneas observes that many of Cuarón’s films, such as “Roma” and “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” typically lack a score. As a result, a ‘less is more’ strategy seemed fitting. He explains, “There are extensive montage scenes, like the water rescue, where we knew the drive of music would be crucial, and there are instances where the music serves as a sort of inner dialogue for the character.

In Episode 7, we learn about Catherine’s tragic past. It turns out that the man she met on vacation and saved her son from drowning, Jonathan, later entered her room and violently attacked her. Alfonso Cuarón shared a chilling piece of music with Finneas for this scene, describing it as “a super eerie fit” given the revelation that the events leading to Catherine’s life’s ruin were false. With this revelation, all the melodious background music used earlier in the story needed to change to reflect the new, darker narrative.

In terms of melodies, he presented Catherine with a cello motif noticeable in Episode 1’s opening. Additionally, he composed a collection of pieces for their family. Interestingly, Catherine’s son Nicholas (Smit-McPhee) predominantly listens to hip-hop genres like rap, grime, and drill. This contrasts with the rest of the music as it features a blend of cello melodies combined with synths that are also heard in [husband] Robert’s (Sacha Baron Cohen)’s compositions.

In other places, he developed various motifs, such as one centered around love between Steven (portrayed by Kevin Kline) and his deceased wife Nancy (played by Lesley Manville). This theme is depicted through flashbacks.

Regarding his TV scoring work, Finneas shared that it wasn’t done sequentially. Instead, he worked on themes from Episode 6 and then jumped to Episode 2, and sometimes even skipped ahead or went back, a process he found rewarding.

He mentions, “Should I return to TV work, I’d certainly like the opportunity to replicate that experience as it’s quite attractive to approach it in that manner.

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2025-06-01 23:16