GUNS AKIMBO

Videogame developer Miles (Daniel Radcliffe) is a little too fond of stirring things up on the internet with his caustic, prodding, and antagonizing comments. One night, he makes the mistake of drunkenly dropping an inflammatory barb on a broadcast of Skizm, an illegal death-match fight club streamed live to the public. In response, Riktor (Ned Dennehy), the maniacal mastermind behind the channel, decides to force Miles' hand (or hands, as it were) and have him join the "fun." Miles wakes to find heavy pistols bolted into his bones, and learns Nix (Samara Weaving), the trigger-happy star of Skizm, is his first opponent. She's at his front door.

 

About the making of the music Enis Rotthoff says in his interview with Daniel Schweiger (Filmmusic Institute):

 

The film has so many layers. Miles, played by Daniel Radcliffe, experiences so many different things over the course of the film that I needed to both help the audience navigate in that world through Miles journey while also making it fun and refreshing at the same time.

 

I did not want to create a retro 80s score or a retro 90s score. I was more interested in how I could bring in pop cultural references from the last decades and mix up sounds into a weird mashup. For every film I try to create a musical language that supports the understanding of the film. For “Guns Akimbo”, the music is plot and character driven at the same time. I used the idea of contrast in this score through varying with different styles. I really appreciate the leitmotiv-approach for both an orchestral or electronic score. But on this score it’s almost like different “tracks” for different situations and locations. It helps the audience know where we are. Like in a game with different levels or places Miles finds himself sometimes back or advanced in a similar situation. Here the music can help make sense and support leading the film into the right direction.