60s pop star turned darling of the avant garde Scott Walker has joined with Australian pop singer-songwriter Sia to score Vox Lux, the forthcoming second feature by director Brady Corbet, starring Natalie Portman.
It marks the second time Corbet and Walker have worked together, after Walker penned the tense, oppressive score for Corbet’s debut film, The Childhood of a Leader. Sia was already announced for Vox Lux; Mica Levi, who was Oscar-nominated for her score to Portman’s film Jackie, was originally rumoured to be writing the score.
Walker has previously scored the 1999 Leos Carax film Pola X, and Candoco’s 2007 contemporary dance piece And Who Shall Go to the Ball? And What Shall Go to the Ball?
Vox Lux stars Portman as a pop singer who is negotiating chaos in her personal life, and co-stars Jude Law as her manager. Raffey Cassidy takes two roles: as Portman’s songwriting sister early on in the film, and later as her daughter. Portman replaced Rooney Mara, who was originally signed on when the film was announced.
It will premiere at the Venice film festival on 4 September, where Corbet won best director and best debut film for The Childhood of a Leader in 2016, and will also play at the Toronto film festival later the same month.
