Sci-Fi Psychological Thriller Slingshot Drops Main Theme By Steffen Thum Only4Media.com

Summary

• Screen Rant
  presents composer Steffen Thum’s main theme for the sci-fi thriller
  Slingshot
  .
• Thum’s theme captures the awe, solitude, and complexities of the protagonist’s journey to Saturn’s moon Titan.
• Thum’s hybrid score blends organic and electronic textures to reflect the protagonist’s confusion and the tension onboard the spacecraft in a thrilling way.

Slingshot is a new science fiction psychological thriller from director Mikael Håfström, and Screen Rant is excited to debut a key piece of music from the film. Slingshot stars Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, and Emily Beecham, and tells the story of John (Affleck), an astronaut who struggles to keep his grip on reality onboard a potentially compromised journey to Saturn’s moon Titan. The movie was written by R. Scott Adams (Donner Pass) and Nathan Parker (Moon, The Underground Railroad).

Screen Rant is happy to present the main theme for Slingshot, written by composer Steffen Thum. Thum is a musician with a long resume—in addition to scoring his own films and television projects, the composer has provided additional music and orchestration to dozens of hit projects including Top Gun: Maverick, Twisters, and Alien: Romulus. Check out “The Titan Mission (Main Theme)” below, either by itself or with behind-the-scenes footage of the orchestral recording session.

“The Titan Mission (Main Theme)”

“The Titan Mission (Main Theme)” Recording Session

Why Great Musical Scores Are Key For Movies Like Slingshot

“The main theme had to be the emotional centerpiece of the entire score.”

Film scores are often referred to as the soul of a movie, and a score that doesn’t fit a film can ruin its chances of connecting emotionally with audiences. The best movie scores invite viewers along for the emotional journeys of their characters, which is especially important when a movie tells a story outside the range of a viewer’s normal experience. Slingshot is a sci-fi psychological thriller set against the backdrop of interplanetary discovery, and Thum was tasked with making a story set nearly 500 million miles away from Earth feel relatable. That’s not all, as Thum revealed when discussing the movie’s main theme:

Steffen Thum: The Main Theme is the first thing I wrote for Slingshot. After my initial conversations with director Mikael Håfström about story, characters and style, I knew we needed a piece of music that would have to encompass three different aspects: Firstly, an expression of awe and John’s commitment to this larger-than-life journey to Saturn’s moon, Titan. Secondly, his growing sense of solitude, longing and regret as he remembers Zoe, the woman he left behind on Earth. Lastly, the complexities of his mind and his struggle with reality. The Main Theme had to be the emotional centerpiece of the entire score, and I knew I wanted a full orchestra carrying that emotion. My thanks go out to all the wonderful musicians in Budapest, where we recorded this score.

“The Titan Mission (Main Theme)” certainly does what Thum says. It’s a complex piece of music that has a lush soundscape evoking the vastness of space paired with intricate rhythms that can be tied to an uneasy mind. The theme is also just a taste of what Thum wrote for Slingshot, especially regarding the movie’s psychological thriller aspects. This is important as well, as music can build tension in a subtle way that makes a thriller truly activate an audience’s adrenaline. When discussing the movie’s score as a whole, Thum teased more of what’s to come, leaning into themes of psychological confusion.

Steffen Thum: It is very much a hybrid score, heavily blurring the lines between organic and electronic textures. That space where you can’t really tell what’s what is always fascinating to me. In dealing with John’s confusion and loss of reality, I worked with various musical motifs and patterns that could shift and overlap, as well as organic sounds like strings and pianos that I’d let warp and deteriorate through electronic processing. Throughout the score, there’s this balancing act between the tensions and escalations onboard the mission, as well as the emotional weight of the flashback scenes based on Earth.

The score for Slingshot is also sure to help elevate the performances by the movie’s star cast. The Slingshot trailer teases the performances of Affleck, Fishburne, and Beecham, and Thum’s work will likely make the work of the already celebrated cast even more emotional and believable. To fully see how Thum’s work fits with the film, be sure to check it out when it hits theaters on August 30.

Slingshot

hits theaters on August 30 alongside its soundtrack album by Steffen Thum. “The Titan Mission (Main Theme)” hits digital platforms on August 23.