Kaitlyn Dever as Rosaline in 20th Century Studios' Rosaline, exclusively on Hulu. Photo by Moris Puccio. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Courtney Howard // Film Critic
Director Karen Maine’s ROSALINE reshapes William Shakespeare’s ROMEO & JULIET from the perspective of a minor character. Here, Romeo’s jilted ex-girlfriend Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever) is the leading lady of her own brilliant romcom, which takes an anachronistic approach to conceptualizing and constructing its hilarious and heartfelt situational comedy. In addition to the modern inflections in the dialogue, the soundtrack and score also takes on a shining contemporary glean.
At the film’s recent virtual press conference, Maine stated the inspiration was guided by their approach to the story.
“The idea to set it in classic Renaissance period with this modern language and the modern sensibilities and themes just would create this perfect juxtaposition of old and new that just really nailed the comedy and let it shine. That was really the goal.”
This concept even extended to the score’s construction. Composed by Drum & Lace and Ian Hultquist, the original compositions house a combination of new and old sounds. Maine continued,
“The music was really great, because we’ve used modern elements like synth, but also a lot of old period instruments from the time, like lutes and flutes and harpsichords and all that. It’s all blended in there as well.”
Maine was determined to marry her aesthetic and narrative vision with a feminine soundscape.
“The composers we worked with, Ian and Sofia Hultquist, Sofia lent her vocals to a lot of the score as well. There’s this beautiful female presence that sort of stands in for Rosaline’s mind and what she’s thinking, and really helps solidify her narrative and her story and her psyche. We recorded everything with real instruments in New York.”
Choosing the soundtrack selections was a fun process for Maine.
“Whenever I make a film, I just do a deep dive into Spotify and make a playlist. Kaitlyn too does this to an extent. Kaitlyn also had made a ROSALINE playlist and sent it to me. And the final credits song, ‘Enough For Now,’ is a song Kaitlyn introduced me to, which I’m obsessed with and is perfect for the end credits.”
She added,
“I didn’t limit myself. There’s new stuff and old stuff. And, other than Ethan Gruska, everything is sung or written by a woman. The Enrique [Iglesias song, ‘Escape’], we had it covered by an amazing artist named Anna of the North. It’s all very female. I wanted the film to just have this very strong female undercurrent in the music.”
Dever’s personal playlist was comprised of songs that put her in the heroine’s proper mind-space.
“I like to create a playlist for each role that I do. I started doing that a couple of years ago. And it just is really helpful to set the tone and the mood for the day. I think our soundtrack definitely sets the mood and the tone for the movie.”
The tracklist of songs used in the movie ranges from Natalie Cole to Taylor Swift. We thought it would be fun to compile them all into one place for your listening pleasure.
ROSALINE is now playing on Hulu. Listen to the score on Amazon now.
