“luminaries”
By Evan Sandoval
I cut the head off this article.
This is the page where I say Wild Horses is this + that. It’s [insert big money, commercial property] + [insert artistic piece de resistance]. I’m a big film and television nerd, too; I even watch things from before 1990, and so, you can imagine that the original article was overstuffed and a little eye-rolling. Don’t get me wrong; it was informative and it highlighted a lot of cool works, but, in the end, there’s only a couple that really ignite me and that I’d want to hold as lights for the shape and style of Wild Horses. So, off with the head — here’s the beatin’ heart.
— Before we talk about the movie (Some Like It Hot), let’s talk about its director, Billy Wilder. From 1950 to 1960, my guy went on an all-time hot streak making three, stone-cold classics in Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, plus great “second-tier,” historical films like Sabrina and Stalag 17. You’d call each of the projects listed a comedy first, but each blended elements of drama, sincerity and more. For Horses, we also want to have a good time first, and much like Wilder, be able to deftly slide into moments of drama or mania, or quiet or sensuality when the story calls for it.
Hot is our primary reference because of its plotting of two guys on the run from the mob and their journey from Chicago to Florida. The characters from Horses aren’t on the run, per say, but they were all happy enough to get away from home, and they’ll feel the same displacement as the protagonists in Hot. Also, the movie is, in my opinion, the funniest of them all - a vehicle of joy and vitality for generations. In the end, Hot is sillier than Horses, but it’s still our goal to play everything off a similar foundation of levity and vitality.
How Horses could play: Like it’s Hot.
— Again, before the movie, let’s talk about its director, David Lean. Two of my all-time favorite movies are The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia (‘cause I’m a man or whatever). Each is a sterling example of the “epic” movie with Lawrence probably being the pinnacle. — It’s like, even when a scene is more intimate or interior in those movies, they still feel like vista paintings. After making Bridge on the River Kwai, Lean mostly stuck to epics until the end …
… But before he made Bridge, he made Summertime (in 1955). The film follows a spinster from Ohio who travels solo to Venice, Italy, and finds romance. It’s a smaller, more personal story but, to me, you can feel Lean start to explore a more “epic” style. There’s a sort of grandeur and grace to Summertime’s filmmaking, lifting up - and widening - an otherwise simple story. (Of course, Katharine Hepburn also brings a whole bag of grandeur and grace). For Horses, even though it’s also ultimately a more personal story (or eight of them), we’ll try to mine from and highlight its broader sense of adventure.
How Horses could feel: Like Summertime.
— How ‘bout music? If I had it my way the whole, damn series would open with a set piece featuring the song People Get Ready by Aretha Franklin. It’s the best song from one of the best albums ever. Listen, a good picture’s gotta have some soul, ya know? It comes from writing and acting, sure, but also you could just cheat and bring in Aretha to make your face scrunch and your knees buckle.
Next there’s Caramelos, a standout from an Afro/Latin music journey since starting Horses. The series is pictured within a Caribbean/Atlantic setting, and so, I went through many such playlists during writing. Ideally, the Horses score and much of the music can sound like works of Tito Puente. Before Horses, anything Latin or jazz-y was off my radar. Now, I can’t cook breakfast without it.
Bonus: How Horses could rock.
To end, I’d thought I’d touch on why the primary inspirations for Horses are so, like, old. For one, I like older references because the times have changed so much that you couldn’t copy them if you tried (accidentally, of course). But also, it is what I was introduced to early. When I was a kid in the ‘90s we had one television and thankfully no devices and when it was my mom’s turn to watch something, she’d always go to the Turner Classic Movies channel. The first, non-kid movie I remember sitting through was Some Like It Hot, and well, you know how it goes — we often stay who we were as kids or teenagers, as far as the things we have affection for, and so my love for that movie and moreover for that period in film and television grew. — And I know, for getting that money, I should be Marvel-izing the references for Horses, but, for now I’ll tell the truth. *