Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1488780
52 C I N E M O N T A G E F E A T U R E with that scene because of the tempo of Shelley's footsteps coming in. We were just trying to find the exact perfect tempo, and we tried it many different ways. It's all Shelley's point of view. She's walking in, and it seems like the speed she's walking would be this. We were like, "No, no, let's make her footsteps lower and keep slowing them down." Let's keep slowing them down until it was this idea of a metronome, a very nice slow metronome, which then becomes the metronome that the class dances to.... Even though the shot tracks at a certain speed, to have the sound be slower than that and have it be much more of a pulse and more of a very rigid metronome. That's who that character is: she's the one who's setting the pace for everything. CineMontage: Skip, talk about the pro- cess of music editing. Lievsay: [Composer] John Powell came to the [re-recording] stage and stayed with us the whole time. With his crew, he was able to mix and match and change — and give pretty much anything — on an on-de- mand basis. Both John and Olivia were free to make a lot of interesting experiments, so we did that during the mix. We did a lot of experimentation, and we did a lot of weed- ing, basically — "It worked here; it didn't work there; let's try it there..." Traditional- ly, the music arrives and you can raise it and lower it, or you can bring it in a little later or something, but that's kind of the limit be- cause, in general, filmmakers have a pretty determined view of what the music is going to contribute.... "Don't Worry Darling" was scored and recorded to suit the movie, but both the filmmakers and the composer had the luxury of being able to change their minds or try something different. CineMontage: Was the fun of this picture creating a world within a world? L i e v s a y : I t w a s t h e n a t u r e o f o u r challenge, or our charge, to find all these little corners to sharpen up and keep the audiences on their toes. It was actually a joy, because Olivia and her team had a lot of ideas, and they knew where they were headed.... She's very wise, and clever way beyond her two movies. She feels like a vet- eran. She's so interested in what makes her movie better, and that's all you really want. Urmson: Olivia is super-enthusiastic about her projects. She's very open-minded and loves to try new ideas. She has a good idea of what she's going for. She doesn't necessarily know how to get there with sound until we started presenting stuff to her, and we just presented a lot of different ideas to her. ■ Peter Tonguette is a regular contributor to CineMontage. Harry Styles, left, and Florence Pugh on the set of "Don't Worry Darling" with Olivia Wilde (blue dress) directing. P H OT O : WA R N E R B R O S .