After collaborating on the soundtrack of Prehistoric PlanetHans Zimmer and Kara Talve were commissioned to compose the music, now nominated for two Emmys, for The Tattooist of Auschwitzthe television adaptation of Heather Morris's novel of the same name. The story follows a Slovakian Jew who was imprisoned in Auschwitz and fell in love with a girl he was tattooing in the concentration camp.
Here, the composers discuss Talve's personal connection to the story, the challenges of tackling such a difficult subject matter, and collaborating with Barbra Streisand on the final song.
Kara, tell me what your connection is to this story.
KARA TALVE My grandmother's story is what got me into this project. When she was 9 years old, the Nazis invaded Paris, and there was a knock on her door, and the Nazis were there with a list, and they had every single member of the family on the list except her, and so her mother pushed her away. She said, “She's not on your list, so you have nothing to do with her.” They took the whole family to Auschwitz, and she was left there alone. She escaped through the fire escape and ran to her piano teacher's apartment. Her teacher was working with the French resistance at the time, so he was hiding my grandmother and a lot of other Jews and passing them off as her children. Because of that, she survived the war and took piano lessons with that teacher, and that very piano that she had at that time (when she came back to the States, she took the piano with her) now lives in my studio. That's the piano that you hear throughout the score.
by Hans Zimmer It's authentic. … Because Kara had access to that piano that saw everything that was happening, there was a piece that I thought was very important and that could be inserted into the story with great authenticity.
How did you get to this point in your mindset, that of composing such an emotional story?
ROOM I can say what I said to you: “Kara, don't be sentimental.” I think that was the only comment I made, because one of the things I love about what Kara does is that she has an extraordinary courage to go and play it straight and not make it too easy for the listener, and to commit to being bold. And now I'm exaggerating a lot, but in a peculiar way, that grit, that courage, I think, is a way of honoring her grandmother.
TALVE You're right. The show itself has this really important message of defiance. The relationship between Lali and Gita is this act of defiance. So the music itself had to highlight that. And what Hans said at the beginning of the project really stuck with me. At first I didn't know what he was talking about, but soon I started to understand the difference between being sentimental and emotional. It's such a difference, and to be illustrative in this show or exaggerated or epic felt immediately wrong and disrespectful.
How did you collaborate on this project? What was the process?
ROOM As we’re doing this interview, I realize that one of the huge advantages that Kara and I have is that we can communicate in a language that goes beyond words. Because when you start trying to talk about a project that involves the Holocaust, words suddenly seem vulgar. You can’t describe the depths that you have to go to. I have enormous respect for the book and the story, and I have enormous respect for the director. Kara, you have to tell me if you think I’m completely out of my mind, but I find that some of the things that are so unnameable and unspeakable and so beyond our imagination can sometimes only be expressed in that language that Kara and I have, even though Theodor Adorno said that after Auschwitz there is no place for music or poetry. I think that as human beings, it’s just our duty to continue to fight against the darkness.
What were the challenges you faced in this production?
TALVE Just the thought of starting this soundtrack was a challenge. I think when Tali [Shalom-Ezer, the director] came to us, immediately, and my response was, “I don't think I can do this.” Writing music about this heartbreaking subject that also means so much to both of us, it's a lot of pressure, and there's this fear that we're going to tell the story wrong. I think the whole production was about that fear the whole time, and that's what made us rethink every decision we made.
ROOM It's so easy to make music that touches all those emotional keys; it's much harder to write music that can stand on its own and that authentically opens a door and just says, “Look, I'm giving you the opportunity to have an experience and to have the autonomy to have the experience.” You have a duty to address the subject and not let it be forgotten, and on the other hand, everyone has to kneel before the task. You have to approach it with the most incredible humility and know that you have to do the task, because no one else will.
Did you have any hesitation about being part of this project when you were first approached?
ROOM No matter what it is, I always think I'm not worthy of it. I've done so many movies, and every movie is the same thing. It's just the glow of the blank page staring back at me, thinking, “There's no way
you can do it. You should just go and give the director the phone number of someone who can do it.” Of
Of course, things get worse when something like this happens.
TALVE It's really comforting to hear Hans Zimmer say that, isn't it? Every time I write music, I feel such pain. I don't know how people love writing music so much. For me, it's absolutely painful, but I think it helps create a product.
ROOM Here's the thing: I hope we did okay. That's all you can do at the end of the day. I hope we're able to give people a standalone experience, but invite them into this extraordinary world, which is both terrifying and a glorious, incredible love story.
When did Barbra Streisand join the show?
TALVE We were on Zoom that [music producer] Russellino [Emanuel] could not do. This is a man who is [usually] in every single call with us. We were talking about what we were going to do for the end credits of episode six, and we talked about someone singing the love theme with lyrics, and the showrunners were like, “It has to be an iconic Jewish person who can represent this kind of ending to the show.” We immediately realized, “So we're talking about Barbra Streisand right now.” Then I had to tell Russell that he had to call Barbra Streisand. He looked at me like he was going to kill me. But he's amazing and the pastor of the whole thing.
This story originally appeared in an August standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.