Age of The Nerd
By: Dan Moore
What do titles such as X-Men: Apocalypse, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALS Fireteam Bravo 3, NBC’s Will and Grace and CNN’s The History of Comedy all have in common? Composer and songwriter Lior Rosner. Rosner, whose resume is about as eclectic as they get, is now venturing into new territory, Netflix’s streaming world. Rosner is scoring Michael Patrick King’s latest series, AJ and the Queen, for the streaming giant. The series follows Ruby Red (played by RuPaul), a down-on-her-luck drag queen traveling across America, who develops an unlikely sidekick named AJ (Izzy G.). In this exclusive interview, Rosner talks about everything from working on the X-Men franchise to his latest title AJ and the Queen.
-You are currently scoring the upcoming Netflix comedy AJ and the Queen and NBC’s Will and Grace, which are both comedies. Would you say this genre is your specialty?
Not necessarily. I wouldn’t call AJ and the Queen a straight comedy, it has comedy in it but it is a drama also. I really enjoy dramatic and emotional scores.
-How would you describe your score to AJ and the Queen?
It’s emotional at moments, it’s funny at moments, it’s serious at moments. It can also be suspenseful, so it lets me do everything.
-Is there a scene or sequence that you are particularly proud of in AJ and the Queen you can discuss?
The last episode let me explore more elaborate versions of things that were introduced in the previous episodes. We had a nice size orchestra for the last episode too. So that was my favorite episode. It was a lot of fun to score.
-You are currently scoring Will and Grace alongside Scott Icenogle. Were you a fan of the series before you started working on it?
Yes, absolutely. I’ve watched the original run of the show and always enjoyed the clever writing and the phenomenal work of the actors on this show.
-On Will and Grace, are there any musical moments that stand out to you this season?
There is an I Love Lucy episode coming up that was definitely a stand out for me because I got to recreate some of the music from the original, I Love Lucy series. We had a large band that was put together for this with some very well-known, legendary, LA players. It was a great experience. Also, creating music in that older style was a lot of fun for me too. There is a special surprise at the end that I think fans will really like.
-On IMDB it shows that you worked on X-Men: Apocalypse. Can you tell us a little about that?
I had a working relationship with the composer and editor of the film, John Ottman. In X-Men: Apocalypse I was working on a sequence where the score was based on Beethoven 7th symphony, so that was really interesting.
-A completely different type of project than the ones mentioned above is your holiday project, Sugar Plum on the Run, which is a Nutcracker type story narrated by Jeremy Irons. What would you say was the most challenging part of creating this?
Creating variations on an iconic piece of music is always challenging. Working on a timeless piece of music, you never want to do a disservice to it. And working on a tight timeline.
-What was it like working with Jeremy Irons on Sugar Plum on the Run?
I was delighted to work with him. It was a real pleasure to have Mr. Irons as the voice of the piece. I have always admired his voiceover work, especially in the original Lion King.
-Is there a genre you haven’t scored yet that you would like to?
I would like to do more drama. I have scored horror before and really enjoyed that too.
