Anne Dudley - Composer Profile

Having studied at the Royal College of Music and Kings College, Anne went on to become a founding member of the avant-garde group Art of Noise with Trevor Horn, as well as arranging and producing for artists such as Tom Jones, Elton John, Pulp, Phil Collins, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Seal, Travis and more recently Robbie Williams and Will Young on his number 1 single “Leave Right Now”.

Currently score producing the eagerly anticipated Working Title film adaptation of the wildly successful stage musical Les Miserables, Anne's film scoring career was launched after her brilliant score to the British film Buster, starring Julie Walters and Phil Collins and her credits now include Paul Schrader’s The Walker starring Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Lauren Bacall; Tony Kaye’s controversial Oscar nominated feature for New Line Cinema, American History X; Paul Verhoeven’s acclaimed World War II film Black Book; Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game and Mike Newell’s Pushing Tin, starring John Cusack, Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett and Billy Bob Thornton. Anne won an Oscar for her score to Peter Cattaneo’s The Full Monty, now the highest grossing film in the UK of all time. The soundtrack won a BRIT at the 1998 awards and is also a triple platinum album.

This experience of working on all sides of the music profession has led to her becoming one of the most sought after composers of her generation. There are not many composers who have won an Oscar, a Grammy, a Brit and a Billboard award! Perhaps the best way to describe Anne’s approach is to quote the director Paul Verhoeven from his comments on the soundtrack CD cover:

“When I had to choose a composer for Black Book, I was listening to an enormous amount of soundtracks. It was then that I discovered a composer who had been working in very many different styles: Anne Dudley. That is very important to me, a composer who can completely adapt to the movie, who is able to change her style radically because the movie scores are very different, such as American History X, The Full Monty or The Crying Game… On top of that, listening more precisely to Anne’s scores, I realized the beauty of her orchestrations. The subtlety in her transitions – often necessary when you do a film score, where you have to go back and forth between action, suspense and dialogue, which all have to be orchestrated in a different way. And then to find a composer who likes Stravinsky, Shostakovich, John Adams and Ravel, all of my favourite classical composers. I asked Anne to do my score and gave her the script. She liked it and wrote the most wonderful music…….dynamic and romantic, harsh and tender, charming and tragic! Her score brought my movie to another level, gave it a heart and soul.”

Anne is in demand in many areas of the creative industries, most recently with the BBC Electric Proms 30th Anniversary of Saturday Night Fever, as music director, working with Robin Gibb and an array of performance stars. October also saw the premiere of Sam Taylor Wood’s latest audio-visual work at the White Cube gallery, with original music by Anne.

In 2002, Anne was the first composer appointed in association with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Her first commission was Music and Silence, an orchestral score based on scenes from Rose Tremain’s novel, which received its premiere at the orchestra’s 50th Birthday Celebration Concert at the Royal Festival Hall in September 2002. With the BBC Concert Orchestra she has recently collaborated with top UK comedian Bill Bailey at three sell-out live shows at the Royal Albert Hall featuring Bailey’s unique comedic talents and music co-written by Bill and Anne. She also collaborated again with Stephen Fry last Christmas for a wonderfully witty new pantomime of Cinderella, starring Sandi Toksvig. The show aired at the Old Vic with creative director, Kevin Spacey.

Anne’s first solo album, Ancient and Modern, was released on Echo Records in the UK, and EMI Angel in the USA, in 1995 to critical acclaim. Her second album, A Different Light, including a classical arrangement of Moments In Love, was released in 2002.

For television, Anne has scored the classic series Jeeves and Wooster. Recently she scored The Commander, written by Lynda La Plante and directed by Gillies MacKinnon as well as Trial and Retribution, produced by Jolyon Symonds. Anne has just completed scoring Above Suspicion: Deadly Intent for La Plante Productions.

Film Credits

LES MISERABLES	(Score Producer) Working Title Pictures Director: Tom Hooper Producer: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Cameron Mackintosh Composer: Claude Michel Schonberg Starring: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Helena Bonham-Carter, Russell Crowe, Sasch Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne
THE WALKER	Pathé Writer and Director: Paul Schrader Producer: Deepak Nayar Starring: Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas
LAKE OF FIRE	Anonymous Content Director: Tony Kaye Producer: Tony Kaye
BLACK BOOK	Sony Pictures Director: Paul Verhoeven Producer: Jeroen Beker
PERFECT CREATURE	20th Century Fox Director: Glenn Standring Producer: Michael Cowan Starring: Dougray Scott
TRISTAN AND ISOLDE	Scott Free Productions Director: Kevin Reynolds Producer: Moshe Diamont, Lisa Ellzey, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott Starring: James Franco, Sophia Myles, Rufus Sewell	ASCAP Award: Top Box Office Films
BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS	Revolution Films Director: Stephen Fry Producers: Gina Carter, Miranda Davis Starring: Michael Sheen, Emily Mortimer, Jame McAvoy
A MAN APART	New Line Director: F. Gary Gray Producers: Bob Degus, Vincent Newman Starring: Vin Diesel
THE GATHERING	Samuelson Productions Director: Brian Gilbert Producer: Pippa Cross Starring: Christina Ricci, Ioan Gruffudd
THE HUMAN BODY	BBC IMAX FILM Director: Christopher Spencer Producers: Richard Dale, Sandra Gregory
LUCKY BREAK	Fragile Films / FilmFour Director: Peter Cattaneo Producers: Peter Cattaneo, Elinor Day, Barnaby Thompson Starring: James Nesbitt, Olivia Williams, Timothy Spall
MONKEY BONE	20th Century Fox Director: Henry Selick Producers: Michael Barnathan, Mark Radcliffe Starring: Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda
THE MIRACLE MAKER	ABC Directors: Derek W. Hayes, Stanislav Sokolov Producer: Naomi Jones
PUSHING TIN	20th Century Fox Director: Mike Newell Producer: Art Linson Starring: John Cusack, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie
AMERICAN HISTORY X	New Line Cinema Director: Tony Kaye Producer: John Morrissey, John Hess, David McKenna Starring: Edward Norton
THE FULL MONTY	Fox Searchlight Director: Peter Cattaneo Producer: Uberto Pasolini, Paul Bucknor, Polly Leys Starring: Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson	Oscar Winner: Best Original Score (Musical or Comedy) Brit Award: Best Film Soundtrack Bafta Nominated: Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music
HOLLOW REED	Scala / Channel Four Films Director: Angela Pope Producer: Elizabeth Karlsen Starring: Joely Richardson
WHEN SATURDAY COMES	Guild Director: Maria Giese Producers: James Daly, Christopher Lambert Starring: Sean Bean, Pete Postlethwaite
THE GROTESQUE	J and M Entertainment Director: John-Paul Davidson Producer: Trudie Styler, Stephen Evans Starring: Alan Bates, Sting, Lena Headey
THE SADNESS OF SEX	Skyvision Partners Director: Rupert Wainwright Producers: David Lancaster, Rupert Maconick
FELIDAE	Senator Film produktion Director: Michael Schaack Producer: Hanno Huth
THE CRYING GAME	Scala Director: Neil Jordan Producer: Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlson Starring: Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson	ASCAP Award: Top Box Office Films
KNIGHT MOVES	Cinevox Filmproduktion GmbH Short written and directed by Dan Weldon
THE POPE MUST DIE	Miramax Director: Peter Richardson Producer: Stephen Woolley Starring: Robbie Coltrane
SILENCE LIKE GLASS	Bavaria Films Director: Carl Schenkel Producers: Michael Rohrig, Carl Schenkel
SAY ANYTHING	Gracie Films Director: Cameron Crowe Producers: Richard Marks, Polly Platt Starring: John Cusack
WILT	LWT Director: Michael Tuchner Producer: Brian Eastman Starring: Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith, Alison Steadman
BUSTER	NFH Productions Director: David Green Producer: Norma Heyman Starring: Phil Collins, Julie Walters, Larry Lamb	Brit Award: Best Film Soundtrack
HIDING OUT	De Laurentiis Entertainment Group Director: Bob Giraldi Producer: Jeff Rothberg

Television Credits

ABOVE SUSPICION: DEADLY INTENT	La Plante Productions Director: Gillies MacKinnon Producer: Hugh Warren Executive Producers: Lynda La Plante, Liz Thorburn
ABOVE SUSPICION: THE RED DAHLIA	La Plante Productions Director: Gillies MacKinnon Producers: Chris Clough, Lynda La Plante Executive Producer: Liz Thorburn
COMMANDER: THE ABDUTION	La Plante Productions Director: Gillies MacKinnon Producers: Lachlan MacKinnon, Liz Thorburn
TRIAL AND RETRIBUTION	La Plante Productions XX, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX	Ivor Novello Nomination 2009: Best TV Soundtrack (2008)
WHATEVER LOVE MEANS	Granada Television Director: David Blair Producer: Jolyon Symonds Starring: Laurence Fox, Olivia Poulet
THE KEY	Little Bird Productions / BBC Director: David Blair Producer: Sue Austen, Donna Franceschild Starring: Ronni Ancona	Ivor Novello Nomination: Best Soundtrack
THE 10TH KINGDOM	Hallmark Directors: David Carson, Herbert Wise Producer: Brian Eastman
DONOVAN QUICK	BBC Director: David Blair Producer: Sue Austen Starring: Colin Firth
CRIME TRAVELLER	BBC	Ivor Novello Nomination: Best Soundtrack
KAVANAGH Q.C	Carlton UK Directors: Paul Greengrass, Renny Rye, Colin Gregg Producers: Ted Childs, Chris Kelly Starring: John Thaw
ANNA LEE	Carnival Films / LWT Directors: Christopher King, Peter Barber-Fleming Producers: Brian Eastman, Sarah Wilson
JEEVES AND WOOSTER	Carnival Films / ITV Director: Ferdinand Fairfax, Simon Langton, Robert Young Producer: Brian Eastman, Sally Head Starring: Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie	BAFTA Nomination: Best Original Television Music
THE PERFECT BLUE	BBC Director: Kieron J. Walsh Producer: Elinor Day

Arrangements

ABC, Wham, Phil Collins, Tom Jones, Rod Stewart, Annie Lennox, Seal, Cher, Elton John, Des’Ree, Lord Of The Dance, Tina Turner, Jimmy Nail, Boyzone, The Spice Girls, Pulp, Travis, Robbie Williams

Co-Writing

ABC	On the album Lexicon of Love
Malcolm McClaren and Trevor Horn	Buffalo Gals and Duck Rock
Art Of Noise	Four albums including Beat Box and Moments In Love
Jeff Beck	The Pope Must Die
Five Star	On the album Luxury of Life
Cathy Dennis	Too Many Walls
Alison Moyet	Voice
Debbie Harry	Debravation

Les Miserables: Film Score-Produced, Anne Dudley
Anne's IMDB page
Anne's Website