Cinelinx’s resident musicologist recently had the opportunity to speak with composer Alex Belcher about his work on the Amazon Prime Video series Citadel.
I was delighted to recently have the opportunity to speak with composer Alex Belcher about his work on the Amazon Prime Video series Citadel. The series, to be released on April 28, 2023, follows agents of the fallen agency known as Citadel as they have to regain their wiped memories and save the world. Belcher’s previous work includes 21 Bridges, Extraction, and IO. He’s also composed additional music for Captain America: Civil War, Kong: Skull Island, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, just to name a few.
I hope you enjoy this interview!
How did you get brought in to score Citadel? What did you think of the premise?
I’ve worked for years with Joe and Anthony Russo so a while back Joe sent me the script for Citadel and I was blown away. It’s a show that is equal parts action, espionage, drama, comedy, thriller…you name it and it’s in this show and was in the script which excited me because it meant music was going to play a big role in the story telling.
It says in the little blurb I was given that the music is reminiscent of older spy thrillers. Did you take inspiration from any specific films when putting the music for Citadel together?
Not one in particular but I’m a big fan of Bernard Herrmann so his work definitely influenced this score. There were dozens of films David, Joe & I discussed that we wanted the score to feel like while at the same time sounding new and modern.
I was surprised to hear that parts of the score were done before filming even started. Was that a challenge, creating music before anything had been filmed? What did you have to work with since there wasn’t any footage yet?
I had really just read the script. That’s not uncommon for all the projects I’ve done with the Russo Bros. Since Citadel was such a big show with a story that spanned the globe as well as many genres The Russos wanted me to write some music to help us all get the tone of the show since there really isn’t another show like this.
I read that you described the series as “one big movie split into six parts.” How did that change how you created the music, as opposed to what might be created for a more “traditional” television series.
Its totally true. From early on David and all the producers said this was like a big movie so that’s exactly how I treated the writing process. I treated it like any other film I’ve done.
A related question: since you viewed the series as one giant movie, does that mean it was recorded all at once as opposed to one episode at a time?
For the most part, yes. I wrote it all then recorded episodes 1-3. Then, for timing, we mixed those episodes, then I recorded episodes 4-6 two weeks later. But all 6 episodes were written all together and prepped for recording when we started recording episode 1
Were you surprised to be given free reign on the music for Citadel? Was it truly free reign? No restrictions at all?
Well I was given free reign early on which was amazing. And then it becomes a more collaborative process as you start to refine and put music to picture. But it was so much fun to write because music was given a big role in the story telling.
Did you have specific themes for any of the characters in the series?
Yes! We have a theme for Nadia, a main Citadel theme, a family theme, as well as a few themes for the antagonists of the show (which I was able to work a little Easter egg into 😉
How large was the orchestra you worked with? Did you use any non-conventional instruments or was it strictly a traditional orchestra?
It was mostly traditional instruments and orchestration which to be honest doesn’t feel too traditional these days. Orchestras are expensive and the last 15 years or so the trend in film music seems to have been to do something weird and unconventional (which I’m not knocking I have plenty of scores like that) so in that regard using a traditional lineup felt oddly unconventional..especially for a series. All told I think we had 70 players. Which for TV is SUPER rare. So I was very grateful to Amazon and AGBO for giving us the budget to record that many players not to mention to record them in London with some of the greatest musicians in the world.
How much time did you have to score Citadel? Also, how much music would you say is in each episode (in terms of minutes)?
Well I started writing themes and suites a few years back. So in that regard I had a long time. But I’d say I started writing pictures towards the end of 2022. Each episode had between 25-45 minutes of music… so a lot!!
Do you have a favorite part of the score?
The opening sequence of episode 1 as well as the very last sequence in episode 6 are probably my favorite..
How did this compare to other projects you’ve worked on?
This was a truly special project. The score had to match the scale and scope of the show itself so it was all about how to do that while also doing a lot of the storytelling. So like I said it’s rare to have the freedom and budget to write and record this style of music for a series but it’s also rare to be tasked with music doing this much storytelling which, as a composer, was an incredible opportunity.
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I want to say thank you to Alex Belcher for taking the time to speak with me about Citadel. The series arrives on Amazon Prime Video on April 28, 2023.
