Seven Pounds is a 2008 film, directed by Gabriele Muccino. Will Smith stars as a man who sets out to change the lives of seven people. Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, and Barry Pepper star. The film was released in theaters in the United States and Canada on December 19, 2008, by Columbia Pictures. Despite generally negative reviews from critics it was a box office success, grossing $168,168,201 worldwide.^[1]

Plot[link]

Two years ago, Tim Thomas (Will Smith), sending a text message while driving, caused a car crash in which seven people died: six strangers and his fiancee, Sarah Jenson (Robinne Lee). In a bid for redemption, Tim sets out to save the lives of seven good people, although this goal only becomes clear near the end of the film, or earlier for those viewers who are able to piece together the clues offered in flashbacks throughout the film.^[2]

A year after the crash, having quit his job as an aeronautical engineer, Tim donates a lung lobe to his brother, Ben (Michael Ealy), an IRS employee. Six months later he donates part of his liver to a social services worker named Holly (Judyann Elder). After that, he begins searching for more candidates to receive donations. He finds George (Bill Smitrovich), a junior hockey coach, and donates a kidney to him, and donates bone marrow to a young boy named Nicholas (Quintin Kelley).

Two weeks before he dies, he contacts Holly and asks if she knows anyone who deserves help. She suggests Connie Tepos (Elpidia Carrillo), who lives with an abusive boyfriend. Tim moves out of his house and into a local motel, taking with him his pet box jellyfish. One night, after being beaten, Connie contacts Tim and he gives her the keys and deed to his beach house. She takes her two children and moves into their new home.

Having stolen his brother's credentials, and making himself known by his brother's name Ben, he checks out candidates for his two final donations. The first is Ezra Turner (Woody Harrelson), a blind meat salesman who plays the piano. Tim calls Ezra Turner and harasses him at work to check if he is quick to anger. Ezra remains calm and Tim decides he is worthy.

He then contacts Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), a self-employed greeting card printer who has a heart condition and a rare blood type. He spends time with her, weeding her garden and fixing her rare Heidelberg Windmill press. He begins to fall in love with her and decides that, as her condition has worsened, he needs to make his donation.

Tim's brother Ben tracks him down at Emily's house, demanding that Tim return Ben's IRS credentials. After an interlude with Emily, Tim leaves her sleeping and returns to the motel. He fills the bathtub with ice water to preserve his vital organs, climbs in, and commits suicide by pulling his box jellyfish into the water with him. His friend Dan (Barry Pepper) acts as executor to ensure that his organs are donated to Emily and Ezra. Ezra Turner receives his corneas and Emily receives his heart. Afterward, Emily meets Ezra at his concert at a park, and they begin to talk.

Production[link]

Seven Pounds is based on a script written by Grant Nieporte under Columbia Pictures. In June 2006, Will Smith joined the studio to star in the planned film and to serve as one of its producers.^[3] In September 2007, director Gabriele Muccino, who worked with Smith on The Pursuit of Happiness (2006), was attached to direct Seven Pounds, bringing along his creative team from the 2006 film.^[4] Smith was joined by Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson the following December to star in Seven Pounds. Filming began in February 2008.^[5]

Most of the film was shot in Los Angeles , Pasadena, California and Malibu, California. Points of interest used in the film include the Travel Inn in Tujunga, California, the Colorado Bar, The Huntington Library, The Sheraton and The Pasadena Ice Skating Rink all in Pasadena, as well as Malibu Beach in Malibu.^{[citation needed]}

Cast[link]

• Will Smith as Tim Thomas, under the identity of Ben Thomas.
• Michael Ealy as Ben Thomas, Tim's brother and an IRS agent.
• Barry Pepper as Dan Morris, Tim's friend and executor of his will.
• Rosario Dawson as Emily Posa, a self-employed greeting card printer and Tim's love interest.
• Woody Harrelson as Ezra Turner, a blind meat salesman who plays the piano.
• Elpidia Carrillo as Connie Tepos, a woman in a battered relationship with her boyfriend.
• Judyann Elder as Holly, a child services employee.
• Bill Smitrovich as George, a junior hockey coach.
• Quintin Kelly as Nicholas, a child.
• Robinne Lee as Sarah Jenson, Tim's fiancee
• Madison Pettis as Connie's daughter

Smith described the reason he took on the role:

Usually with the films that I make there are ideas that I connect to, but lately I've been dealing with the bittersweet in life because it feels more natural. You don't ever get it really the way you want in life. That really fascinates me. As an actor, there are certain parts of a character that you create, and you train yourself to have those reactions and then it becomes hard to stop them when the role is over. You have to retrain yourself. My character in this film is like hot grits. You know you can't shake them off and when you do, it hurts.^[6]

Smith felt that the character needed to be a quiet and rather introverted person who does not burn himself out at every possible instance. The character was a contrast to Smith's previous characters, and Smith felt that director Gabriele Muccino's trust in him helped him relax and avoid overextending himself. Smith acknowledged Seven Pounds as a drama film, but he saw it as more of a love story.^[7]

Will Smith handpicked Ealy for the role of the main character's brother.^[8] Connor Cruise, the son of actor Tom Cruise and actress Nicole Kidman, was cast in his first role as a younger version of Tim Thomas.^[9]

Title[link]

Prior to the film's release, the title Seven Pounds was considered a "mystery" which the studio refused to explain. Early trailers for Seven Pounds kept the film's details a mystery. Director Gabriele Muccino explained the intent: "The [audience] will not know exactly what this man is up to." Will Smith is reported to have confirmed that the title refers to Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, in which a debtor must pay a pound of flesh.^[10] In this case, it amounts to seven gifts to seven individuals deemed worthy by Smith's character, to atone for seven deaths he caused.

Release[link]

Seven Pounds was promoted on a five-city tour across the United States in November 2008, screening in Cleveland, Miami, Dallas, St. Louis, and Denver to raise funds for food banks in each region.^[11] The film was promoted at a charity screening in Minneapolis in support of Second Harvest Heartland.^[12] Since screenings of new films usually took place in Los Angeles or New York City, the choice of cities was unconventional. Smith said, "This is more like the old-school music tours. Different clubs, different cities, meeting people. You get in touch with what people are feeling and thinking, and it's much more personal when you're actually out shaking hands."^[13] The actor sought to "get reacquainted" with an America that he felt had an "openness to change" with the country's election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president.^[14]

The film was released on December 19, 2008 in 2,758 theaters in the United States and Canada. It grossed an estimated $16 million, placing second at the weekend box office after Yes Man. The opening gross was the lowest for a film starring Smith since Ali in 2001. The gross was $5 million less than anticipated, partially ascribed to winter storms in the Northeast over the weekend.^[15]

Home media release[link]

The movie is available to rent or buy on the PlayStation Network in standard form or in High Definition.^{[citation needed]}

As of June 21, 2009 (2009 -06-21)^[update], sales generated $24,148,973.^[16]

Critical reception[link]

The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. The film review website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 27% based upon a sample of 184 reviews with an average score of 4.6/10^[17] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 36 based on 33 reviews.^[18]

Variety's film reviewer Todd McCarthy predicted that the movie's climax "will be emotionally devastating for many viewers, perhaps particularly those with serious religious beliefs," and characterized the film as an "endlessly sentimental fable about sacrifice and redemption that aims only at the heart at the expense of the head."^[19] A. O. Scott, writing for The New York Times, said that the movie "may be among the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-over-it-one-more-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made."^[20]

Positive reviews singled out Dawson's performance; Richard Corliss wrote in Time that Dawson gives "a lovely performance,"^[21] while Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that Dawson's performance "shows once again that she has it in her to be the powerhouse."^[22] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times commented on the fact that the audience is kept completely out of the loop as to what Tim is doing, pointing out how he "finds this more interesting than a movie about a man whose nature and objectives are made clear in the first five minutes, in a plot that simply points him straight ahead."^[23]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website and trailer
• Seven Pounds at the Internet Movie Database
• Seven Pounds at AllRovi
• Seven Pounds at Box Office Mojo
• Seven Pounds at Rotten Tomatoes
• Seven Pounds at Metacritic

Ennio Morricone
Morricone at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival
Background information
Also known as	Maestro
Born	(1928-11-10) November 10, 1928 (age 83)
Origin	Rome, Italy
Genres	Film music, classical music, pop music, jazz, lounge music, easy listening
Occupations	Composer, orchestrator, music director, conductor, trumpeter
Years active	1946–present
Associated acts	Bruno Nicolai, Alessandro Alessandroni, Mina, Yo-Yo Ma, Mireille Mathieu, Joan Baez, Andrea Bocelli, Roger Waters, Sarah Brightman, Amii Stewart, Paul Anka, Milva, Gianni Morandi, Dalida, Catherine Spaak, Pet Shop Boys, Hayley Westenra, and others
Website	http://www.enniomorricone.it

Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, Italian pronunciation: [ˈɛnnjo morriˈkoːne], (born November 10, 1928) is an Italian composer and conductor, who has written music for more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years.^[1] His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces. Morricone is most famous for his work in the Spaghetti Westerns directed by his friend Sergio Leone, including A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) but his career includes a wide range of composition genres making him one of the film world's most versatile artists. He is considered as one of the most influential film music composers of the 20th century.

Born in Rome, Italy, Morricone took up the trumpet as a child and attended the National Academy of Santa Cecilia to take lessons on the instrument at the age of nine. He formally entered a conservatory at the age of 12, enrolling in a four-year harmony programme. He received his trumpet diploma in 1946 and started working professionally, composing the music to "Il Mattino" ("The Morning"). Morricone soon gained popularity by writing his first background music for radio dramas and quickly moved into film.^[2]

In the 1950s he received the "Diploma in Instrumentation for Band" (fanfare) where he won a diploma in Composition under the composer Goffredo Petrassi. In 1955, Morricone started to ghost write and arrange music for other, already established film composers. Morricone soon came to the attention of his former school friend Sergio Leone, who hired Morricone to compose the music to some of his best known films. Together they created a distinctive score to accompany Leone's different version of the Western, A Fistful of Dollars.

In the 80s and 90s, Morricone continued to write the music for Leone's later films, including Once Upon a Time in America (1984). He also composed the music to Joffé's The Mission (1986), De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) and Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988). His more recent compositions include the scores for Malèna (2000), Fateless (2005), and Baaria - La porta del vento (2009).

Morricone has received two Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, five BAFTAs during 1979–1992, seven David di Donatello, eight Nastro d'Argento, and the Polar Music Prize in 2010. In 2007, he received the Academy Honorary Award "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music" and has been nominated for a further five Oscars in the category of Best Original Score during 1979–2001, but has never won competitively.

Biography[link]

Early career[link]

Ennio Morricone was born in Rome, the son of Libera and Mario Morricone, a jazz trumpeter.^[3] Morricone wrote his first compositions when he was six years old and was encouraged to develop his natural talents.^[4] Compelled to take up the trumpet, he attended the National Academy of Santa Cecilia to take lessons on the instrument at the age of nine. Morricone formally entered the conservatory in 1940 at the age of 12, enrolling in a four-year harmony program. According to various reports, he completed it in either two years or six months (date approximate).^[5] He studied the trumpet, composition, choral music, and choral direction under Goffredo Petrassi, who deeply influenced him and to whom Morricone has dedicated concert pieces.

These were the difficult years of World War II in the heavily bombed "open city"; the composer remarked that what he mostly remembered of those years was the hunger. His wartime experiences influenced many of his scores for films set in that period.

After he graduated, he continued to work in classical composition and arrangement. In 1946, Morricone received his trumpet diploma and in the same year he composed "Il Mattino" ("The Morning") for voice and piano on a text by Fukuko, first in a group of 7 "youth" Lieder. Other serious compositions are "Imitazione" (1947) for voice and piano on a text by Giacomo Leopardi and "Intimità" for voice and piano on a text by Olinto Dini.

In the early 1950s, Morricone began writing his first background music for radio dramas. Nonetheless he continued composing classical pieces as "Distacco I e Distacco II" for voice and piano on a text by Ranieri Gnoli, "Verrà la Morte" for contralto and piano on a text by Cesare Pavese, "Oboe Sommerso" for baritone and five instruments on a text by Salvatore Quasimodo.^[6]

Although the composer had received the "Diploma in Instrumentation for Band" (fanfare) in 1952, his studies concluded in 1954, obtaining a diploma in Composition under the composer Goffredo Petrassi. In 1955, Morricone started to write or arrange music for films credited to other already well-known composers (ghost writing). He occasionally adopted Anglicized pseudonyms, such as Dan Savio and Leo Nichols.

Morricone wrote more works in the climate of the Italian avant-garde. A few of these compositions have been made available on CD, such as "Ut", his trumpet concerto dedicated to the soloist Mauro Maur, one of his favorite musicians; some have yet to be premiered. From the mid-sixties and onwards, he was part of Gruppo di Improvvisazione di Nuova Consonanza, a group of composers who performed and recorded avant garde free improvisations, even scoring a few films during the 1970s.

Leone film scores[link]

Well-versed in a variety of musical idioms from his RCA experience, Morricone began composing film scores in the early 1960s.^[5] Though his first films were undistinguished, Morricone's arrangement of an American folk song intrigued director and former schoolmate Sergio Leone. Leone hired Morricone, and together they created a distinctive score to accompany Leone's different version of the Western, A Fistful of Dollars (1964).^[5] As budget strictures limited Morricone's access to a full orchestra, he used gunshots, cracking whips, whistle, voices, guimbarde (jaw harp), trumpets, and the new Fender electric guitar, instead of orchestral arrangements of Western standards à la John Ford. Morricone used his special effects to punctuate and comically tweak the action—cluing in the audience to the taciturn man's ironic stance.^[5] Though sonically bizarre for a movie score, Morricone's music was viscerally true to Leone's vision.

	The Good, The Bad and The Ugly main theme noicon From The Good, the Bad and the Ugly film score
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

As memorable as Leone's close-ups, harsh violence, and black comedy, Morricone's work helped to expand the musical possibilities of film scoring.^[5] Morricone was initially billed on the film as Dan Savio.^[5]

Morricone composed music for over 40 Westerns (the last was North Star (1996)), most of them Spaghetti Westerns. He scored Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns, from A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and including For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), as well as later films such as A Fistful of Dynamite (1971), My Name Is Nobody (1973), and A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe (1975). The collaboration with Leone is considered one of the exemplary collaborations between a director and a composer.

With the score of A Fistful of Dollars, Morricone began his 10-year collaboration with his childhood friend Alessandro Alessandroni and his Cantori Moderni. Alessandroni provided the whistling and the twanging guitar on the film scores, while his Cantori Moderni were a flexible troupe of modern singers. Morricone specifically exploited the solo soprano of the group, Edda Dell'Orso, at the height of her powers—"an extraordinary voice at my disposal".

In addition, Morricone composed music for many other, not so popular Spaghetti Westerns, including Duello nel Texas (1963), Le pistole non discutono (1964), A Pistol for Ringo (1965), The Return of Ringo (1965), Navajo Joe (1966), The Big Gundown, (1966), Face to Face (1967), Death Rides a Horse (1967), The Hellbenders (1967), A Bullet for the General (1967), The Mercenary (1968), Tepepa (1968), The Great Silence (1968), Guns for San Sebastian (1968), …And for a Roof a Sky Full of Stars (1968), The Five Man Army (1969), Queimada! (1969), Vamos a matar, compañeros (1970), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), Sonny and Jed (1972), and Buddy Goes West (1981).

Notable film scores[link]

	The Mission main theme - Gabriel's Oboe noicon From The Mission film score
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Most of Morricone's film scores of the 1960s were composed outside the Spaghetti Western genre, while still using Alessandroni's team. Their music included the themes for Il Malamondo (1964), Slalom (1965), The Battle of Algiers (1965), and Listen, Let's Make Love (1967). In 1968, Morricone reduced his work outside the movie business and wrote scores for 20 films in the same year. The scores included psychedelic accompaniment for Mario Bava's superhero romp Danger: Diabolik (1968). The next year marked the start of a series of evocative scores for Dario Argento's stylized thrillers, including The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1969), The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971), and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1974).^[5] In 1970, Morricone wrote the score for Violent City. That same year, he received his first Nastro d'Argento for the music in Metti una sera a cena (Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, 1969) and his second only a year later for Sacco e Vanzetti (Giuliano Montaldo, 1971), in which he had made a memorable collaboration with the legendary American folk singer and activist Joan Baez. In 1973, he scored a theme for the crime film Revolver (1973). Morricone composed the score for John Carpenter's science-fiction/horror movie The Thing (1982)^[7] as well as Brian De Palma's war drama Casualties of War (1989).^[8]

Morricone has worked for television, from a single title piece to variety shows and documentaries to TV series, including the US TV Western The Men From Shiloh (1970), Moses (1974) and Marco Polo (1982). One notable composition, "Chi Mai" was used in the films, Maddalena (1971) and Le Professionnel (1981) as well as the TV series The Life and Times of David Lloyd George (1981). It was a surprise hit in the UK, almost topping the charts. He wrote the score for the Mafia television series La piovra seasons 2 to 10 from 1985 to 2001, including the themes "Droga e sangue" ("Drugs and Blood"), "La morale", and "L'immorale".^[9] Morricone worked as the conductor of seasons 3 to 5 of the series. He also worked as the music supervisor for the television project La bibbia ("The Bible"). In the late 1990s, he collaborated with his son, Andrea, on the Ultimo crime dramas. Their collaboration yielded the BAFTA-winning Nuovo cinema Paradiso. In 2003, Ennio Morricone scored another epic, for Japanese television, called Musashi and was the Taiga drama about Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's legendary warrior. A part of his "applied music" is now applied to Italian television films.

Concerts and live orchestrations[link]

Since 2001, Morricone has been on a world tour, the latter part sponsored by Giorgio Armani, with the Orchestra Roma Sinfonietta, touring London (Barbican 2001; 75th birthday Concerto, Royal Albert Hall 2003), Paris, Verona, and Tokyo. Morricone performed his classic film scores at the Munich Philharmonie in 2005 and Hammersmith Apollo Theatre in London, UK, on 2006-12-01 and 2006-12-02.

Ennio Morricone at the United Nations Headquarters

He made his North American concert debut on January 29, 2007 Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City and four days later at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The previous evening, Morricone had already presented at the United Nations a concert comprising some of his film themes, as well as the cantata Voci dal silenzio to welcome the new Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. A Los Angeles Times review bemoaned the poor acoustics and opined of Morricone: "His stick technique is adequate, but his charisma as a conductor is zero." Morricone, though, has said: "Conducting has never been important to me. If the audience comes for my gestures, they had better stay outside."

On December 12, 2007, Morricone conducted the Roma Sinfonietta at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, presenting a selection of his own works. Together with the Roma Sinfonietta and the Belfast Philharmonic Choir, Morricone performed at the Opening Concerts of the Belfast Festival at Queen's, in the Waterfront Hall on October 17 and 18, 2008. Morricone and Roma Sinfonietta also held a concert at the Belgrade Arena (Belgrade, Serbia) on February 14, 2009.

On April 10, 2010, Morricone conducted a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London with the Roma Sinfonietta and (as in all of his previous London concerts) the Crouch End Festival Chorus. On August 27, 2010, he conducted a concert in Hungary. Two other concerts took place in Verona and Sofia (Bulgaria) on 11 and 17 September 2010.^[10]

Recent works[link]

Morricone provided the string arrangements on Morrissey's "Dear God Please Help Me" from the album Ringleader of the Tormentors in 2006.^[11]

Quentin Tarantino originally wanted Morricone to compose the soundtrack for his most recent film, Inglourious Basterds. However, Morricone refused because of the sped-up production schedule of the film.^[12][13][14] Tarantino did use several Morricone tracks from previous films in the soundtrack.

Morricone instead wrote the music for Baaria - La porta del vento, the most recent movie by Giuseppe Tornatore. The composer is also writing music for Tornatore's upcoming movie Leningrad.

In spring and summer 2010, Morricone worked with Hayley Westenra for a collaboration on her album Paradiso.^[15] The album features new songs written by Morricone, as well as some of his best known film compositions of the last 50 years.^[16][17] Hayley recorded the album with Morricone's orchestra in Rome during the summer of 2010.^[18][19][20]

Public reputation[link]

	"Se telefonando" noicon Sample from "Se telefonando".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In 1956, Morricone started to support his family by playing in a jazz band and arranging pop songs for the Italian broadcasting service RAI.^[5] He was hired by RAI in 1958, but quit his job on his first day at work when he was told that broadcasting of music composed by employees was forbidden by a company rule. Subsequently, Morricone became a top studio arranger at RCA, working with Renato Rascel, Rita Pavone, and Mario Lanza.^[5] A particular success was one of his own songs, "Se telefonando".^[21][22]

Performed by Mina, it was a standout track of Studio Uno 66, the fifth-biggest-selling album of the year 1966 in Italy.^[23] Morricone's sophisticated arrangement of "Se telefonando" was a combination of melodic trumpet lines, Hal Blaine–style drumming, a string set, a '60s Europop female choir, and intensive subsonic-sounding trombones. The Italian Hitparade #7 song had eight transitions of tonality building tension throughout the chorus.^[21][22]

During the following decades, the song was covered by several performers in Italy and abroad—most notably by Françoise Hardy and Iva Zanicchi (1966), Delta V (2005), Vanessa and the O's (2007), and Neil Hannon (2008).^[24] In the reader's poll conducted by the la Repubblica newspaper to celebrate Mina's 70th anniversary in 2010, 30,000 voters picked the track as the best song ever recorded by Mina.^[25] Throughout the '60s Morricone composed songs for other artists including Milva, Gianni Morandi, Paul Anka, Amii Stewart, and Mireille Mathieu.

Personal life[link]

On 13 October 1956, he married Maria Travia and had his first son, Marco, in 1957. Travia has written lyrics to complement her husband's pieces. Her works include the Latin texts for The Mission. They have three sons and a daughter, in order of birth: Marco, Alessandra, the conductor and film composer Andrea (Andrew), and Giovanni (a filmmaker^[26] who lives in New York City).

Influence and modern references[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2011)

Morricone at the 2009 Venice film festival.

Morricone's influence also extends into the realm of pop music. Hugo Montenegro had a hit with a version of the main theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in both the United Kingdom and the United States. This was followed by his album of Morricone's music in 1968.

Aside from his music having been sampled by everyone from rappers (Jay-Z) to electronic outfits (the Orb), Morricone wrote "Se Telefonando", which became Italy's fifth biggest-selling record of 1966 and has since been re-recorded by Françoise Hardy, among many others, and scored the strings for "Dear God, Please Help Me" on Morrissey's 2006 "Ringleader of the Tormentors" album.

Morricone's film music was also recorded by many artists. John Zorn recorded an album of Morricone's music, The Big Gundown, with Keith Rosenberg in the mid-1980s. Lyricists and poets have helped convert some of his melodies into a songbook.

Morricone collaborated with world music artists, like Portuguese fado singer Dulce Pontes (in 2003 with Focus, an album praised by Paulo Coelho and where his songbook can be sampled) and virtuoso cellist Yo-Yo Ma (in 2004), who both recorded albums of Morricone classics with the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra and Morricone himself conducting.

In 1990 the American singer Amii Stewart, best known for the 1979 disco hit "Knock On Wood", recorded a tribute album entitled Pearls - Amii Stewart Sings Ennio Morricone for the RCA label, including a selection of the composer's best known songs. Since the mid 1980s Stewart resides in Italy, the Pearls album features Rome's Philharmonic Orchestra and was co-produced by Morricone himself.

The 2003 Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 makes extensive use of several Morricone pieces from several 1960s film scores. The 2009 film Inglourious Basterds also uses many Morricone pieces, as well as sharing "Il Mercenario (Ripresa)" with Kill Bill.

Metallica uses Morricone's The Ecstasy of Gold as an intro at their concerts (shock jocks Opie and Anthony also use the song at the start of their XM Satellite Radio and CBS Radio shows.) The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra also played it on Metallica's Symphonic rock album S&M. Ramones used the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as a concert intro. The theme from A Fistful Of Dollars is also used as a concert intro by The Mars Volta.

His influence extends from Michael Nyman to Anna Calvi to Muse.^[27] He even has his own tribute band, a large group which started in Australia, touring as The Spaghetti Western Orchestra.

Morricone is mentioned by Myles, a musician/scorer (played by Jack Black in The Holiday), as creator of magical sounds that formed a character as much as lines of music in his films. This played out in a scene at a video rental store between Black and actress Kate Winslett.

In 2007, the tribute album We All Love Ennio Morricone was released. It features performances by various artists, including Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen and Metallica.

On their 2008 album "Red of Tooth and Claw" the independent rock band, Murder by Death, composed and included a song as a theme/tribute to Morricone entitled "Theme (for Ennio Morricone)."

British band Muse cites Morricone as an influence for the songs "City of Delusion", "Hoodoo", and "Knights of Cydonia" on their album Black Holes and Revelations.^{[citation needed]}. The band has recently started playing the song "Man With A Harmonica" live played by Chris Wolstenholme, as an intro to "Knights of Cydonia".^[28]

In January 2010, tenor Donald Braswell II released his album "We Fall and We Rise Again" on which he presented his tribute to Ennio Morricone with his original composition entitled "Ennio".

The score for The Thing 2011 prequel film composed by Marco Beltrami was inspired and uses several elements from Morricone's original soundtrack from the 1982 film of the same name.

Discography[link]

Ennio Morricone has sold over 50 million records worldwide,^[29][30] including 6.5 million copies in France^[31] and more than two million albums in Korea.^[32]

Top worldwide film grosses[link]

Ennio Morricone has been involved with eight movies grossing over $25 million at the box office:^[33]

Other successful movies with Morricone's work are Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 (2003, 2004) and Inglourious Basterds (2009), though the tracks used are sampled from older pictures.

Awards[link]

He received his first Academy Award nomination in 1979, for the score to Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978).^[34] He was later nominated for a further two awards; in 1986 for The Mission^[34] and in 1987 for The Untouchables.^[34] He later nominated for the score to Bugsy (Barry Levinson) (1991). His last nomination was for Malèna (2000).

Morricone and Alex North are the only composers to receive the Honorary Oscar since the award's introduction in 1928.^[35] North was nominated for fifteen Oscars, but like Morricone, he never won competitively.

Morricone received an honorary Academy Award on February 25, 2007, presented by Clint Eastwood, "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music." With the statuette came a standing ovation. Not only nominated five times, but also he received a lifetime achievement Oscar, five Baftas and two Golden Globes.^[36] In conjunction with the honor, Morricone released a tribute album, We All Love Ennio Morricone, that featured as its centerpiece Celine Dion's rendition of "I Knew I Loved You" (based on "Deborah's Theme" from Once Upon a Time in America), which she performed at the ceremony. Behind-the-scenes studio production and recording footage of "I Knew I Loved You" can be viewed in the debut episode of the QuincyJones.com Podcast.^[37] The lyric, as with Morricone's Love Affair, had been penned by Oscar-winning husband-and-wife duo Marilyn and Alan Bergman. Morricone's acceptance speech was in his native Italian tongue and was interpreted by Clint Eastwood, who stood to his left. Eastwood and Morricone had in fact met two days earlier—for the first time in 40 years—at a reception.

List of prizes and awards[link]

• 1965 – Nastro d'Argento for A Fistful of Dollars
• 1967 – Diapason d'Or
• 1969 – Premio Spoleto Cinema
• 1970 – Nastro d'argento for Metti una sera a cena
• 1971 – Nastro d'argento for Sacco e Vanzetti
• 1972 – Cork Film International for La califfa
• 1979 – Academy Awards nomination for Days of Heaven
• 1979 – Premio Vittorio de Sica
• 1981 – Premio della critica discografica for Il prato
• 1984 – Premio Zurlini
• 1985 – Nastro d'argento and BAFTA for Once Upon A Time In America
• 1986 – Academy Awards Nomination, BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards for The Mission
• 1986 – Premio Vittorio de Sica
• 1988 – Academy Awards nomination, Nastro d'argento, BAFTA and Grammy Awards for The Untouchables
• 1988 – David di Donatello for Gli occhiali d'oro
• 1989 – David di Donatello for Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
• 1989 – Ninth Annual Ace Winner for Il Giorno prima
• 1989 – Pardo d'Oro alla carriera Locarno Film Festival
• 1990 – BAFTA, Prix Fondation Sacem del XLIII Cannes Film Festival and David di Donatello for Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
• 1991 – David di Donatello for Stanno tutti bene
• 1992 – Academy Award nomination for Bugsy
• 1992 – Pentagramma d'oro
• 1992 – Premio Michelangelo
• 1992 – Grolla d'oro alla carriera (Saint Vincent)
• 1993 – David di Donatello and Efebo d'Argento for Jonas che visse nella balena
• 1993 – Globo d'oro Stampa estera in Italia
• 1993 – Gran Premio SACEM audiovisivi
• 1994 – ASCAP Golden Soundtrack Award (Los Angeles)
• 1995 – Premio Rota
• 1995 – Golden Lion Honorary Award by the Venice Film Festival
• 1996 – Premio citta' di Roma
• 1996 – Premio Cappelli
• 1996 – Premio Accademia di Santa Cecilia
• 1997 – Premio Flaiano
• 1998 – Columbus Prize
• 1999 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold Internationaler Preis für Film
• 1999 – Exsquibbidles Film Academy lifetime achievement award
• 2000 – Golden Globe for The Legend of 1900 (1998)
• 2000 – David di Donatello and Nastro d'argento for Canone Inverso
• 2000 – Academy Awards nomination for Malèna
• 2000 – Nastro d'argento for Malèna
• 2001 – Mikeldi de Honor at "Zinebi – International Festival of Documentary and Short Films" of Bilbao
• 2002 – Honorary Degree by the "Seconda Università" of Rome
• 2003 – Golden Eagle Award by the Russian National Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences of Russia for 72 Meters (film)
• 2003 – Honorary Senator of the Filmscoring Class of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München
• 2006 – Grand Officer OMRI, nominated by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
• 2007 – Honorary Academy Award for career achievement
• 2007 – The Film & TV Music Award for Lifetime Achievement
• 2007 – David di Donatello and Nastro d'argento for La sconosciuta
• 2008 – Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental, performed by Bruce Springsteen
• 2008 – Knight of the Legion of Honour
• 2009 – Medal of Merits for Macedonia^[38]
• 2009 – America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation
• 2010 – Polar Music Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of the Arts

Sources[link]

• Horace, B. Music from the Movies, film music journal double issue 45/46, 2005: ISSN 0967-8131
• Miceli, Sergio. Morricone, la musica, il cinema. Milan: Mucchi/Ricordi, 1994: ISBN 88-7592-398-1
• Miceli, Sergio. "Morricone, Ennio". The Nesw Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Poppi, R., M. Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film vol. 3. Dal 1960 al 1969. Gremese, 1993: ISBN 88-7605-593-2
• Poppi, R., M. Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film vol. 4. Dal 1970 al 1979* A/L. Gremese, 1996: ISBN 88-7605-935-0
• Poppi, R., M. Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film vol. 4. Dal 1970 al 1979** M/Z. Gremese, 1996: ISBN 88-7605-969-5
• Poppi, R., M. Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film vol. 5. Dal 1980 al 1989* A/L. Gremese, 2000: ISBN 88-7742-423-0
• Poppi, R., M. Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film vol. 5. Dal 1980 al 1989** M/Z. Gremese, 2000: ISBN 88-7742-429-X

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Lhassa, Anne, and Jean Lhassa: Ennio Morricone: biographie. Les Planches. Lausanne: Favre; [Paris]: [diff. Inter-forum], 1989. ISBN 2-8289-0418-0,
• Wagner, Thorsten. "Improvisation als 'weiteste Ausdehnung des Begriffs der aleatorischen Musik': Franco Evangelisti und die Improvisationsgruppe Nuova Consonanza". In ...hin zu einer neuen Welt: Notate zu Franco Evangelisti, edited by Harald Muenz.48-60, 2002. Saarbrücken: Pfau-Verlag. ISBN 3-89727-177-X.
• Webb, Michael D. Italian 20th Century Music: The Quest for Modernity. London: Kahn & Averill. ISBN 978-1-871082-89-0

External links[link]

	Book: Ennio Morricone
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ennio Morricone

Kathleen York
Occupation	Actress, songwriter, singer

Kathleen "Bird" York is an actress, screenwriter and Oscar nominated songwriter-recording artist.

York achieved global recognition with her song "In the Deep", (co-written with Michael Becker) which appears on her album Wicked Little High and was written for the 2004 film Crash. "In the Deep" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song with York performing the song live at the 78th Academy Awards in 2006.

As an actress, York has starred in over a hundred film and television projects. Credits include six seasons of the multi Emmy Award winning series The West Wing as Andrea Wyatt, Northern Lights with Diane Keaton, "Cold Feet" with Tom Waits, "A Season In Purgatory" opposite Patrick Dempsey, Charles Burnett's "Nightjohn" and Oscar winner Crash. York starred as a young Naomi Judd in Love Can Build a Bridge, the four hour NBC miniseries about Judd's life. Independent film credits include Cries of Silence, The Big Day, Ball Don't Lie. York was a series regular in the ABC series Vengeance Unlimited as well as Aaron's Way for NBC. Recurring roles include Stephen Bochco's Murder One, The O.C and Desperate Housewives. She appeared on the cult hit Curb Your Enthusiasm in the show's second season and is a series regular in Sony Television's drama The Client List.

Other music credits include the main theme song in Sony Pictures Seven Pounds, alongside Joss Stone, Lindsay Buckingham and Babyface in the televised Sundance concert Where Music Meets Film as well as featured song placements in House, 2010 season of American Idol, Nip/Tuck, CSI: NY, In Justice, Jake 2.0 and Everwood. She was the featured musical artist for the 2001 season of the CBS TV series Family Law writing and producing songs for numerous episodes.

Her latest EP Have No Fear was released on December 19, 2008 and a completed full record will be released in the summer of 2012.^{[dated info]} As a screenwriter, York has written projects for John Wells Warner Brothers, Sony, Paramount and has completed a one hour pilot for Fox Broadcasting Network in the 2011 development season. She is an alumnus of the Showrunners Training Program facilitated by the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The song 'In The Deep' was used as the background music in the trailer for the programme 'Ocean Giants', which screened on BBC 1 in the UK at 9pm on Sunday 14 August,

Discography[link]

• Bird York (Blissed Out Records 1999)
• The Velvet Hour (Blissed Out Records 2005)
• Wicked Little High (EMI 2006)
• Have No Fear (EP) (Blissed Out Records 2008)

External links[link]

• [1] Variety: Multihyphenate has knack for running show
• Official page
• Kathleen York at the Internet Movie Database
• Paste Magazine spotlight - 7/25 Band/Artist of the Week

Will Smith
Smith in 2011
Born	Willard Christopher Smith, Jr. (1968-09-25) September 25, 1968 (age 43) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Other names	The Fresh Prince
Occupation	Actor, producer, rapper
Years active	1985–1993, 1997–2005 (rapping), 1990–present (acting)
Spouse	Sheree Zampino (m. 1992–1995) «start: (1992)–end+1: (1996)»"Marriage: Sheree Zampino to Will Smith" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Will_Smith) Jada Pinkett Smith (m. 1997) «start: (1997)»"Marriage: Jada Pinkett Smith to Will Smith" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Will_Smith)
Children	Trey Smith Jaden Smith Willow Smith
Website
www.willsmith.com

Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968),^[1] also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood.^[2] Smith has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards, and has won multiple Grammy Awards.

In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the popular television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show ran for nearly six years (1990–1996) on NBC and has been syndicated consistently on various networks since then. In the mid-1990s, Smith moved from television to film, and ultimately starred in numerous blockbuster films. He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office and the only one to have eight consecutive films in which he starred open at #1 spot in the domestic box office tally.^[3]

Fourteen of the nineteen fiction films he has acted in have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million, and four took in over $500 million in global box office receipts. As of 2011, his films have grossed $5.7 billion in global box office.^[4] His most financially successful films have been Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Independence Day, Men in Black, Men in Black II, I, Robot, I Am Legend, Hancock, Wild Wild West, Enemy of the State, Shark Tale, Hitch and Seven Pounds. He also earned critical praise for his performances in Six Degrees of Separation, Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness, receiving Best Actor Oscar nominations for the latter two.

Family and early life[link]

Born and raised in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia, Smith also lived in Germantown in Northwest Philadelphia. His mother, Caroline (née Bright), was a school administrator who worked for the Philadelphia school board, and his father, Willard Christopher Smith, Sr., was a refrigeration engineer.^[5][6] He was raised Baptist.^[7] His parents separated when he was thirteen,^[8] and did not actually divorce until around 2000.^[9]

It is untrue, though widely reported, that Smith turned down a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); he never applied to the school,^[10] although he was admitted to a "pre-engineering program" there.^[9] According to Smith, "My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college."^[11]

Recording and acting career[link]

Smith at the Emmy Awards in 1993

Early work (1985–1995)[link]

Smith started as the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, with his childhood friend Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes as turntablist and producer,^[12] as well as Ready Rock C (Clarence Holmes) as the human beat box. The trio was known for performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Summertime".^[12] They gained critical acclaim and won the first Grammy awarded in the Rap category (1988).^[12]

Smith had a line in "Voices That Care", a 1991 Persian Gulf War song by a celebrity group. Smith spent money freely during his early career and underpaid his income taxes.^[12] The Internal Revenue Service eventually assessed a $2.8 million tax debt against Smith, took many of his possessions, and garnished his income.^[13] Smith was nearly bankrupt in 1990, when the NBC television network signed him to a contract and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, around him.^[12]

The show was successful and began his acting career. Smith set for himself the goal of becoming "the biggest movie star in the world," studying box office successes' common characteristics.^[8] His first major roles were in the drama Six Degrees of Separation (1993) and the action film Bad Boys (1995) which he starred opposite of Martin Lawrence.

Breakthrough (1996–2000)[link]

In 1996, Smith starred as part of an ensemble cast in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day. The film was a massive blockbuster, becoming the second highest grossing film in history at the time and establishing Smith as a prime box office draw.^[14] He later struck gold again in the summer of 1997 alongside Tommy Lee Jones in the summer hit Men in Black playing Agent J. In 1998, Smith starred with Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State.^[12]

He turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix in favor of Wild Wild West (1999). Despite the disappointment of Wild Wild West, Smith has said that he harbors no regrets about his decision, asserting that Keanu Reeves's performance as Neo was superior to what Smith himself would have achieved.^[15] Though in interviews subsequent to the release of Wild Wild West he stated that he "made a mistake on Wild Wild West. That could have been better."^[16]

2001–present[link]

Smith in September 2009

In 2005, Smith was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for attending a record breaking three premieres in a 24-hour time span.^[17]

He has planned to star in a feature film remake of the television series It Takes a Thief.^[18]

On December 10, 2007, Smith was recognized at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Smith left an imprint of his hands and feet outside the world renowned theater in front of many fans.^[19] Later that month, Smith starred in the film I Am Legend, released December 14, 2007. Despite marginally positive reviews,^[20] its opening was the largest ever for a film released in the United States during December. Smith himself has said that he considers the film to be "aggressively unique".^[21] A reviewer said that the film's commercial success "cemented [Smith's] standing as the number one box office draw in Hollywood."^[22] On December 1, 2008, TV Guide reported that Smith has been selected as one of America’s top ten most fascinating people of 2008 for a Barbara Walters ABC special that aired on December 4, 2008.^[23]

Smith is currently developing a film entitled The Last Pharaoh, in which he will star as Taharqa.^[24]

President Barack Obama has stated that if a film were to ever be made about his life, he would have Smith play his part, because "he has the ears". Obama stated that the two have discussed a possibility of a film based on the 2008 election, but this may not happen until the end of the Obama presidency.^[25]

Men in Black III opened on May 25, 2012. In it, Smith will play Agent J for the third time, being one of his more popular earlier roles coincides with the fact that it will be his first major starring role in four years.

On August 19, 2011, it was announced^[26] that Smith had returned to the studio with producer La Mar Edwards to make a new album. Edwards has worked with artists such as T.I., Chris Brown, and Game.

Smith and his son, Jaden, are currently filming After Earth, which is set for a 2013 release.

Personal life[link]

Nobel Peace Prize Concert December 11, 2009, in Oslo, Norway: Smith with wife Jada and children Jaden and Willow

Smith was raised by his parents in West Philadelphia. Smith credits his father's dedication when discussing his involvement in the lives of his own children: "I look at my father and how he was able to keep four kids fed and clothed and still managed to find time to spend with us."^[27] Smith married Sheree Zampino in 1992. They had a son, Willard Christopher Smith III, also known as "Trey", but divorced in 1995. Trey appeared in his father's music video for the 1998 single "Just the Two of Us".

Smith married actress Jada Pinkett in 1997. Together they have had two children: Jaden Christopher Syre (born 1998), his co-star in The Pursuit of Happyness, and Willow Camille Reign (born 2000), who appeared as his daughter in I Am Legend. Along with his brother, Harry Smith, he owns Treyball Development Inc.,^[28] a Beverly Hills-based company named after his first son. Smith and his family reside on Star Island in Miami Beach, Florida and in Los Angeles, Stockholm, Sweden^[29] and Philadelphia.

Smith was consistently listed in Fortune Magazine's "Richest 40" list of the forty wealthiest Americans under the age of 40. He donated $4,600 to the presidential campaign of Democrat Barack Obama.^[30] On December 11, 2009, Smith and his wife hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, when Obama had won the prize.^[31]

Smith has said he has studied multiple religions, including Scientology, and he has said many complimentary things about Scientology and other faiths. Despite his praise of Scientology, Smith said "I just think a lot of the ideas in Scientology are brilliant and revolutionary and non-religious"^[32][33] and "Ninety-eight percent of the principles in Scientology are identical to the principles of the Bible.... I don't think that because the word someone uses for spirit is 'thetan' that the definition becomes any different."^[34] He has denied having joined the Church of Scientology, saying "I am a Christian. I am a student of all religions, and I respect all people and all paths."^[35]

Smith gave $1.3 million to charities in 2007, of which $450,000 went to two Christian ministries, and $122,500 went to three Scientology organizations; the remaining beneficiaries included "a Los Angeles mosque, other Christian-based schools and churches, and [...] the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Center in Israel".^[36] Smith and his wife have also founded a private elementary school in Calabasas, California, the New Village Leadership Academy, which uses Study Technology, a teaching methodology developed by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology.^[37] Federal tax filing showed that Will Smith donated $1.2 million to the school in 2010.^[38]

In 2012 he expressed support for the legalizing of same-sex marriage, in an endorsement of president Barack Obama's declaration to adopt this stance on the issue.^[39]

Discography[link]

With DJ Jazzy Jeff[link]

• Rock the House (1987)
• He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper (1988)
• And in This Corner... (1989)
• Homebase (1991)
• Code Red (1993)

Solo[link]

• Big Willie Style (1997)
• Willennium (1999)
• Born to Reign (2002)
• Lost and Found (2005)

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Film[link]

Box office grosses[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Iannucci, Lisa (2009). Will Smith: A Biography. Greenwood. ISBN 0-313-37610-7. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Will Smith

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Will Smith

• Official website
• Will Smith at the Internet Movie Database
• Will Smith at Yahoo! Movies
• Will Smith on Charlie Rose in 2002
• Will Smith at People.com
• Will Smith discography at MusicBrainz

Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown performing in 2005
Background information
Born	(1928-01-12)January 12, 1928 Portsmouth, Virginia, United States
Died	November 17, 2006(2006-11-17) (aged 78) Henderson, Nevada, United States
Genres	Pop, R&B, jazz, soul, gospel, funk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress, record producer
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards
Years active	1949–2006
Labels	Atlantic, Philips, Fantasy

Ruth Brown (January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, composer and actress also known as "Queen of R&B" noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as "So Long", "Teardrops from My Eyes" and "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean".^[1] For these contributions, Atlantic became known as "The house that Ruth built" (alluding to the popular nickname for Old Yankee Stadium).^[2][3]

Following a resurgence that began in the mid-1970s and peaked in the 1980s, Brown used her influence to press for musicians' rights regarding royalties and contracts, which led to the founding of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.^[4] Her performances in the Broadway musical, Black and Blue, earned Brown a Tony Award, and the original cast recording won a Grammy Award.