Oscar winning film composer Dario Marianelli scored his first two films in Ireland and is looking forward to returning for the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival before the Academy Awards.
The Italian composer who won an Oscar for his work on Atonement and has been nominated for Anna Karenina will be in Dublin for a special concert where the National Concert Hall and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra will celebrate his music.
Speaking to RTÉ TEN, he said: "I never really thought of becoming a film composer, until I found myself doing it, almost by accident. Scoring my first movie in Dublin was a great experience, and made me seriously consider it as a possible career."
Marianelli won an Oscar for Atonement and was nominated for Pride and Prejudice and Anna Karenina
When asked about working in Ireland on I Went Down, he said: "I Went Down was my second movie with Paddy Breathnach: we had previously worked together on his first feature film, Ailsa, about three years earlier, in 1994. He had found a tape of my theatre music in a friend's house, and liked it so much he offered me to score his film. Three years later he came back for more!
"I have wonderful memories of working with him and with his Irish crew, and found the energy of those days unforgettable. Walking through Temple Bar you could feel something was happening in Dublin, and there was a great desire to make things happen.
"On Ailsa there was very little money to spend, but it would go a long way, out of sheer goodwill of making things happen."
Keira Knightley plays Anna Karenina in the film which has been nominated for four Oscars
Speaking about what he is most looking forward to when he returns, he said: "Just to have a great evening with my friends in Dublin and bring some of my more recent music.
"A fair bit of water has flown under several bridges since I last worked in Ireland."
Marianelli’s Irish concert will take place on February 19 and the Oscars are on February 24, so it’ll be a busy few days if he is planning on attending the ceremony: "I will, of course! I am going over with my oldest daughter, who is about to explode with excitement. I am looking forward to see some of my fellow composers, who I admire very much, and spend a crazy weekend trying to stay sober at least some of the time!"
