Posted in: Interview, Movies | Tagged: Aaron Gilhuis, Queen of the Ring, Sumerian Pictures

Queen of the Ring Composer on Influences, Reception, Future & More

Composer Aaron Gilhuis (Life by Ella) spoke to Bleeding Cool about his influences, wrestling fans reception to Queen of the Ring & more.

Composer Aaron Gilhuis has amassed an impressive filmography since making his debut in 2012, working his way up across all genres from shorts, TV, film, and video games, with his most notable work on the AppleTV+ shows Me and Life by Ella. His latest is a unique challenge of telling the story of wrestling legend and pioneer Mildred Burke in the biopic Queen of the Ring, based on the biography of the same name by Jeff Leen. The film stars Emily Bett Rickards as Burke, busting into the wrestling scene at the time when women weren't allowed in the ring and gaining the respect of her peers. Gilhuis spoke to Bleeding Cool to share his influences, navigating through the film's climactic scene, what other IPs he'd be interested in, and the film's reception from wrestling fans.

Queen of the Ring Composer Aaron Gilhuis on Building Up to Mildred Burke's Climactic Fight

Bleeding Cool: What are your biggest career influences?

My biggest influences? It's a wide gamut. It was Hans Zimmer who got me interested in film scoring after hearing his influential scores for 'The Dark Knight' (2008) and 'Inception' (2010). Then I got into Thomas Newman, James Newton Howard, and Johnny Greenwood are super inspirational to me. The late Jóhann Jóhannsson, I was a huge fan of his work, so it's a range and gamut depending on my mood. Either a Thomas Newman, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Johnny Greenwood, or it goes all over the place

Was there a particular scene that took more time to get through than others?

The climax of the movie is the longest scene, and it's a challenge as far as keeping it fresh, keeping the tension up, and the audience engaged. We did a good job in the first half of the big end climactic match. It has a ton of tension and score. It has [Millie's] full theme, resurged in its biggest form, full orchestra, guitars, banjos, and all, and then it's split up between that and the end of the fight, which gets savage, chaotic, brutal, fun, and kick ass. That has a different kind of cue, which is one of the covers we did, which is a score blending of never-ending moments mixed with our score instrumentation. It's got a cool, kick-ass vibe for the last six or seven minutes. That was the longest scene, and splitting it up between those two sections was a blast. It's a huge payoff for the audience.

Was there a particular genre you feel more at home with than others?

Any project can be a unique creative expression or a unique creative challenge that gets me excited. It's not necessarily genre; it's people, and it's the creativity of the project I can get excited about. I've worked in all the different genres; you name it, I've dabbled in it a bit. I do everything from this: a big sweeping Hollywood score mixed with the folk Americana blues to full synth sci-fi, synth wave-type stuff. I have all these instruments and all these synths. Anything I can get my hands on and experiment with gets me excited. Not a specific genre, but the creativity of it.

Was there anything you hope to do in the future or whatever comes your way?

Let's think about that for a second. It's all over the place. Sometimes, I think I want to do more creative, dramedy-type projects. Another time, I want to do a Western or, perhaps, more sci-fi all over the place. It's project-specific that gets me excited.

Would an IP like Star Wars, Star Trek, DC, or Marvel excite you at all?

I'm a huge DC and Star Wars fan. I'd love it if I could get a call from James Gunn; that would be a dream come true. 'Star Wars' is like the white whale of composers. There are so few people who are going to get that call. I try not to think about it as much as a dream as it would be. I mean, who wouldn't want to work on Star Wars, anybody?

Well, Aaron, I want to thank you for your time. You do brilliant work, and I enjoyed your score in 'Queen of the Ring' in part because of the mood you bring. As a pro wrestling fan growing up, I was curious about having to view it with a singular lens and appreciate the time and the period compared to everything with the glitz and glamor that has evolved throughout the years. It's so dramatically different now from what it was then.

I heard from a lot of wrestling fans that there are a lot of cool Easter eggs in the movie for diehard fans, and you can tell Ash is a fan. He wanted the fans to love this and the wrestling fans to love this project, so I'm super thrilled to be a part of that.

Queen of the Ring, which also stars Josh Lucas, Tyler Posey, Francesca Eastwood, Marie Avgeropoulos, Deborah Ann Woll, Cara Buono, Adam Demos, Martin Kove, Kelli Berglund, Damaris Lewis, Gavin Casalegno, and Walton Goggins returns to select theaters on May 9th.

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