Marvin Hamlisch

Marvin Hamlisch is the Superman of composing. True to form, Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh asked Hamlisch to write and compose the score for his latest movie, The Informant!, a true story about the company executive whistleblower to the FBI, Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon). The original score by Hamlisch is composed of upbeat, jazzy songs that captivate the characters emotions and enhance the movie

Hamlisch assures audiences that although The Informant! is considered to be a dark comedy, his music is not dark at all; it is upbeat and perhaps even quirky at times. In fact, the quirky music was centered around Damon’s character, who was bipolar.

“Because the person was bipolar the music was key. I tried to give voice to what was going on in his head,” Hamlisch said.

Although Hamlisch has experienced wild success he is surprisingly down to earth when he refers to people he has worked with in the past like Barbara Streisand in passing as, “Barbara”. The extraordinarily humble and funny Hamlisch explained that although when he is going into a project he is not sure what will be a hit or not he has been “wildly surprised at some that will be a big hit…Try to enhance the film…Try to give the film some extra stuff.” Obviously, he knows exactly what the “stuff” is and where to find it!

Hamlisch teamed up for the eleventh time with lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman to write their original song, “Trust Me”. To add a special touch to the film, Hamlisch wanted to garnish it with a song. He called upon the Bergmans because they are “very politically smart. The song needed something funny and very tough.” Together they created a song about the AIG scandal of the 1990s that had lyrics saying, “have so much fun using other peoples money.”

Hamlisch was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for The Informant!, but did not win. Currently he is the lead conductor of the National Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Seattle Symphony and San Diego Symphony. He also has received Emmys for his collaboration with Barbara Streisand and her U.S. tour.