ScoreNotes: Please tell us about the style of music you composed for Splice and what audiences can expect from the music in the film.
Cyrille Aufort: I think the score for Splice is a blend of several musical styles, like DREN the hybrid creature in the movie. On the one hand I tried to be close to the musical style we can encounter in this kind of movie (horror film). On the other hand I always did know that Vincenzo wanted to add something else to his film, some kind of romantic quality to it. That’s why a part of the score has a romantic touch that maybe goes against the horror norm. That’s the thing the audiences can expect from the music.

ScoreNotes: Did you enjoy working in this science fiction/horror genre musically and did you find any aspect of this project particularly challenging?
Cyrille Aufort: Yes, it was great to do. I enjoyed it a lot, most of all working with Vincenzo. It was the first time I composed for an horror movie. The most challenging element was to move between different moods of music in a very short time, from pure atmospheric and non melodic cues suddenly switching to some lyrical music. One of the most challenging scenes was the love scene between Adrien Brody (Clive) and DREN (Délphine Chanéac). That scene is morally ambiguous and I remember that Vincenzo wanted music to play on the sensuality of Dren’s character avoiding all the clichés like orchestral FX, scratching etc.. So I re-used DREN's theme with a very aerial orchestration. It’s a kind of expressionist music that you can hear on that cue.

ScoreNotes: Playing to the horror components of Splice, what aspects of this film might audiences find to be the most disturbing?
Cyrille Aufort: I think the treatment of motherhood, birth and sex are probably the most disturbing elements in the movie. Splice is not a traditional horror film in the way that terror doesn’t come from what you see on screen but from the relationship existing between the three principal characters which is a kind of love triangle.

ScoreNotes: How interactive was Vincenzo Natali with your scoring duties and what was it like collaborating with this talented and creative director? 
Cyrille Aufort: Vincenzo is really an open-minded director. He always listened to the demos two or three times before giving me his first impression. He really took the time to understand the musical direction I had chosen to illustrate a scene. I never felt that he had any preconceived ideas about the score but he knew perfectly in which direction the music should go. I used to send him the audio demo by internet and we’d have a lot of debriefing moments together by webcam. I consider I have been granted a lot of freedom in the composition of the music and I know it has been a great chance working with such a talented director. Vincenzo is great at motivating people into giving the best they can, he’s really an enthusiastic person.

ScoreNotes: Do you anticipate teaming up with Vincenzo on future projects?
Cyrille Aufort: I’d really love to work with Vincenzo on future projects. For the moment it’s certainly a bit early as Splice is not yet even released in France and in Europe. So wait and see…. 

ScoreNotes: Being based in France, what type of projects do you normally find yourself associated with over there and do you have an interest in transitioning to Hollywood one day?
Cyrille Aufort: This year I worked for different kinds of movies. I composed the score for L’âge De Raison directed by Yann Samuell with Sophie Marceau in the leading role. It’s a comedy of sorts quite different from Splice. I also worked on a documentary about the history of Vietnam during the second half of the 20th century : L’empire Du Milieu Du Sud directed by Jacques Perrin (Océan) and Eric Deroo. I occasionally work on TV films and sometimes as an orchestral arranger for French singers . Of course transitioning to Hollywood one day would be great, Hollywood for me is the temple of film music. What else can one dream of ? 

ScoreNotes: As a follow-up to that, what is your opinion about the types of films and scores that are being produced in Hollywood today? 
Cyrille Aufort: I’m a big fan of Hollywood movies and many American film scores are works of reference to me. I’m always blown away when I hear the music of great composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Thomas Newman… I think there is a technical know-how that it’s difficult to find elsewhere.

I feel that at the moment there is a trend of adapting TV series for film. Here in France, we have a lot of incoming movies from hollywood like that; and like with every trend the audience eventually grows weary.

ScoreNotes: What would you say is your overall philosophy when it comes to composing and what do you enjoy most about the craft?
Cyrille Aufort: When I’m working on a movie, I always try to keep in mind the primary feeling I had during the first screening. I remember a leitmotiv that one of my teachers would tell me : “Take heed of your first impression because it’s the good one”. I really think that cinema is the expression of a primary art ; what grabs the audiences is always the primary feeling. I try to work in that way, I try to be instinctive. When people go to the theater to watch a movie, they have to be convinced at the first viewing of the movie, filmmakers don’t generally have a second chance.