New details have been revealed about the highly-anticipated upcoming adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, with Oscar-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir confirming she’s scoring the movie.
Hildur, who won an Oscar for her work on 2019 film Joker, told Variety that working on the new project with Billie Eilish, who is starring as the lead character Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar, has made a “huge difference”.
She said: “[Working with a fellow Oscar-winning musician like Eilish] makes a huge difference. You know she understands the process that goes into writing music, so what you write can really resonate with her.”
Hildur started collaborating with Billie before the singer even stepped onto the set to shoot her first scenes.
And she said of the process: “We talked about what we envisioned for the music, and how we could translate what Sylvia experiences into it.
“For me, the core of Plath’s writing is that she’s searching for identity. She keeps asking, ‘Who am I?’ and then uses her writing to understand that.
“Billie, Sarah [Polley, The Bell Jar writer and director] and I have been exploring how we hear that, how to translate it into music, and what music Sylvia herself might have been listening to.”
Adding to the anticipation surrounding the film adaptation of Plath’s 1963 novel, Hildur said working on it has been a career highlight for her.
She gushed: “It’s one of the most exciting projects I’ve ever done. Sarah and I are good friends, so getting to tell this story with her is amazing. I think it’s one of the most amazing books ever written.”
Other cast members in The Bell Jar include Carey Mulligan, Lili Taylor and Connor Storrie.