M83 to score Tom Cruise sci-fi epic ‘Oblivion’

When we interviewed M83’s Anthony Gonzalez earlier this year, the French epic-electronica producer mentioned film work as a major new goal. Recounting a trip to Joshua Tree, he said: “You just drive for an hour, and it’s like being in a sci-fi movie out there, which was perfect for the kind of music I make.�

He can now check “sci-fi epic score-writing� off that list -- he’s been tapped to compose original music for Tom Cruise’s new thriller, “Oblivion.�

The Playlist reports that the film’s director, Joseph Kosinski, who previously helmed�Tron: Legacy�(which had an original score by another French electronica act, Daft Punk), is a longtime fan of M83’s synethetic enormity, listing to “Before the Dawn Heals Us� and other of the band’s albums while working on the story. The film is set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia where Cruise plays a drone repairman whose life is upended when he rescues a mysterious stranger.

Gonzalez’s latest album as M83, “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming,� earned wide praise for its mix of titanic electronics and earnest pop vocals. He told the Playlist, “I’m always trying to push myself and I try to do it with my studio albums, and now this is a new adventure, so I’m going to push myself even harder, and try to surprise people and move people with my music...My vision is really to have a combination of very electronic moments, very M83, and sometimes merge into something more soundtrack-y, but my kind of soundtracks.�

The film, from Universal, already has an expected release date of April 26, 2013. The band’s next L.A. show is at FYF Fest in September.

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