Carter Burwell Wiki: Composer, Net Worth, Twilight, Carol & Facts To Know

Hopefully, you have watched “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”, a drama film that was released last year. The film was directed by Martin McDonald and stars Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. In the film, a mother depicted by McDormand rents three billboards rents three billboards to call attention to the unsolved murder of her daughters. The movie was a great success and has won several awards thanks to the crew including the composer, Carter Burwell. Burwell’s responsibility is to create the music in the films. Just like people know about the actors, they should also know people like Burwell who work behind the scenes to make the films outstanding. So, who is Carter Burwell? 63-year-old Carter Burwell was born in New York City and he is an American composer who has worked on films like “Twilight,” “Carol,” “Fargo,” “Wonderstruck,” “Bella’s Lullaby,” and the 2017 movie “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” Burwell’s mother, Natalie is a math teacher and his father Charles Burwell founded Thaibok Fabrics, Ltd. After graduating from King School in Stamford, Burwell joined Harvard College where he studied alongside notable people including George Hofecker. The composer was a cartoonist for the Harvard Lampoon. Burwell has been working with Ocean brothers for a long while now.

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is darkly comedic and the mother depicted by McDormand fights against the police months after her daughter was murdered and the investigation is on a standstill. She even makes it worst and takes the war to another level when she displays a controversial message directed at the beloved Woody Harrelson, the beloved sheriff on the billboards resulting to one hell of a battle never witnessed before. Carter Burwell was figuring how to score on the film because the character dynamics looked intense and shifted constantly. The composer asked the director what the movie was all about and Martin told Burwell that it was simply a woman at war with the police. But Burwell didn’t get it until Martin described Mildred the mother of the murdered daughter, wearing overalls and putting her hair up like she was going to war. From there, Burwell figured out that music was something she was putting on and taking off. He then made a ‘war’ march with mandolin, guitar and other string instruments alongside a stomp-clap rhythm.

The ‘war’ march helped to bring out Mildred’s violence and vengeance. So, Burwell used a folksy idiom for the fictional Ebbing that is on the heart of America. The composer also created other themes to amplify Mildred’s motivation which is the agony her daughter suffered under her rapists and murderers. The theme would help to create sympathy for questionable acts like firebombing the police station. Burwell stated that he also had to create a theme of ‘loss’ to elicit sympathy for her situation and choices. So the composer used a string guitar, piano and a clarinet as well as other strings. Burwell tried to keep it intimate because the character is alone mostly. If this is how Burwell makes his net worth, well, it’s not easy. No wonder he was nominated for an Oscar 2018.

The director sent the film’s screenplay to Burwell before shooting the film to prepare him for the work ahead. The composer then tried to figure out what would drive him to a particular direction and he started with an approach coming from Spaghetti Westerns, which was composing a theme for every main character in the film. However, it didn’t work due to characters’ importance in the movie script, for example, Dixon who become a vital character later in the film. Burwell decided to take another direction while maintaining the Western approach. When Burwell saw the finished film, he chose to focus on Mildred as the center of the film, and he then composed the themes that would reflect on her.

Burwell believes that one doesn’t have to know much about what goes on with film music and set themselves apart from other composers because in film music there’s a lot of mediocrity. Burwell stated that someone could get by without giving out too much as long as the director was happy and the film worked. The composer stated that he had never been approached by anyone and told to make really good music for a film. They usually ask Burwell to compose music that works because that’s what they want.

There is a character similar to Mildred Hayes known as Mildred Pierce, a character from a novel, “Todd Haynes,” authored by James Cain. They both have the same first name, both are divorced from a place people don’t get divorced, and both have a masculine temper and are strong female characters. Burwell denied that he used them in the composing process and got an inspiration from the book.

According to Net Worth Assets, Carter Burwell has a net worth of $1.3 million. Burwell has, of course, made most of his net worth from composing for films like “Twilight,” “Carol,” “Fargo,” “Wonderstruck,” and “Bella’s Lullaby.”

Composing is not an easy job and people like Burwell work hard through challengers for you to get a movie that won’t make you feel bored. Therefore, he deserves the Oscar 2018 award.