Good Ol’ Boys Movie, Island Have Common Tie: Nathan Barr
By Ryan Schlehuber

At left: Film composer Nathan Barr completed his latest work in Los Angeles for the summer hit movie “Dukes of Hazzard.” Helping him produce and play the background music for scenes in the movie was the legendary ZZ Top lead guitarist Billy Gibbons. Pictured are (from left) director Jay Chandrasekhar, Billy Gibbons, Nathan Barr, and co-producer and mixer Peter Cobbin. (Photograph courtesy of Lisbeth Scott)

What do Mackinac Island and the new movie “Dukes of Hazzard” have in common? It would be film composer Nathan Barr, whose family resides on the Island.

Mr. Barr, the son of Penny and John Barr of the West Bluff and Bronxville, New York, is a film composer in Los Angeles and composed the music for one of this summer’s biggest motion pictures, “Dukes of Hazzard.”

Mr. Barr has been in L.A. since 1996, when he went to study under Hans Zimmer, an Academy Award-winning film composer of “Lion King.” Since then, Mr. Barr has composed dozens of scores for movies including “Broken Lizard’s Club Dread” in 2004, “Cabin Fever” in 2002, “Briar Patch” in 2001, and “From Dusk Til Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter” in 2000.

His latest project, “Dukes of Hazzard,” was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, who was also the director of “Club Dread.” He helped Mr. Barr land the “Dukes” project, Mr. Barr said.

The “Dukes of Hazzard” movie, released this summer, is a spin-off of the classic television series. The movie stars Jessica Simpson (who played Daisy), country singer Willie Nelson (Uncle Jessie), and Seann William Scott and Johnny Knoxville, who played Bo and Luke Duke, respectively.

As a film composer, Mr. Barr is hired by a movie studio, such as Warner Brothers for the “Dukes” movie, to write background music that is played with each scene in the movie. The musical bits for each scene is called a film score. Film scores are generally specially written for the film and often are used to heighten emotions provoked by the imagery on the screen or by the dialogue.

For a lot of movies, film scores are performed by orchestras, which vary in size, from a small ensemble to a huge number of musicians, perhaps including a choir. Mr. Barr said the classic movie series “Star Wars” is an excellent example of film scores with orchestrated music.

Since he loves both music and films, film composing has been a natural career.

Mr. Barr’s favorite film scoring movies are the work of John Bryan in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” which stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, and Gabriel Yared’s work in “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” starring Matt Damon.

For the “Dukes” movie, Mr. Barr used mostly hard rock and some American south music.

The most exciting part of composing the movie, he said, was working with ZZ Top’s lead guitarist Billy Gibbons.

“We spent a whole day in the studio and he played the music I wrote,” said Mr. Barr. “He did some of his own solos, too. I’m a fan of ZZ Top, so this was really fun for me to meet him and work with him.”

With the “Dukes” project, Mr. Barr said he learned that it takes a lot of work to be noticed in Hollywood and that it takes a lot of fight to land a project such as the “Dukes of Hazzard.”

He credits director Jay Chandrasekhar for helping him land the job with Warner Brothers. He beat out 100 other film composers.

“When no one knows who you are, it’s hard to land something like this,” he said.

Now that he has successfully completed this movie, Nathan Barr may become more familiar in the realm of movie-making.

“That was huge for my career,” he admitted. “It was definitely one of the most fun movies I have done.”

Composing music for the movie took four months , as Mr. Barr watched scene after scene, finding the right music to go with each scene. He said he has watched the movie in its entirety about four times.

His next project is film scoring a Quentin Tarantino movie called “Hostel,” a dark movie set to be released November 11. Mr. Barr will travel to Prague in October to record a 70 piece orchestra for the film.

He has come a long way from being a maintenance worker and dishwasher for the Iroquois Hotel on Mackinac Island years ago, he said.

“The Island is an inspiration to me because it’s a quiet and wonderful place to go and rejuvenate yourself,” said Mr. Barr, who visited the Island several weeks ago to attend the wedding of his brother, Christian, and Carmen Aranda August 20. He also has a sister, Jennifer.

“I always like coming back to the Island; I wish I could visit more,” Mr. Barr said. “But I love L.A., too. It has grown on me like a fungus,” he said, laughing.

He lives in there with his wife, Lisbeth Scott.