Christopher Lennertz scores Identity Thief
Posted on March 20, 2013 by Dan Goldwasser
This past December, composer Christopher Lennertz recorded his score for the #1 hit comedy Identity Thief, directed by Seth Gordon. The film marks the second time Lennertz worked with Gordon, after 2011’s Horrible Bosses. The film, which stars Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, opened on February 8th and has grossed over $100 million, making it one of the top box office films of the year to date.

Like Horrible Bosses, Lennertz’s score is a fusion of orchestral music and rock band elements. The orchestra was recorded at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros., while the rock elements were recorded at Lennertz’s own studio, Sonic Fuel Studios, in El Segundo, CA.

Composer Christopher Lennertz and director Seth Gordon

The Hollywood Studio Symphony performs on Identity Thief

The strings
The 63-piece orchestra was conducted by Lennertz, recording on top of demo versions of the band cues. In the booth, Lennertz was assisted by synth programmer Philip White, orchestrator Andrew Kinney, scoring coordinators Alex Bornstein and Drew Silverstein, scoring mixer Jeff Vaughn, music editor Todd Bozung and digital score recordist Kevin Globerman.

The brass section

The French horns

Pianist Mike Lang

Score coordinator Alex Bornstein, orchestrator Andrew Kinney, score coordinator Drew Silverstein, and scoring mixer Jeff Vaughn
At Sonic Fuel Studios, Lennertz incorporated a full band including Alanis Morissette’s guitarist Joel Shearer, Feist’s percussionist Davey Chegwiggen, Beck’s drummer Victor Indrizzo, The Blues Brothers’ harmonica player Jimmie Wood, The Beach Boys’ harmonica player Tommy Morgan, Vintage Trouble’s guitarist Ty Taylor and The Beastie Boys’ keyboardist Money Mark, as well as other musicians.

Guitarist Joel Shearer

Percussionist Davey Chedwiggen

Victor Indrizzo on drums

Jim Cox on keyboard

Composer Christopher Lennertz, music editor Todd Bozung, digital score recordist Kevin Globerman, scoring mixer Jeff Vaughn, and second engineer Keith Ukrisna
The soundtrack album for Identity Thief is available from Universal’s Back Lot Music on iTunes, and on CD from La-La Land Records.

The band at Sonic Fuel Studios
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