WITH ORIGINAL SCORE BY JAMIE CHRISTOPHERSON
Marks The 7th Collaboration Between Christopherson and ESX Productions
Composer Jamie Christopherson (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, The Crow: Wicked Prayer) is proud to have composed music for the film American Wrestler: The Wizard. A soundtrack is being planned for a summer release.
American Wrestler: The Wizard marks the seventh collaboration between Christopherson, director Alex Ranarivelo, and producer Ali Afshar/ESX Productions. Their other collaborations include The Dog Lover, Born To Race, Born To Race: Fast Track, Running Wild (released on DVD this past April) and the upcoming film Dirt.
In this inspiring tale based on true events, 17-year-old Ali Jahani is a newcomer to a small California town, where he stands out as different in an unwelcoming community. Living with his embittered uncle, the boy faces a mountain of adversity everywhere he turns. Rejected by everyone but determined to fit in, he joins the school’s floundering wrestling team. With a chance to change how others see him, Ali must step up and learn to be a hero. American Wrestler: The Wizard will be screened nationwide by Fathom Events on May 3rd and will be available through other platforms later this summer.
“I wanted to stay away from cliché Middle Eastern music scales,” Christopherson explained. The main character, Ali, is trying to assimilate into American culture. While he doesn’t forget where he came from, he is hopeful about starting a new life, and the music is meant to reflect that.“
In addition to writing the original score for the film, Christopherson co-composed the song “Rise”, performed by Iranian-Armenian singer Andy (featuring Shani).
“Just like the film, the score is a clash of cultures and sounds,” said Christopherson. There are elements of sweeping Americana sports themes, intense Middle Eastern drums, traditional Iranian instruments and even some 80s synths. These musical elements beautifully blend together during different times in the film.”
Whether it be writing evocative orchestral music, recording world instruments on location in exotic places or programming cutting-edge modern synths, multi-award-winning composer Jamie Christopherson has built a reputation for consistently delivering unique, fresh and unexpected scores. He constantly experiments with new ways to create music that gets to the heart of a project, while always infusing his signature style into the vision of the director and producers.
Jamie’s most recent films include the off-road racing film Dirt and the indie drama Pray for Rain. He has also completed the music for several AAA video games such as Konami’s Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Ubisoft’s The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot. Jamie also co-composed additional music for composer Marcelo Zarvos on Showtime Network shows Ray Donovan and The Affair.
