‘First Love’ Filmmaker A.J. Edwards on Heartbreak of Losing Original Score by Arcade Fire Musician

On June 17, filmmaker A.J. Edwards debuts his third feature, a drama titled First Love starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Sydney Park, Diane Kruger and Jeffrey Donovan. But Edwards, who also wrote the script about a young man’s journey into adulthood, is having trouble fully committing to the celebration because while audiences will see his true vision on the big screen, they won’t hear it.

After turning in a cut of the film in December, he was informed that the score, done by Richard Reed Parry, a Grammy Award-winning member of the band Arcade Fire, would have to be replaced. “My hope is not to air out laundry and point fingers because nothing can be done now,” Edwards tells THR of the move, a decision made by the partners on the film, Voltage Pictures, to bring in composer George Kallis who previously worked on two films in the company’s After franchise, which stars Fiennes Tiffin as a way to somehow mirror the appeal of that franchise.

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“My hope is simply that the true form of this film — the one containing Richy’s score — does have a future and does have an audience and, at the very least, I want people to know about it,” he said of Parry’s work, calling him a “generous, thoughtful and emotionally intelligent partner” on the project. “He did beautiful work and it melds the performances and the heart of the film in the way it was intended.”

Voltage declined comment.

A distribution source chalked up the switch to “an internal decision” while noting that everyone in the division is “happy with how the film came out. A.J. shot a great movie, George did a great job on the score and all the actors gave incredibly strong performances.”

Edwards says the same about the film’s talent. “Despite what’s happened, I’m proud of the film and feel that it might be my strongest yet because of what the cast brought,” says the auteur who previously directed Age Out starring Tye Sheridan and Imogen Poots and The Better Angels starring Kruger, Jason Clarke, Brit Marling and Wes Bentley. “And how they truly absorbed the script. They all did really soulful, thoughtful work. Everything up to this last point in post-production was so rewarding and I was thrilled at what was being created and finished. That’s what makes the disheartening end such a disappointment.”

First Love, also from Vertical Entertainment and Fortitude, is due for release June 17.

Courtesy of Voltage Pictures

This story first appeared in the June 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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