Marco Beltrami: Max Payne

Continuing to provide the musical accompaniment to director John Moore's visuals, Marco Beltrami will compose the original score for Max Payne, the film version of the 2001 Rockstar video game which is being produced by 20th Century Fox. Beltrami is currently one of the busiest composers in Hollywood: he recently scored Amusement, The Hurt Locker and In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead, all coming soon, and has sci-fi thrillers Repossession Mambo and Knowing on his future schedule. Max Payne stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and Beau Bridges and is the third collaboration between Moore and Beltrami after Flight of the Phoenix and The Omen.

David Hirschfelder: Australia

20th Century Fox has confirmed to Upcoming Film Scores that David Hirschfelder is the composer who is writing the original score for Baz Luhrmann's eaglery awaited epic Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Luhrmann previously worked with Hirschfelder on his breakthrough picture Strictly Ballroom, but his two subsequent feature films have been scored by Craig Armstrong. Anton Monsted, who worked on both Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet, as well as the Hirschfelder-scored Aquamarine, serves as the film's executive music supervisor. Trackdown's Simon Leadley is the music editor. Film is scheduled to premiere on November 14.

Rupert Gregson-Williams: The Lonely Maiden

Rupert Gregson-Williams has been hired to write his second score for director Peter Hewitt, for whom he scored Thunderpants in 2002. Their new film is entitled The Lonely Maiden and it's a crime comedy starring Morgan Freeman and William H. Macy (who are also producing), Christopher Walken, Marcia Gay Harden and Wynn Everett. The story is about three museum security guards who plan to steal their favorite art (sounds a little like Night at the Museum without fantasy elements). Film is scheduled to premiere on November 7. Rupert Gregson-Williams' other upcoming films include You Don't Mess with the Zohan and Bedtime Stories.

Ramin Djawadi: Around the World in 50 Years 3D

Iron Man composer Ramin Djawadi continues his relationship with Illuminata Pictures and director Ben Stassen, who helmed Fly Me to the Moon, another of Djawadi's recent projects. Rooted in contemporary environemental awareness, Stassen's new film, Around the World in 50 Years 3D, tells the story about a sea turtle who travels around the world for 50 years and witnesses earth's change due to global warming. The voice cast includes Tim Curry, Jenny McCarthy, Melanie Griffith and Stacy Keach. Currently in production, the film is scheduled to premiere next year, while Fly Me to the Moon will open in the US on August 8.

Michael Giacchino: Land of the Lost

Universal Pictures has finally confirmed to Upcoming Film Scores that Michael Giacchino has been signed to score Land of the Lost, the studio's sci-fi adventure which is based on the 1970s live-action show by Sid and Marty Krofft. Will Ferrell, Anna Friel and Danny R. McBride play the main characters, who discover a mysterious land populated by dinosaurs and other creatures. Brad Silberling (Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Casper, City of Angels) directs. Film is scheduled to premiere on July 17 next year. Michael Giacchino's score for Speed Racer is currently heard in cinemas worldwide and he is also working on the music for the upcoming Star Trek movie.

Stephen Trask: Cirque du Freak

Stephen Trask (Dreamgirls, In Good Company, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) has been hired to compose the original music for Paul Weitz's horror film Cirque du Freak, starring Salma Hayek, Chris Massoglia and John C. Reilly. Universal Pictures produces and will distribute the film, which tells the story about a boy who is forced to leave become a vampire and join the freak show Cirque du Freak. Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and scripted by Brian Helgeland, the film is based on Darren Shan's novel. Stephen Trask and Paul Weitz previously collaborated on American Dreamz and In Good Company.

Paul Haslinger: Death Race

Paul Haslinger has landed what is possibly his biggest feature film project so far: Death Race, the upcoming sci-fi action spectacle directed by Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson. The film, which is prestigiously produced by Jeremy Bolt, Roger Corman, Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, takes place in a future American prison where the inmates are forced to compete in a deadly car race. Jason Statham, Joan Allen and Ian McShane constitute the top of the cast. The film is a remake of the 1975 cult movie Death Race 2000, which was also produced by Roger Corman. Paul Haslinger's recent credits include Shoot 'Em Up, Prom Night and Vacancy. Among his other upcoming films are thriller While She Was Out (starring Kim Basinger) and dance drama Make It Happen. Death Race will be released by Universal Pictures on September 26.

Marco Beltrami: Repossession Mambo

Several sources has confirmed to Upcoming Film Scores that Marco Beltrami will compose the original score for Repossession Mambo, a science fiction thriller starring Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga, Liev Schreiber and Carice van Houten. Produced by Mary Parent and Scott Stuber (The Kingdom), and helmed by Miguel Sapochnik, doing his feature film directing debut, the film is about a future world where artificial organs can be bought on credit and where a man struggles to pay for the heart he has purchased. Universal Pictures will distribute the film set for a release next year. Marco Beltrami, who recently finished work on horror movie Amusement and Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, is also in negotiations to score sci-fi thriller Knowing, reuniting with I Robot director Alex Proyas. The film stars Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne.

Hans Zimmer: Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa

The Gorfaine-Schwartz Agency is now including Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa in Hans Zimmer's filmography, which is the first official confirmation of Zimmer's involvement in the project. It does not come as a big surprise, however, since the first film from 2005 was scored by the same composer. Zimmer has just finished work on another animated feature, Kung Fu Panda, together with John Powell. The Madagascar sequel is directed by Eric Darnell, who helmed Antz, and Tom McGrath who also directed the first film. The voice cast includes Ben Stiller, Sacha Baron Cohen, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith and Chris Rock. Dreamworks will release on November 7.

Atli Örvarsson: Whiteout

Icelandic composer Atli Örvarsson, who recently scored Vantage Point and the upcoming Babylon A.D., adds another action thriller to his quickly growing resumee: Whiteout. This is the new film of Dominic Sena (Gone in Sixty Seconds, Swordfish, Kalifornia), starring Kate Beckinsale as a U.S. Marshal who tracks a killer in Antarctica. Joel Silver produces and Warner Bros will release the film later this year. Atli Örvarsson, who is repped by Gorfaine-Schwartz, was also recently assigned to Mimi Leder's new film, The Code.

Chad Fischer: The Rocker

According to the Gorfaine-Schwartz Agency, Chad Fischer is doing the music for The Rocker, a comedy about a drummer (Rainn Wilson) who gets the opportunity of his lifetime when his nephew's rock band is looking for a new drummer. Other cast members include Emma Stone, Christina Applegate, Jane Lynch and Josh Gad. The film is directed by UK veteran Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) and scheduled to premiere on August 1, with distribution in the US being handled by Fox Atomic. Chad Fischer, who recently moved from Greenspan to Gorfaine-Schwartz, is best known for indie hit Garden State and recently scored The Babysitters.

Jeff Cardoni: Beer For My Horses

Jeff Cardoni (Just Friends, American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile, Firehouse Dog) reports on his web site that he has been signed to score Beer For My Horses, a comedy directed by Michael Salomon (not to be confused with Hard Rain director Mikael Salomon). Starring Claire Forlani, Tom Skerritt, Barry Corbin and Willie Nelson, the film tells the story of two deputies who head off on a road trip to save a woman from drug lord kidnappers. B4MH Productions produces for release later this year.

Tim DeLaughter: Visioneers

Polyphonic Spree frontman Tim DeLaughter is doing the music for Visioneers, an independent comedy directed by Jared Drake, starring Judy Greer, Missi Pyle and Zach Galifianakis. The story is about a man who tries to ignore an epidemic which causes people to explode from stress (!). Fireside Film produces. Earlier, we reported that, according to the Gorfaine-Schwartz Agency, DeLaughter was going to score Assassination of a High School President. As it turned out, DeLaughter didn't write the music for this film - the composer on that project was Daniele Luppi.

Mark Mancina: Nowhereland

Mark Mancina has replaced Theodore Shapiro as the score composer on the upcoming Eddie Murphy comedy Nowhereland, which is now scheduled to premiere in June 2009, pushed from its original release date, September 26, 2008. The film is directed by Karey Kirkpatrick, whose recent credits include directing the animated Over the Hedge and writing the script for and producing The Spiderwick Chronicles. Lorenzo di Bonaventura produces the film. Mark Mancina's other upcoming films include Stopping Power (Speed director Jan de Bont's new action thriller which is currently being shot in Holland and Germany), Without a Badge and Like Dandelion Dust.

David Newman: My Life in Ruins

David Newman is doing the original score for Donald Petrie's new comedy, My Life in Ruins, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Nia Vardalos. Newman previously scored Petrie's 2003 comedy How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and his recent filmography is dominated by films in this genre: Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, Norbit, Monster-in-Law. My Life in Ruins tells the story about a tour guide working amongst the Grecian ruins.

Alex Wurman: Four Christmases

Alex Wurman is doing the music for comedy Four Christmases, featuring an impressive cast including Reese Witherspoon, Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Robert Duvall, Kristin Chenoweth, Mary Steenburgen and Sissy Spacek. Seth Gordon (The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters) directs from a script about a couple who struggle to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas Day. Also coming up for Alex Wurman is crime drama Real Men Cry, starring Ethan Hawke, Amanda Peet and Mark Ruffalo, and Stephen Polk's indie drama Baggage.

Gabriel Yared: Shanghai

Gabriel Yared will continue his working relationship with Swedish director Mikael Håfström, for whom he scored 1408 last year. His new film is entitled Shanghai, is set during WW2 and revolves around an American who travels to Shanghai following the death of a good friend.
Hossein Amini (The Four Feathers) has written the screenplay and the cast includes John Cusack and Ken Watanabe. The film begins shooting in London next week and is set for a Christmas Day release. The film is being made with funding from The Weinstein Co's $285 million Asian film fund.

Christian Henson: The Secret of Moonacre

British composer Christian Henson (Severance, Chasing Liberty, It's a Boy Girl Thing), is currently finishing work on his score for The Secret of Moonacre, a fantasy family movie based on Elizabeth Goudge's novel. Hungarian filmmaker Gabor Csupo (Bridge to Terabithia) directs and the cast includes Ioan Gruffudd, Tim Curry, Dakota Blue Richards and Natascha McElhone. The score features themes and additional music composed by Hungarian composer Ádám Balázs. The film is set in the 1840's and tells the story about a 13 year old girl who journeys to Moonacre Manor and discovers that she is the last Moon Princess - the beloved story is a classic fantasy adventure filled with magic and mystery. The film is scheduled to premiere on August 8. Christian Henson recently scored the Dutch romantic drama Zomerhitte and is also doing the music for British TV series Lost in Austen, starring Jemima Rooper, Alex Kingston, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Riley and Perdita Weeks.

Marco Beltrami: Amusement

Marco Beltrami has scored Amusement, the upcoming horror film directed by John Simpson (Freeze Frame). Beltrami replaced Debbie Wiseman as the composer on the film after she had to withdraw due to conflicting schedules. Amusement is a classic stalker thriller, to be released by Picturehouse Entertainment and New Line Cinema in September. Stars include Jessica Lucas, Katheryn Winnick and Laura Breckenridge. Beltrami has also written the music for The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq war thriller starring Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce and David Morse.

Steve Edwards: Direct Contact

The latest Dolph Lundgren action pic, Direct Contact, gets an original score by Steve Edwards. This is his fifth score for director Danny Lerner, who previously hired Edwards on Shark in Venice, Finding Rin Tin Tin, Raging Sharks and Target of Opportunity. Edwards has written the music for over 50 feature films, including Feast and Hellraiser: Hellseeker. In Direct Contact, his music will accompany a story about an American prisoner in a Russian jail who is asked to rescue a kidnapped American woman. Edwards' other upcoming scores include The Neighbor and The Intervention.

Atli Örvarsson: The Code

Atli Örvarsson, the Iceland-born composer who recently scored action thriller Vantage Point and the upcoming sci-fi flick Babylon A.D., has been hired to compose the music for Deep Impact director Mimi Leder's new film, The Code. Starring Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas, this thriller is about a veteran thief who has to pull off one final job in order to fund the repay of a debt to the Russian mob. Nu Image Films produces together with Emmet/Furla Films and Revelations Entertainment for release later this year.

Harald Kloser & Thomas Wander: 2012

Following their recent score for Roland Emmerich's prehistoric epic 10,000 B.C., Austrian composers Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander now begin work on the next film by Emmerich, the apocalyptic 2012. Just like 10,000 B.C., Harald Kloser is also involved as a writer and producer on the project, which is about the end of the Mayan calender in 2012 and the natural disasters which are expected to follow. Emmerich's own Centropolis Entertainment produces and production should begin in late summer.

Kevin Kiner: Star Wars - The Clone Wars

Kevin Kiner has recently been recording his orchestral score for the upcoming animated feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This Lucasfilm Animation production will be released theatrically by Warner Bros. on August 15 and is the first in a series of animated Star Wars films, the others to be broadcast on television. Kiner has already scored more than a dozen of these episodes. Dave Filoni (Avatar: The Last Airbender) is the supervising director of the series and also helms the feature film, and George Lucas is producing. Kevin Kiner is best known for his Wing Commander score, and has also written the music for the 1993 horror film Leprechaun, the Star Trek: Enterprise TV series and the comedy The Pest.

Michael Tremante: The 27 Club

The 27 Club, an independent drama starring Joe Anderson (Across the Universe) and Alexie Gilmore (Nicky's Game), gets an original score by Michael Tremante. He is an up and coming composer who started out in the business as a member of Howard Shore's team (he co-produced scores such as Spider and Panic Room), and who has scored a lot of shorts and documentaries in the past three years. The 27 Club is directed by Erica Dunton, who previously hired Tremante to score Find Love in 2006 and Red Means Go in 2005. The composer also has the scores for Chris J Ford's The Village Barbershop and Carl T Evans' Frame of Mind coming up.

Michael Wandmacher: My Bloody Valentine 3-D

Michael Wandmacher has just signed on to score My Bloody Valentine 3-D, a horror film scheduled to be distributed theatrically by Lionsgate early next year. Genre specialist Patrick Lussier, who edited the Scream trilogy and directed Dracula 2000, helms the project which is a remake of the 1981 slasher film starring Paul Kelman and Lori Hallier. The new version's cast includes Jensen Ackles and Jaime King. Among Wandmacher's other upcoming projects are the Madagascar 2 video game (he scored the first one as well) and feature films Train and Chain Letter. His score for The Killing Floor was released on CD earlier this year by MovieScore Media.

Aaron Zigman: My Sister's Keeper

One of the most prolific composers in Hollywood, Aaron Zigman, has added another film to his resumee: My Sister's Keeper, directed by Nick Cassavetes. Starring Alec Baldwin, Cameron Diaz, Joan Cusack and Jason Patrick, the film is a courtroom drama based on Jodi Picoult's novel about a former attorney and her husband who are sued by their daughter for emancipation. This is the fourth Nick Cassavetes film Aaron Zigman scores, following John Q, The Notebook and Alpha Dog. Zigman has also recently scored Sex and the City: The Movie, Powder Blue, Meet the Browns and Step Up 2: The Streets. His other upcoming films include Lake City and Flash of Genius.

Mark Thomas: Goal! III

The third film in the Goal! series gets an original score by UK composer Mark Thomas, who is going to record the score at Abbey Road Studios next month. The film is directed by Andy Morahan (Highlander: The Final Dimension) and sees Kuno Becker returning in the role as football star underdog Santiago Munez. Supporting cast includes Nick Moran, JJ Field and Leo Gregory. LA-based Milkshake Films produces. The music for the first two films in the series was by Graeme Revell and Stephen Warbeck. Mark Thomas is also busy scoring for the small screen: he recently completed the comedy series Benidorm for Tiger Aspect and ITV as well as the television movie May Contain Nuts. Thomas' recent scores include Moondance Alexander, Back in Business and Tales of the Riverbank.

Rachel Portman: The Duchess

Rachel Portman, the Academy Award-winning composer of Emma, The Cider House Rules and Chocolat, is currently working on the score for The Duchess, the 18th century drama starring Keira Knightley as aristocrat Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire. The film is based on Amanda Foreman's book, Saul Dibb directs from an screen adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher (Casanova) and acclaimed Danish writer Anders Thomas Jensen (After the Wedding). The Duchess, which is produced by BBC Films and Pathé, co-stars Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper and Charlotte Rampling and is scheduled to premiere on August 29.

Marcus Trumpp: Blood - The Last Vampire

The live action remake of the animated Blood: The Last Vampire, an award-winning Japanese film from 2000, gets an original score by Marcus Trumpp. The 34-year old German composer has previously written stylish orchestral scores for The Breed and Hollow Man 2, and has worked extensively as an orchestrator and additional music writer for Marco Beltrami on many films, including Live Free or Die Hard, I, Robot and 3:10 to Yuma. Starring Gianna Yun, Allison Miller and Masiela Lusha, the new version of Blood: The Last Vampire is directed by French helmer Chris Nahon (Kiss of the Dragon) and is about a vampire who is a member of a secret agency in post-WW2 Japan with the mission to hunt down and destroy demons in Japan after WW2.

Trevor Jones: Three and Out

Trevor Jones, the composer of such well-known scores as The Last of the Mohicans, Excalibur, Cliffhanger, Notting Hill and Angel Heart, has written the music for Three and Out, a UK comedy starring Mackenzie Crook, Colm Meaney, Imelda Staunton and Gemma Arterton. The film is about ordinary persons with unique dilemmas and how far they are willing to go. Jonathan Gershfield directs for RMPC, film will premiere on April 25.

Gordy Haab: Pornstar

Gordy Haab, the young composer who won a lot of acclaim for his horror score Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, is doing the music for a drama called Pornstar. Directed by Stevie Long (who was one of the writers on Starsky and Hutch), the film explores America's obsession with sex, fame, and money. Matthew Gray Gubler, Diora Baird and Will Sasso star in the Proton Entertainment produced film. Gordy Haab's score is orchestral and features Native American drums and wind instruments as well as electronic instruments and sound design. Haab has also been hired to compose music for LucasArts' forthcoming Indiana Jones video game.

Christopher Young: Drag Me to Hell

According to Christopher Young's publicist, the composer is currently working on Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. Raimi recently worked with Young on Spider-Man 3 and previously hired the composer to score his stylish supernatural thriller The Gift, released in 2000. Drag Me to Hell is a horror film about a young woman who gets a supernatural curse cast upon her. Alison Lohman, Justin Long and Jessica Lucas star in the film, which is scheduled to come out next year. Raimi's Buckaroo Entertainment and Ghost House Pictures produce. Christopher Young recently scored Sleepwalking and Untraceable.