From a story about Black Snake Moan music producer Scott Bomar in Sunday’s New York Times: “If contemporary Memphis has found its Fellini in Craig Brewer, the young director best known for Hustle & Flow, then the film’s composer, Scott Bomar, is its Nino Rota.
“Or so Mr. Bomar would explain the collaboration that has now produced a second provocative, music-rich look at suffering and sex on the Mississippi: Black Snake Moan, scheduled for release this month by Paramount Vantage.
“‘To me Craig’s films are regional the same way Fellini’s were about Rome, where it’s really the main character in his films,” Mr. Bomar said in a recent interview in a Sunset Strip coffee shop. ‘With Craig I think it’s Memphis and the mid-South.’
“‘A lot of the music in Fellini’s films is like these ancient folk melodies that Rota incorporated into the score,’ he continued. ‘And with Black Snake Moan, and even Hustle & Flow, I looked at it that way. It’s like there’s music in the air in Memphis. You can just grab it. It’s ancient, and it’s just a part of the dirt.’”
