Where The Wild Things Are Trailer’s Arcade Fire – “Wake Up”

Posted by Albert Costill on Apr 14, 2009 in Song of the Week | Comments

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Ah, the art of music in movie trailers. It’s not as easy as you think.

Think about all the trailers that you see. How many times do you hear familiar those instrumental pieces from Hans Zimmer (“Rain Man,” “The Dark Knight,” “Gladiator”) or Graeme Revell (“The Crow,” “Sin City, “From Duck Till Dawn”)? Then of course there are the lazy editors. Like the ones that use The Who’s “Baba O’ Riley”, or whatever past or current hit is on the airwaves.

But every now and then some heck of an editor comes along and blows us away. The visual editing is one aspect of a movie trailer, but the music is the other. When an editor finds that one song to match with the visual clips, then there’s magic.

Just think about some recent trailers, like “The Watchmen” and “Pineapple Express”.

These trailers wouldn’t have been so damn good if it wasn’t for the music. The use of the alternate version of the Smashing Pumpkins “The Beginning is the End is the Beginning” in “The Watchmen” trailer sent chills down my spine. Then there was the genius use of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” for “Pineapple Express”, which was a match made in heaven.

Well, here’s another one to add to the list.

Many of you have probably seen the amazing trailer for the live action version of “Where The Wild Things Are” directed by one Spike Jonze.

What really makes the trailer stand out is the use of “Wake Up” by Arcade Fire. A song about the challenges of growing up featured in a trailer based on a picture book about the challenges of growing up is a win-win situation.

Since I’ve watched the trailer like a thousand times already, I’m now completely in love with this song.

“Wake Up” was featured on the band’s full length debut album Funeral in 2004. Since then the song has been used as the pregame intro for the New York Rangers during the 2006-2007 season. It was also played at the beginning of shows during U2′s Vertigo tour. The band even performed “Wake Up” with David Bowie at the 2005 Fashion Rocks festivities in 2005.

But, the freshly rerecord version for the “Where The Wild Things Are” trailer is what got me hooked. I will even admit, as corny as it sounds, it almost brought me to tears.

And now because of a two minute clip, I’m counting down the days until October when the movie finally is released, and about to invest into some more Arcade Fire.